With wanderlust restrained by this beastly pandemic, opportunities to visit the wonders of north east Wales are stymied somewhat. A hike then, up the Garth hill and into Trevor Wood, where the really rather splendid Trevor Tower is to be found amongst the trees. It was cold, there was snow in the air, and it made for a rather dramatic and decidedly spooky atmosphere.
Trevor Tower, known also as King William's Tower is dated to 1827, built at the instigation of GH Whalley, distantly related to Oliver Cromwell, MP for Peterborough and owner of the Plas Madoc Estate. It was built as a hunting lodge, or possibly a summer house, and Whalley was to die there in 1878.
According to the Coflein website, it was possibly built on the site of an earlier fortress, the cellar of which was used as a hiding place by Royalists in the English Civil War. More certain, however, is its use by the Liverpool Orange Order at the end of the 19th century. Apparently, there was a tunnel, now blocked, which connected the Tower to the nearby gamekeepers house.
Its a sturdy thing, this tower, 3 storeys of atmospheric grey with a castellated parapet. It quite gave me the heebie jeebies, I can tell you.
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