Confirmation that the house known as The Crispin (from where we get the name of Crispin Lane) was already in existence in 1675.
As previously stated, Ogilby’s road map (1675) shows a substantial un-named house in the exact location where later maps show that The Crispin was located. By overlaying these later maps on Ogiby’s road map, we can see that its location in relation to Plas Coch is the same as it is on later maps, and therefore it has to be the house known as Crispin. But also, the distances recorded on Ogilby’s map in relation to other properties in the area, also confirm that this house was built, either on, or very close to, Wat’s Dyke.
The name ‘stanty’ is recorded just below the house on the 1675 map, which I had originally thought was a misspelling of the name of the township ‘Stansty’. But I have since learned that the word ‘stanty’ was commonly used in the 17th Century to describe a boundary, and so in this case is showing that the house was built on the boundary of Wat’s Dyke.
We also know from A.N. Palmer that the house was owned by a well-known Puritan of the Ambrose Lewis family, from at least 1704 to 1810, but strangely, the house was leased to Robert Williams of Erbistock. From 1731 ‘and for a few years after’.
Robert Williams was the brother of the first Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, as well as Richard Williams of Penbedwr- who was a noted racehorse breeder and stud owner, at that time.
They were all sons of Sir William Williams who had inherited additional extensive estates after his wife (Jane Thelwall) inherited Wynnstay from Sir John Wynn who died in 1719. The family also inherited Plas Coch and the fields on which Y Cae Ras now stands, at the same time, although it would appear that the lower corner of The Racecourse (a field with a diagonal boundary which ran from the house known as The Crispin to the location where the Turf Hotel now stands) may have still been under the ownership of the Ambrose Lewis family in the 18th Century. Later maps indicate this boundary line, which today would run from the railings on the railway side of Crispin Lane from a position opposite where the Yale stand meets the Kop, and then runs diagonally across the lower section of The Racecourse to a point near to the gates outside of The Turf Hotel..
Subsequent land deals, including the land behind the kop, as well as the old Turf Tavern gardens indicate that this section of Y Cae Ras was split into smaller plots and sold off around the start of the 19th Century, possibly after 1810. But the fact that this section of land appears to have been originally owned by the Ambrose Lewis family provides us with a reason for Robert Williams to rent and live at The Crispin, when his family already owned numerous extensive estates throughout North Wales.
The Williams Wynn family started to promote The Wrexham Races ‘on the new course’ around the same time that Robert Williams lived at The Crispin and advertisements were placed in both the
Chester and London newspapers from 1738 till 1740 at least. Although the races had been known to have been in existence even earlier, and they would continued in various forms throughout the 18th Century, until Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (5th Baronet) upgraded the course