Get the Downton experience at Erddig

Explore the servants’ quarters at Erddig and see walls filled with paintings and photographs of the people who worked below stairs. From the kitchen porter and housekeeper to the gardener and gamekeeper, the Yorke family had a close relationship with their servants and celebrated their loyalty, length of service and hard work.

Edward Barnes Woodman English school 19th century
Erddig   Wrexham

Unique collection of portraits at Erddig

For nearly 200 years, Erddig’s servants were recorded in portraits, photographs and verses. Nothing of such breadth survives anywhere else in the world.

Find out more
Group photo of servants at Erddig taken in 1912
Erddig   Wrexham

Courtroom drama for cook-turned-housekeeper

Staff numbers were dwindling and cook-turned-housekeeper, Ellen Penketh’s duties were expanded to include keeping the household accounts. Discover Ellen's story.

Find out more
Portrait painting of Jane Ebbrell Spider Brusher by John Walters of Denbigh
Erddig   Wrexham

18th-century Erddig incentive scheme or homespun legacy?

The stories of Erddig’s servants are as fascinating, if not more so, than those of the Yorkes themselves. Here we explore what prompted the extraordinary tradition of honouring servants.

Find out more
The Dry Laundry at Erddig used for drying and ironing with mangle and drying racks
Erddig   Wrexham

All in a day's work

Discover the statistics of life below stairs.

Find out more
Brass servants' bells below stairs
Erddig   Wrexham

A servant's day at Erddig

Erddig's bells which hang outside the Servants Hall would have rung all day to call the servants to more work. Discover more about life below stairs.

Find out more
Painting by John Meller 1665 to 1733 possibly by Charles Jervas c 1715
Erddig   Wrexham

Erddig, the whole story

In 1682, Joshua Edisbury was appointed High Sheriff of Denbighshire; it was to be the making of Erddig, and the unmaking of Edisbury.

Find out more