Cornist Hall Flint

Yesterday I briefly mentioned Cornist and its connection to Westminster Abbey and Lord Nelson.  Here's more about this.

Pictured on this dull rainy morning is the rather sad and rather dilapidated Jacobean style Cornist Hall, built in brick and stone. It is the former home of the Summers’ Family who ran the iron and steel works business of John Summers and Sons in Shotton and who made extensive alterations to the house whilst they lived there.

In about 1884 the industrialist Richard Muspratt commissioned the Chester architect John Douglas, (who was responsible for the architecture of the house I live in), to re-model the house, but Muspratt died before this could be executed.

In 1953 the ownership of the house passed to the Local Authority who modified the interior for catering purposes. Many people from Flint and beyond will recall the place as a wedding reception venue until quite recently. More recently the hall has been the subject of a campaign to save it from further deterioration.

Since the 1960s, part of the left side of the hall became the home of Flint Golf Club, where I honed my (now non-existent) golfing skills as a child, but the main hall has been closed since 2012.

Here's more on the Westminster Abbey connection to Cornist Hall.

In the Chapel of St Andrew in Westminster Abbey is a memorial to Rear Admiral Thomas Totty – inset into the image of Cornist Hall. This shows a relief of a three-masted ship with flag at half-mast and firing minute guns. Sculptor John Bacon Jnr was commissioned to complete the monument.

The inscription reads:  'Sacred to the memory of THOMAS TOTTY, of Cornist in the county of Flint, Esquire, a Rear-Admiral in his Majesty's Navy: who, having on the 17th November 1801 been appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Leeward Island station, was soon after his arrival at Martinique, severely attacked by the malignant fever peculiar to that climate; and expired at sea, on the 2nd of June 1802 in the 57th year of his age. His remains were interred in the Garrison Chapel at Portsmouth, with military honors, on the 4th July following. Although it was not his proud lot to fall gloriously in the cause of his country, his merit, as a zealous, diligent and able officer, was well known and acknowledged: the esteem in which he was held, and the sorrow and concern of his relatives and friends, at the event of his death, are the best testimonies of his private worth. As a tribute of affection, in grateful remembrance of his fraternal and kind regard, his brother, WILLIAM TOTTY, has erected this monument.'

Totty was born in Flint and was baptised at Holywell Parish Church on 24 January 1746. He inherited his birthplace, Cornist Hall, from his mother's side. His father was an ironmonger and mine owner and had 21 other children - Thomas was one of 18 who survived infancy (another was his youngest brother Hugh, chaplain to George IV, who died aged 101).

Thomas Totty joined the navy about 1760 and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on 30th April 1775 on board HMS Mercury serving during the American Revolutionary War. Totty was appointed Master and Commander on 17th February 1778.

He became Rear Admiral on 1st January 1801, becoming Port Admiral at Chatham Dockyard the following month. He then served on board HMS Invincible as third in command of the British Fleet with Horatio Nelson with whom he was a friend.

In November 1801 Totty caught yellow fever in Martinique and died of it at sea on 2nd June 1802. He was buried at Portsmouth Garrison Chapel.

Only here in Flintshire would we forget about such a son of the County – anywhere else there would be one of those blue plaques commemorating the house for posterity.

Incidentally, ‘Cornist’ is believed to come from an old welsh word for ‘fort’ and the remains of the fort formed part of the farm Cornist Canol which preceded the hall.

 #Flint #Flintshire  #Cornist #Historic #RoyalNavy #AdmiralTotty