Many visitors to the hall will have watched on video the grand occasion in 1977 when Prince Charles opened Erddig Hall to the public.

The day before the opening, Squire Yorke showed Prince Charles around his renovated former family mansion. Philip Yorke then ended his grand day with his favourite meal - fish and chips with a few friends at his terraced house on the main road at Ruabon.

Although the National Trust provided a flat at Erddig Hall for Mr Yorke, he admitted that he preferred to be at his new home. The 72 year old squire had spent seven and a half years living on his own at Erddig and was now content living at the spartan No 5 Tai Clawydd in the centre of Ruabon. Despite the heavy lorries rumbling past he was quite happy as his favourite fish and chip shop was close by, and he was also only a short distance from the Post Office, Church and grocers. With the railway close by too he felt that he had everything that he needed.

It had been four years since he donated Erddig to the National Trust along with 2,000 acres and several farms. Many Wrexham people were surprised at his style of life. They still viewed him as the wealthy lord and master of this huge estate, yet he was very much a man of the people and quite happy settling into his little terraced home.

He was also happy that Erddig, which had been in his family for over seven generations, and a part of our national heritage, had been preserved for all foreseeable time.

In a letter to the Evening Leader he said "Erddig is a kind of oasis in the middle of a swiftly developing industrial area, and I think there is a silent majority who hope it may always remain so..."