Hardwick’s capital mansion was originally the house now known as Old Hardwick, a much altered property of ancient origin which still forms a part of the estate associated with its early eighteenth-century successor, built for John Kynaston soon after he acquired the Hardwick property. The estate was formerly the property of the Lloyd family and the tomb of Philip Lloyd (d. 1615), son and heir of Francis Lloyd of Hardwick, was discovered under the Hardwick Pew in Ellesmere Church in 1839. After several generations of Lloyd ownership, the property passed by the marriage of Philip Lloyd’s sister, Joyce, to Robert Eyton of Dudleston.

In 1693, Hardwick was acquired by John Kynaston (1664–1733) of Hordley, who was head of a family that had been Royalist at the time of the Civil Wars. John’s forebear, Roger Kinaston (as the name was then spelled) of Hordley, is recorded in 1655 as having been compounded for £921.

The Kynaston family descended from Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, King of North Wales of the third Royal Tribe of Wales. In its various branches, the family was to be found at various places in Shropshire – including Pontesbury, Kinnerley, Nesscliffe, Knockin, Morton, Walford, Ruyton-XI-Towns, Oteley, Stocks, Hordley – whilst Bryngwyn in Powys and Plas Kynaston in Denbighshire were also Kynaston properties.

In the late fifteenth century, Humphrey Kynaston (c. 1468-c. 1534), a younger son of Sir Roger Kynaston (circa 1433–1495), brought the family notoriety when he was declared an outlaw in 1491 for his part in a murder. He is said to have adopted a lifestyle akin to Robin Hood, robbing the wealthy and giving to the poor, whilst he lived in a cave at Nesscliffe. The cave can still be seen and forms a part of Shropshire Council’s Nesscliffe Hill whilst Kynaston was immortalized by Richard Gough in his History of Myddle. Kynaston was eventually pardoned in 1517 by Henry VIII and his pardon remains a part of the Hardwick muniments.

The builder of the current house at Hardwick, John Kynaston, maintained a significant position in the county as one-time leader of the Shropshire Tories and he served as High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1689–90. He was Mayor of Shrewsbury 1695–6 and 1700–1701, and he aspired to revive the barony of Powis, making an unsuccessful claim in 1731.