Listed Buildings : Chirk Castle

Chirk Castle

The castle stands close to Offa's Dyke and the English border, overlooking and controlling the Ceiriog valley. It is located in an outstanding landscape park, partly designed by William Emes, which has a terraced and informal garden, with remains from the medieval period.


The original castle was probably begun soon after 1295 for Roger Mortimer who was granted the lordship of Chirkland in 1282 by Edward I, replacing a Norman motte located to the south of St Mary's Church in Church Street, Chirk. The royal mason, Master James of St George from Savoy, is likely to have been the designer.

The site is not strategic, but built to face the Welsh valley to visually exert the English influence over the Welsh. The first major stage of building probably extended until the fall of Mortimer in 1322. It then passed through various hands until in 1595 it was purchased by Thomas Myddelton in whose lineage it has continued until 1978 when bought for the nation and placed in the care of the National Trust.

It is listed Grade I as a building of major national importance, being one of a series of Edwardian castles of Wales. It has been adapted to become the seat of an important marcher landed estate, in which context, successive leading architects and designers were involved in the creation of a major county house within the medieval framework. Fine work of the late 18th and mid 19th Century especially stands out.


Erddig Hall, Marchwiel >>

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