Chirk Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Crogen; Ceiriog

In the community of Chirk. In the historic county of Denbighshire (Modern authority of Wrexham, preserved county of Clwyd).

Border fortress begun by Roger Mortimer around 1295 and completed in 1310. The present structure is based on a medieval rectangular enclosure, c.58m E-W by 54m, with c.16m diameter circular towers at the NE and NW angles, with others, of a similar scale but semi-circular, on the N, W and E walls. The castle was remodeled extensively by Sir Thomas Myddelton in the late C16, and rebuilt following damage in the English Civil War. Set in C18 parkland. Luxurious state rooms in neo-Classical adorn the interior. Offa's Dyke runs through the park surrounding the castle.

This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ26853807

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Monuments Record number; 145757 County Sites and Monuments Record number; 101107

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlewales.com/chirk.html
    http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/historicproperties/index.cfm?fuseaction=property&property_id=228
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_wales/126/chirkcastle.htm
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/chirk.html
• Books
  • Gravett, Christopher, 2007, The Castles of Edward I in Wales 1277-1307 (Osprey Fortress series 64)
    Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p625-6
    Pettifer, Adrian, 2000, Welsh Castles, A Guide by Counties (Boydell Press) p60-2
    Reid, Alan, 1998, Castles of Wales (John Jones Publishing) p61-3
    Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles of North Wales (Malvern) p54-8
    Hurdsman, C.N., 1996, A History of the Parish of Chirk (Bridge Books: Wrexham)
    Burnham, H., 1995, A Guide to Ancient and Historic Wales: Clwyd and Powys (Cadw, London)
    Taylor, A.J., 1986, The Welsh Castles of Edward I (Hambledon Press) p43
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p102
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p340-1
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works, vol1: the Middle Ages (London) p335
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p227-8
    RCAHMW, 1914, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Denbighshire (HMSO) p32-5
    Mahler, M., 1912, A History of Chirk Castle and Chirkland. (G. Bell and Sons Ltd. London) p29-197
    Lewis, Samual, 1849, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47813#s1
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol2 p379
• Journal Articles
  • Pratt, D., 1997, 'The Medieval Borough of Chirk' Transactions of the Denbighshire Historical Society Vol46 p26-51
    Pratt, D., 1990, 'The Marcher Lordship of Chirk, 1329-1330' Denbighshire Historical Society Transactions Vol39 p5-41
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Griffiths, G.M., 1954, 'The Chirk Castle MSS and Documents' National Library of Wales Journal Vol8 No3
    Hussey, C., 1951 (21 and 28 Sept, 5 and 12 Oct), ‘Chirk Castle. Denbighshire’ Country Life p896-9, 980-3, 1064-7, 1148-51
    Mahler, 1923, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol78 p417-25
    1901, Country Life Vol9 p656-61
• Guidebooks
  • Anon, 2003. Chirk Castle, Wrexham (London: National Trust)
    Anon, 1983. Chirk Castle. (London: National Trust)
    Anon, 1971, Chirck Castle An Illustrated Survey of the Historic Home of the Myddelton Family (Jarrold and Sons Ltd; Norwich)
    Middleton, 1903, A Memoir of Chirk Castle (Oswestry)
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents. This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p159-60
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/glameng.html#denb6]
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol3 p72
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Plunkett Dillon, E and Latham, J, 1988, Chirk Castle, (National Trust report)