Chirk and Chirk Castle, North Wales

Friday 7th to Sunday 9th February 2025

We took our motorhome, Fufu, for a couple of nights away in the Welsh border town of Chirk, staying at the Lady Margaret’s Caravan and Motorhome Club site. The site has recently been refurbished and is impressively finished with excellent facilities. There is plenty of room on a pitch and lots of room between pitches, all surrounded by woodland.

Friday 8th February:

The small town of Chirk is located on an escarpment where the River Ceiriog meets the River Dee. It has a long history and its position, right on the Welsh border with England means it has been the site of many medieval battles, hence the presence of Chirk Castle, high above the town. We explored the town on Friday evening after setting-up on site.

Towards the end of Church St is a pleasant park with several plaques on the walls alongside the gates. One of these commemorates the achievements of Billy Meredith, who according to the plaque, was “Football’s first superstar”. In his career, he played for Chirk, Manchester City, Manchester United and the Welsh national team, amongst other teams.

St Marys Church is of historical interest. The first stones were laid here by the Normans in the early 11th century and until around the end of the 15th century, the church was dedicated to Saint Tysilio, when it was re-dedicated to St Mary.

In common with many other Welsh churches, it has a nave and one single wide aisle alongside.

As can be seen below, the font dates to 1662. The central memorial is for members of the Myddelton family and also dates to the late 17th century. The stone, below right, is a marker for a heart-shrine found in the churchyard around a hundred years ago. In the 14th century an English knight, killed overseas, would be buried out there, but his heart would be removed and brought back for burial in Britain.

In the churchyard, is the Grade 2 listed Trevor Mausoleum, built in memory of the only daughter of the 2nd Baron Trevor who died in 1904 aged 5.

The Ellesmere canal and its branch to Llangollen was built by the well-known engineer, Thomas Telford to transport stone, slate, coal and woollen goods from the area. This needed the construction of a 237 yard long and 70ft high aqueduct, (at a cost of £21,000) across the Dee Valley just below Chirk, almost immediately followed by a 460 yard long tunnel which includes a tow-path.

Saturday 8th February:

Today, we took a walk along the canal, starting by going through Chirk tunnel. On the way through we overtook a barge which emerged after us.

The canal towpath is used both as a cycle-path and footpath. It is mostly good, but gets a bit squelchy in places. Along the way, we passed the end of the Glynn Valley Tramway, which used to bring stone and stone setts for transfer to barges on the canal. Today, there is not much to be seen except the wall, which is a scheduled monument.

Further along we waked through another tunnel, The Whitehouse Tunnel, which according to the signage, housed bats, though we did not see any.

As a result of recent storms, there were quite a few trees fallen:

We eventually came to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which takes the canal over the River Dee Valley. This UNESCO World Heritage Site, was also engineered by Thomas Telford. After a walk of around four and a half miles, when we got there we were unable to cross, as the gate (a new addition?) was locked. It seems, according to the signage, that there is work being completed on the structure.

Sunday 9th February:

Today being final day of this short break, we had to leave the campsite before noon, so we visited Chirk Castle, which is managed by the National Trust. Although the castle itself was closed, the grounds and the tower were open.

Even at this time of year, the gardens are interesting, if not at their best. We enjoyed a good wander around, but it was quite cold with a cool breeze evident in the more exposed parts of the garden.

That’s all for now…

As always, if you want to see any of the images in more detail, just click on them and they should open at a larger scale. If you enjoy reading this, please add a “like” and feel free to comment. I always try to respond to comments promptly.