CHIRK

"CHIRK, a parish and small town in the hundred of Chirk, in the county of Denbigh, 8 miles S.W. of Wrexham-Regis, and 191 from London by rail. It is a station on the Chester and Shrewsbury section of the Great Western railway, and is a petty sessions town. The great Holyhead road and the Ellesmere canal pass through the parish, which includes the townships of Brynkinalt, the seat of Lord Dungannon, Halton, and Pen-y-clawdd. The manor was formerly the head of a lordship, which belonged to the Mortimers. Henry II. was defeated here by Owen Gwynedd, in 1165. The modern town, which contains about 500 inhabitants, is situated on the brow of a limestone hills in the midst of coal and lime works, and has several paper-mills, which give an aspect of considerable activity to the place. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St. Asaph, value £570, in the patronage of the bishop. The church contains monuments to several members of the Myddleton family, the chief of which is one to Sir Thomas Myddleton, the distinguished commonwealth leader in the Civil War. In the churchyard are several fine old yew-trees. The charities amount to £114 per annum. In the vicinity is a fine castellated mansion, the ancient seat of the Myddletons. It was originally built by Roger Mortimer, in the reign of Edward I., on the site of a more ancient fortress, called Castle Grogen, near the Berwyn hills, on the line of Offa's Dyke, which runs about a mile from the village. After passing through the hands of the Fitz-Alans, Stanleys, and others, it became the property of Lord St. John, who sold it to Sir Thomas Myddleton, afterwards Lord Mayor of London, in whose family it still remains. It was taken by the royalists in 1646, and afterwards by General Lambert, in 1659, who demolished a portion of the building. The castle, which was subsequently restored, is a square building, surrounding a quadrangle 160 feet by 100, and containing an oak gallery 100 feet in length, defended at each of the angles by a massive bastion tower; in the interior are several fine apartments, a chapel, and a gallery of pictures, with several good family portraits. In the township of Brynkinalt, on the river Dee, is the fine mansion of Lord Dungannon, recently rebuilt in the pointed style of architecture. Chirk is a meet for the Wynnstay hounds. Fairs for the sale of cattle, &c., are held on the 10th February and June, and the 12th August and November."

"BRYNKINALT, a township in the parish and hundred of Chirk, in the county of Denbigh, North Wales, not far from Chirk. It is situated on the river Dee, near the Chester and Shrewsbury railway, and contains the seat of Lord Dungannon. The mansion is in the Gothic style, and has been rebuilt on the site of the old one founded by the Trevor family."

"HALTON, a township in the parish of Chirk, county Denbigh, 2 miles from Chirk."

"PEN-Y-CLAWDD, a township in the parish of Chirk, county Denbigh, 2 miles from Chirk. It is situated near Offa's Dyke."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018