Chirk, Denbighshire

Description
Chirk, a village and a parish in East Denbighshire, on the borders of Shropshire. The village occupies a commanding site on the banks of the river Ceiriog and the Shropshire and Ellesmere Canal. Offa's Dyke runs through the whole extent of the parish. It is 5 miles from Ruabon, and 10 S by W of Wrexham. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Ruabon, a station on the G.W.R., and is a seat of petty sessions. An aqueduct of the canal here, constructed by Telfour, and a viaduct of the railway, constructed by Robertson, vie in grandeur with those of the Dee, and form striking features amid a rich scene of vale and mountain, wood and stream. The parish contains also the townships of Brynkinalt, Halton, and Penyclawdd. Acreage, 4773 ; population, 2272. Chirk Castle, the seat of the Myd-delton-Biddulph family, stands OB the line of Offa's Dyke, on the eastern slope of the Berwyn Mountains, about 2 miles NW of the village, occupies the site of an ancient fortress called Castell-Crogen, was erected in the time of Edward I. by Roger Mortimer, belonged afterwards to the Arundels, Mowbrays, Beauchamps, and others, and was purchased in 1595 by Sir Thomas Myddelton, Lord Mayor of London. It is a bold, castellated, quadrangular structure, well preserved by renovation, and partly mantled with ivy, commands a view into seventeen counties, and contains many interesting antiquities and some curious works of art, especially a beautiful cabinet presented by Charles I. to Sir Thomas Myddeltou. It was garrisoned for the king in the Civil War, and was besieged by its owner, Sir Thomas Myddelton, on behalf of the Parliamentarian army. Subsequently Sir Thomas changed sides, and was himself besieged and forced to surrender by Oliver Cromwell. In the parish is also situated Brynkinalt Hall, the seat of Lord Trevor, a fine structure commanding a splendid and extensive view. Limestone and coal are worked. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Asaph; net value, £320 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of St Asaph. The church contains monuments of the Myddelton and Dungannon families. A toy railway runs from (. hirk up the vale of the Ceiriog to Glyn (6 miles) to the slate and granite quarries. Chirt. See CHART.