Historic Places in Wrexham

Building began in 1277 on the orders of Edward I, the castle was completed in 1311. By the 16th century it had fallen to ruin. Royalists troops lost the castle to the Parliamentarians in 1643 only to be retaken in 1644. In 1647 the Royalists finally surrendered and was slighted. From 1675-83 Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet of Eaton, utilised much of the stonework to rebuild Eaton Hall.

Chirk Castle near Wrexham in Denbighshire is a remarkable Edwardian castle of 1295 that has remained continuously occupied since its construction, making it the only medieval castle in Wales still inhabited today and one of the oldest continuously occupied castles in Britain. Built by Roger Mortimer as part of Edward I's ring of Iron castles consolidating the conquest of north Wales, the castle was sold to Sir Thomas Myddelton in 1595 and has been the Myddelton family home ever since. The interior reflects the tastes and accumulations of over four hundred years of continuous occupation, with magnificent state rooms furnished with seventeenth-century tapestries, portraits and furniture of exceptional quality. The formal gardens with their spectacular yew hedges and ha-ha, and the wider parkland of the Chirk estate, are among the finest in Wales. The National Trust manages the castle and gardens, which are among the most significant heritage properties in north Wales.