Chirk Castle is the second property that I have managed to visit in Wales and is one of the border castles built in the late thirteenth century.   The castle was built by Roger Mortimer who had been granted the lordship of Chirk in 1282.

The castle is actually approached via a rather long walk from the car park, be prepared as it is not only quite a distance but seems much further due to being an uphill slope.

There is a lot to see at Chirk Castle which includes the following.

Cromwell Hall where the tour begins and is accessed from the courtyard which is unfortunately not pictured here.

The tour quickly moves upstairs and into the State Dining Room, Saloon and Drawing Room.

But before heading off to the rest of the rooms be sure to take a look at the glass storm lamps on the balustrade.  There are three copies and one original - see if you can spot the original.  I had good reasoning for the one I thought was real but was unfortunately wrong.

The most impressive room is the Long Gallery which is 100 feet long.

After the Long Gallery you come to the Chapel which is in fact viewed from upstairs and you can only look down into the Chapel.

The last room on this part of the tour is the Document Room which displays numerous documents pertaining to the history of the castle.

But this is far from the end of the tour, although the fact you then find yourself in the gift shop may indicate otherwise.

Instead you can now visit the Servants Hall and Adam's Tower.

The Tower is entered from the courtyard.  No one seems to know where the name of the tower originates from though.

For those who are not particularly agile the Tower can be quite a difficult part of the tour to navigate but is worth it if you can manage it.  You can also see the Magistrates' Court (not a working court like the Crown Court at Lincoln Castle).  The plasterwork here is the only interior decoration to have survived intact from before the Civil War.

You can also visit the dungeon although I gave this a miss after taking one look at the steps and the rope railing and thinking better of it.  I am notoriously clumsy and could easily see myself falling down the steps head first.  After Stanford Hall I am proceeding with caution on staircases.

As you can see from my photos on this page (all but one are personal photos and it should be easy to pick out the postcard picture) the day I visited was a day of shocking weather.  Storms and rain were pretty much non-stop all day.  Subsequently there are far more to the gardens than what you see here.

The little shelter in the photo directly above is quite a walk from the castle but a thankful retreat from the rain when it came.  Even the groundsman ran for cover when it got too bad.  The photo below shows just how heavy the rain came down at times.  It was taken from the shelter as I waited for it to hold off for long enough to make it back to the castle.

However I should not complain too much about the rain for it afforded me the opportunity to photograph a double rainbow on my way home.  The first time I had seen one of these with a camera handy so I was quick to snap it from the car.

Chirk Castle is well worth a visit so don't let that lovely British weather put you off going there.  Oh and keep an eye out for the cat who likes greeting visitors.  Quite a character!