To the Marches

A mixture of sunny spells and clouds was on the menu on Sunday the 18th of June, and although the temperature would only climb to a moderate 23°C, it felt humid and sticky, as if rain was imminent. 

 Fortunately, the latter only materialized when we were back at the cottage, as obviously we had plans.

Last year, we spent the in-between Sunday in Ludlow, a gem of a town just over half an hour from the cowshed. As we'd had such a lovely day back then, we decided to repeat the experience, which had included a rummage in the handful of charity shops which were open on a Sunday, a picnic and a walk.

So, after a pleasurable drive through the hilly South Shropshire landscape, we grabbed what was possibly the last parking spot in the edge of town Upper Galdeford car park. From here, a short walk brought us to the Bull Ring, where the stunning timber-framed Feathers Hotel (above), whose origins go back to 1619, never fails to halt us in our tracks.

Reacquainting ourselves with the town, which we've visited many times before, we walked into the direction of Castle Square, dashing in and out of any charity shops which had opened their doors. Although we left most of them empty handed, Jos managed to find this flashy pair of mirrored clip-on sunglasses in the local Oxfam shop.

Instead of bringing a picnic, we had planned to grab a bite to eat, but the places which piqued our interest were either closed or full, so that in the end we gave up and bought sandwiches from the local Spar on Castle Square and found us a bench backed by the castle walls.

We briefly toyed with the idea of visiting Ludlow Castle, but decided against it and just walked around the perimeter of which might be one of the finest medieval ruins in England, built by the Normans in the 11th Century to repel a Welsh invasion. After all, we're never far from the Welsh border here!

 

Hardly a day goes by when there isn't a market of some kind taking place on Castle Square. We were in luck as the Antiques and Collectors fair going on that day was obviously right up our street. It's on every 1st and 3rd Sunday, should you be interested.

We happily browsed the many stalls full of treasure, my first buys being the brooches made from old pottery shards on the bottom left. And I couldn't possibly walk past a display of vintage brooches on another stall, from which I selected the ones on the top right. My final purchase was the mystery object on the bottom right, which is a Bakelite darning mushroom!

On our way back, we passed Nina & Co., a collective shop in Church Street offering vintage fashion and decorative antiques. Here, I showed much restraint, until I was wowed by the Welsh tapestry handbag on the top left. 

The weather on Monday the 19th of June initially looked like a repeat of Sunday's, but turned out to have more sunny spells as well as a couple of showers in store for us. It was only a measly 17°C when we stepped out of the cowshed, so I went back inside to don a pair of tights. However, the mercury would eventually climb to 22°C, which at one point made me regret my decision.

We were off to Wales once more, to visit our 5th National Trust property, described by them as a "magnificent medieval fortress of the Welsh Marches". They certainly weren't wrong!

Completed by Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer in 1310, Chirk Castle near Wrexham, about an hour's drive from our cottage, is the last Welsh castle from the reign of Edward I still inhabited today.

Entrance is via Home Farm, where we sat out in the courtyard with a drink (mine a sparkly elderflower) to get our bearings. From here, the castle can be reached by walking 200 meters up a steep hill, the pathway taking you up through a wooded area. The less nimble can take a mini shuttlebus which runs up and down throughout the day.

On our way up, we made a short diversion to the recently established kitchen garden, which has a small orchard with picnic benches and vegetable plots with a range of vegetables in season that are sold through the shop.

The exact function of the semi-ruined hexagonal tower half-concealed behind trees is unknown but the most likely explanation is that it once served as a dovecote, the date of construction predating the mid-18th century.

Some potted history of the castle while we continue on our way! 

Started in the late 13th century, Chirk Castle was never planned as a family home. Instead, it was one of several medieval Marcher fortresses along the Welsh-English border, built to keep the Welsh under English rule. 

In 1282, when the English King Edward I defeated the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, he established the new Marcher Lordship of Chirklands. The Chirklands were granted to Roger Mortimer in recognition of his service in King Edward's wars against the Welsh and the Scottish, after which he built Chirk Castle in the late 13th century.

The castle then regularly changed hands between some of the most important men of the ages, usually granted to them in recognition of service and taken away again in disgrace. 

Sir Thomas Myddelton I was born in 1550, son of the governor of Denbigh Castle. With little hope of inheriting his father's position he left to make his fortune in London, which he did with remarkable success. In 1595 Sir Thomas bought Chirk Castle for £5000 with the intention of turning it into his family seat. In 1612, the castle passed to his son Sir Thomas Myddelton II.

In 1910 Thomas (Tommy) Scott-Ellis, 8th Lord Howard de Walden, fell in love with Chirk Castle, and negotiated a lease with the Myddelton Family, which continued until 1946. In 1946 Tommy left Chirk Castle and retired to his Scottish estates, dying that same year.

Chirk Castle has been owned and managed by the National Trust since 1981.

Almost there now! As it was past midday by now, we found a shady bench at the back of the castle to have our picnic of sandwiches loaded with big chunks of vintage Cheddar!

The final stretch of the uphill path circles the castle until the entrance is reached.  Here, a 17th-century stone bridge and archway lead you into a lovely courtyard, where an open door on the right-hand side beckons to explore the castle's interior. 

After leaving our walking sticks behind in the care of a volunteer - and almost forgetting to pick them up again later - we entered the ground floor Cromwell Hall, formerly the Servants' Hall.

Cromwell Hall, created in the 1840s by A.W.N. Pugin, with its curious mix of the medieval and the classical, doesn't fail to impress. 

The striking piece of folk art on the bottom left shows a view of Chirk Castle bordered with oak leaves. Dating from 1858, it was presented to the Myddelton family by William Roberts, the porter at Ruthin Castle, which was another family property. It was made by inlaying ebonised oak with delicate slivers of bone.

Contrasting with Pugin's neo-Gothic fantasy, the elegant neoclassical Grand Staircase was constructed in 1777-8 by Joseph Turner.

On the landing is an eight-foot elm and yew section of a pipe designed to carry London's first clean water supply completed in 1613 by the New River Company, founded by Sir Hugh Myddelton.

The State Rooms - Dining Room, Saloon and Drawing Room - were also created in a neoclassical design in the 1770s, but later Gothicised in the 1840’s, only to be returned to their classical elegance from the 1930s onwards by Tommy Scott-Ellis, 8th Lord Howard de Walden.

He and his wife Margherita, a fabulous party organiser and soprano singer, hosted glittering house parties in the 1930s, with Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw, Hilaire Belloc, Augustus John and a stream of musicians and actors on their guest lists. Today, the table is set out as if to receive such luminous guests, with 18th century Bohemian glasses and a fine mid-19th-century dinner service from Strasbourg.

The Saloon (above, top left and right, and bottom left) is another curious mixture of Turner's neoclassical style and Pugin's neo-Gothic. Turner's ceiling features scenes from Greek mythology, while the deep blue background and gilding were added by Pugin. 

On the bottom right is a glimpse of the Drawing Room which has similarly stunning blue and gold ceilings partnered with a sparkling chandelier. In a watercolour painting of the Drawing Room from 1862, the walls were covered with a red wall covering rather than the subdued wall paper that currently hangs in the room, which makes it somewhat plain when compared to the Saloon next door.

The imposing 30-metre Long Gallery fills the whole length of the East Range of the castle. 

One of its many treasures is the Kings Cabinet, traditionally said to have been given by Charles II to Sir Thomas Myddelton II in 1661, in thanks for his role in the Restoration of the monarchy. 

The 17th-century Dutch cabinet is made of ebony with tortoiseshell inlays and internal silver mounts with oil paintings on copper showing scenes of the life of Christ, the latter made in the Antwerp studio of Frans Francken the Younger.

The heavens, which had been darkening and threatening rain, had opened and dropped their liquid load while we were exploring the castle. Thankfully, it turned out to be only a short-lived shower and patches of blue had started to appear even before we'd made our way back outside. As exploring the gardens, and making our way towards the Hercules sculpture, which you might just be able to make out between the trees on top of the grassy incline (above, top left) we breathed sighs of relief.

But first we had a peek inside the Servants' Hall, and stopped for a round of cappuccinos and shortbread in the café located in the castle's historic kitchens on the other side of the courtyard.

One of the main attractions of Chirk castle are its award-winning gardens complete with clipped yew trees, rock garden, terrace, rose garden, pond and topiary, with  stunning views over the Cheshire and Shropshire plains. 

The gardens date back to 1657 but the view seen today is more reflective of the 18th Century when the garden and parkland was landscaped by William Emes.

In the 19th Century yew topiary, hedges and wrought iron gates were introduced, and then, under the guidance of Lord Howard de Walden in the early twentieth century, the celebrated gardener Norah Lindsay created a magnificent herbaceous border on the Upper Lawn.

Dotted around the formal gardens, there are several bronze nymph statues sculpted in the early 20th Century by Andrea Carlo Lucchesi.

Soon more clouds appeared and rain seemed once again imminent. But then we spotted what looked like the perfect shelter halfway across the lawns!

Hawk House was built in 1854 to an E.W. Pugin design. Originally a conservatory, Lord Howard de Walden added a thatched roof, to house birds of prey.

E.W. Pugin, by the way, is the architect son of A.W.N. Pugin who was responsible for Cromwell Hall. 

Pugin Jr. designed countless of churches and cathedrals, primarily in the British Isles. However, commissions for his exemplary work were also received from countries throughout Western Europe, Scandinavia and as far away as North America. We visited one of his works in Belgium, the Castle of Loppem, back in 2021 (see here).

We waited out another short-lived shower here, then proceeded towards the Farnese Hercules made in the workshop of John Nost (actually Jan Van Nost, as he was Flemish, born in Mechelen in 1655),  commissioned in June 1720. 

A striking lead figure set on a sandstone pedestal, 1.81 meters high, naked and leaning on his club draped in lion skin, he now looks out east towards Chirk village.

Hercules, however, is currently in his third location within the gardens. First of all, he was placed, a companion to another sculpture of the god Mars, at the entrance to the Castle itself. 

As part of William Emes’ work on the landscapes at Chirk, Hercules was removed from his original location to a prominent spur within the woodland of the estate. The fate of his companion statue is unknown, but overtime Hercules got "lost" in the woods, only to be rediscovered in 1983. He was installed in his present location in 1987, as an integral part of the eastern vistas to and from the castle and the gardens. 

We bade goodbye to Hercules, made our way back down the slope towards the garden and took the path leading us back to Home Farm. 

Purchases were made in the second-hand bookshop, while a browse in the shop in search of some thank-you presents for our loyal cat sitters, also yielded the felted daffodil and poppy brooches for my collection.

And with that, we've come to the end of another day. Please do tune in again for the next installment, in which we exchange country for town again, in a couple of days.