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Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales

Sundial in the E Garden

Chirk, Wrexham, Wales

The record

Designation
Listed building, Grade II
Broad class
Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces
Date of designation
29 July 1998
Locality
Chirk Castle
Town
Wrexham
Community
Chirk
Unitary authority
Wrexham
Country
Wales
Coordinates
52.93471, -3.08918
Cadw reference
20238

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1608 "(13) Cambriae Typus." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

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This record in Cadw's own full report ↗

Cadw's description

The sundial is set in a pathway between the privy garden and the main top cross walk of the Eastern gardens of the Castle.

Probably one of the sundials recorded as having been made for the gardens in the C17 by William Probert, who, in 1696, was paid fifteen shillings 'for a pillar of ffreestone pedistall & broad stone to sett the diall in the Castle garden'.

A bold baluster shaft of stone with a necking ring and round ogee-moulded capital carrying a bronze plate and gnomon inscribed I MARK ONLY THE SHINING HOURS. The shaft stands on a moulded foot and is set on a circular slabbed stone platform.

Included as an early example of a baluster sundial, which became a favoured garden ornament in the C18; a component in the layout of the gardens at Chirk Castle.

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Designated Historic Asset GIS Data, The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), 2026-09-07, licensed under the Open Government Licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ Cadw, the Welsh Historic Environment Service · Open Government Licence v3.0
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