Screen Wall and Towers defining the S Stable Yard on the S side

Cadw's description

Location

The structure runs parallel to the S wing of the stables, on the lip of the escarpment

History

The structure was built from 1852-3 by Edward W Pugin, architect, at the time of his renovation and refacing of the stable blocks.

Exterior

The screen begins at the W with a small circular turret with conical roof at the top of the ramp wall. The screen wall to the next turret has a high parapet with wide spaced crenels above a raised walk along the rea which provides access to the two intermediate small rectangular towers with hipped slate roofs. Beyond the second tower, the screen wall follows the line of a large semicircular bastion, returning to the line at the E end, where there is a terminal turret, the wall returning to the end of the stable block.

Reason for designation

Included as a strong element in the ensemble of buildings at Chirk, in which the Teutonic Gothic style favoured by E W Pugin provides an appropriate link between the austere fortress-like character of the original castle, and its romantic setting above the valley, in the context of C19 gothic sensibilities.