Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Summary Description
Reference Number
20237
Building Number
Grade
II
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
29/07/1998
Date of Amendment
29/07/1998
Name of Property
Statue of Hercules
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Wrexham
Community
Chirk
Town
Wrexham
Locality
Chirk Castle
Easting
327128
Northing
338068
Street Side
Location
Hercules is now sited on the axis of the E axial view from the castle where it passes through woodland.
Description
Broad Class
Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces
Period
History
The figure, commissioned by Sir Robert Myddleton in June 1720, was one of two, the other being Mars, both being sited in the forecourt of the castle flanking the approach to the barbican, and within the iron gates. He is not present in Tilleman's painting of the front of the castle of c1720, but appears in the Badeslade print of 1742. At the re-landscaping of the park in 1770 undertaken by William Emes, a pupil of Launcelot Brown, Hercules was moved to the E arm of Deershed (Deerslidd) Wood and later lost. He was recovered in 1987 and restored, the armature replaced with stainless steel, and resited in the present position on an artificial eminence on the lime avenue on the eastern axis, a vista originally established by Sir Thomas Myddleton in the formal landscaping work of 1653. The sculptor, once believed to be Van Nost, is not recorded.
Exterior
A copy of the Farnese Hercules, naked, standing in an attitude of repose. The over-life sized figure is cast in lead, and leans on a tree-stump over which his lion skin is draped. His club leans on the stump. He is mounted on a base, inscribed SIGNUM HERCULIS DEFATIGATI IN AEDIBUS FARNESIIS ROMAE GLYCONIS ATHENIENSIS MANU ELABORATUM. In 1983 he was mounted on a new stone die, on the E face of which is inscribed the intriguing couplet HEROS MULTIVAGUS. / LIQUIDUM TRANS AET / HERA.VECTUS.AMPH / ITRYONIADES.EN RE/ NOVATUS ADEST. MC / MLXXXVII.
Interior
Reason for designation
Included as an impressive early C18 garden sculpture designed for Chirk Castle, despite being extensively restored and resited.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]
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