20224

 

II  

Designated  

29/07/1998  

29/07/1998  

Upper Terrace Wall at Whitehurst Gardens  

 

Wrexham  

Chirk  

Wrexham  

Whitehurst  

328811  

340045  

N  

Whitehurst gardens adjoin the Holyhead Road c150m NW of the roundabout at the N end of Chirk.  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

 

Whitehurst Gardens, also known variously as Black Park Garden and Chirk Castle Garden, were laid out c1651 at considerable personal expense by Sir Thomas Myddleton II (1586-1666) as a pleasure garden for himself and in which to entertain important visitors passing along the Holyhead Road. The walled area extended to 12 acres. Major-General James Berry stayed in 1656, and later circuit judges found it an amenable place to stay. The Duke of Beaufort, Lord President of Wales made a halt here when passing through Wales in 1684, when his equerry describes the 'Admiral Walled GARDEN of Trees, Plants, Flowers and Herbs of the greatest rarity, as well forreigne as of Great Britain, Orrenge and Lemon Trees, the sensitive Plant, &c, where, in a Banquetting-house, a Collation of choise Fruit and Wines was lodged by the sayd Sr RICHARD MYDDLETON to entertein his Grace in this his flourishing Plantation'. Some fruits and vegetables were grown (a fig tree purchased in 1653, and 'sparrowgrasse' [asparagus] in 1658). The gardens also contained deer and fishponds as well as various garden buildings including summerhouses for which weathercocks were bought in 1653. The gardens are illustrated on the Badeslade and Toms engraving of Chirk Castle of 1723, before they were extended to the N and W in 1765. They were gradually compromised from 1906, including the building of 20 houses in the eastern sector for Black Park Colliery in 1931, but the walls, terraces and the impressively large mount survive.  

On of three intermediate terrace walls within the gardens, against which fruit was grown, are sinuous (not concentric as in the Badeslade/Toms print), the upper one partly of stone with a later underground heating system. A door from a well in the upper terrace has a a reset keystone over, inscribed TM 1651.  

 

Included as an important and early pleasure garden constructed during the Civil War by a strong supporter of the Parliamentarian cause, and of which the layout is still distinctly discernable. Of group value with the other terrace walls and the garden buildings within the enclosing walls of the gardens.