Chirk (Welsh: Y Waun) is a town in the county borough of Wrexham, North Wales. The town is on the Welsh border near Oswestry.

Understand

Visitor information

Chirk Castle

• Chirk Visitor information website

Get in

By road

Chirk is on the A5 London to Holyhead trunk road, close to its junction with the A483 Swansea to Chester road.

By rail

• 1 Chirk station is on the Shrewsbury to Chester line. Arriva Trains Wales operate direct services to Chirk from Cardiff, Shrewsbury, Chester, Wrexham, Holyhead.

By boat

Chirk Marina is located on the Llangollen branch of the Shropshire Union Canal.

See

• 1 Chirk Castle (Castell y Waun), Chirk, LL14 5AF, ☏ +44 1691 777701, fax: +44 1691 774706, chirkcastle@nationaltrust.org.uk. Generally open in summer and December, with restricted opening at other times; check website. This magnificent late 13th-century castle is the last of its era in Wales still to be lived in. Look out for the imposing wrought iron gates. Apart from the castle, the gardens are a popular visitor attraction. £16 adult, £8 child.  
• 2 Chirk Aqueduct. 70-foot-high (21 m) high and 710-foot-long (220 m) navigable aqueduct that carries what is now the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley  
• 3 The Ceiriog Valley (Dyffryn Ceiriog). This beautiful valley follows the Afon Ceiriog river from its source in the Berwyn Mountains, 18 miles to its confluence with the River Dee at Chirk. Former UK Prime Minister (from 1916–22) David Lloyd-George described the valley as "A little bit of heaven on Earth", and it has changed little since his time. Despite its proximity to the A5, one of the main tourist routes into North Wales, the valley is little-known and rarely visited.  

Eat

• 1 Starfish, 25 West View, ☏ +44 1691 774569. Fish & chips. (updated Nov 2016)

Sleep

• 1 The Hand Hotel, Church St, ☏ +44 1691 773472. 
• 2 Moreton Park Hotel, Moreton Business Park, ☏ +44 1691 776666. 

Go next

• Oswestry
• Ellesmere
• Llangollen

Routes through Chirk

Snowdonia ← Llangollen ←	NW  S	→ Oswestry → Shrewsbury
Chester ← Wrexham ←	N  S	→ merges with