End of an era as historic Chirk estate changes ownership after more than 500 years

The Myddelton family - once the owners of Chirk Castle - had also owned estate land in the area since Elizabethan times.

It has now emerged that a private sale of the property comprising the former Myddelton Estate in Chirk was completed between the Myddelton family and Kronospan Property Limited in December 2021.

The sale was agreed as part of the decision by the Myddelton family to end its long association with the estate at Chirk.

In a statement issued this week, the Kronospan group said the estate was being operated as a separate business to its factory in Chirk which makes wood-based products.

A spokesperson said: "Kronospan Property values the continuity of the activities undertaken on the estate and the previous tenants have remained at the transferred properties.

"We will operate the estate as a separate business to the manufacturing plant operated by Kronospan Limited in the local area.

"It has been renamed as the Maesgwyn Estate to reflect the change of ownership."

The land does not include Chirk Castle and its grounds. That was bought by the state though the National Land Fund in 1978 and is managed by the National Trust.

For a time the Myddelton family which had lived in the castle since 1595 still occupied a private wing there.

However, a decade ago, Guy Myddelton announced that they were leaving because there were simply too many visitors for bringing up a family.

The castle itself was one of many border castles built during the reign of Edward I, with Edward Mortimer being granted the first lordship in 1282, although the building of the castle wasn't begun until c1295. There had been a number of other owners when in 1595 it was purchased by an Elizabethan merchant called Thomas Myddelton.