Travelling with Nick: Beeston Castle

Originally we were going to Cholmondeley Castle and Gardens for a Classic Car event to be held on Sunday 20th September. However, like so many similar events this year it had to be cancelled because of renewed Covid-19 concerns.

I had booked three nights at the Rossett Hall Hotel and I was going to make the most of it. We had intended to have a look at the Cholmondeley Castle Gardens while at the Classic Car event, so, now we could spend more time doing that and exploring the vast Cholmondeley Estate with all its magnificent features. But that was on Sunday, what were we going to do on Saturday? Well around the Welsh/English border (Flintshire/Cheshire) there are a number of former Norman castles to be explored. Chirk and Beeston, the first owned by the National Trust and the second by English Heritage, are the most notable. We chose Beeston, deciding that we could call into Chirk on our way home So, this is what we found at Beeston Castle -

Here is a summary of this magnificent (ruined) castle's history provided by English Heritage -

"Beeston Castle is one of the most dramatic ruins in the English landscape. Built by Ranulf, 6th Earl of Chester, in the 1220s, the castle incorporates the banks and ditches of an Iron Age hillfort. Henry III seized the castle in 1237 and it remained in royal ownership until the 16th century. In the Civil War it withstood a long siege in 1644–5, before being surrendered by the Royalists and partially demolished.".

And here are the photos that I took -