Entrance Gate to Hawarden Castle

The Entrance Gate to Hawarden Castle is an imposing gateway built in a castellated style. Constructed by Sir Stephen Richard Glynne II, it serves as one of a pair of entrance gates to the new Hawarden Castle, with the other gate located immediately to the east of the house. The gates are attributed to John Buckler, who depicted the eastern gate in a watercolour dated 1819.

The gateway is made of uncoursed sandstone and features a large central Gothic archway that is chamfered and has false machicolations above. It is topped with a crenellated parapet supported by moulded brackets and adorned with moulded copings. Flanking the entrance are diminutive turrets that have blind arrow slits and coped, crenellated battlements resting on simple corbels. Inset coats of arms are positioned at the springing of the archway, and there are contemporary studded and panelled gates.

The battlemented curtain walls curve in an arc to the east and west. To the east, the wall ends in a large shaped gable, which forms the end wall of a terrace of stone cottages (see Nos 4-30 Glynne Way). The structure includes two blind slits in the wall and three windows; two of these are leaded, with one being a later addition, while the other is a single light leaded window. To the west, a similar stretch of wall extends for approximately 20 feet before it returns. A squatter, ashlar wall of similar design, featuring three blind slits, continues westward from this point and is capped by a similar crenellated turret.

Surrounding the banked forecourt are contemporary squat retaining walls made of stone, which feature regularly spaced miniature crenellated turrets and copings.