Penrhyn Castle
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Penrhyn Castle () is a
country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
in
Llandygai Llandygai (, ; ; also Llandegai) is a small village and Community (Wales), community on the A5 road (Great Britain), A5 road between Bangor, Gwynedd, Bangor and Talybont, Bangor, Talybont in Gwynedd, Wales. It affords a view of the nearby Car ...
, Bangor,
Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...
,
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
, constructed in the style of a
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
. The Penrhyn estate was founded by
Ednyfed Fychan Ednyfed Fychan ( 1170 – 1246), full name Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig, was a Welsh warrior who became Seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in Northern Wales, serving Llywelyn the Great and his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Ednyfed claimed descent fr ...
. In the 15th century his descendant Gwilym ap Griffith built a fortified
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
on the site. In the 18th century, the Penrhyn estate came into the possession of
Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (1737 – 21 January 1808) was a British politician who represented Petersfield and Liverpool in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1761 to 1790. He was the owner of Penrhyn Castle, an estate on the ou ...
, in part from his father, a
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
merchant, and in part from his wife, Ann Susannah Warburton, the daughter of an army officer. Pennant derived great wealth from his ownership of
slave plantation A slave plantation is an agricultural farm that uses enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...
s in the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
and was a strong opponent of attempts to abolish the slave trade. His wealth was used in part for the development of the slate mining industry on Pennant's
Caernarfonshire Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Geography The county ...
estates, and also for development of Penrhyn Castle. In the 1780s Pennant commissioned
Samuel Wyatt Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737 – 8 February 1807) was an English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was primarily in a neoclassical style. C ...
to undertake a reconstruction of the medieval house. On Pennant's death in 1808, the Penrhyn estate was inherited by his second cousin, George Hay Dawkins, who adopted the surname Dawkins-Pennant. From 1822 to 1837 Dawkins-Pennant engaged the architect Thomas Hopper who rebuilt the house in the form of a
Neo-Norman Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...
castle. Dawkins-Pennant, who sat as Member of Parliament for Newark and
New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...
, followed his cousin as a long-standing opponent of emancipation, serving on the
West India Committee The West India Committee is a British-based organisation promoting ties and trade with the Caribbean. It operates as a UK-registered charity and NGO (non-governmental organisation) "whose object is to promote the interests of agriculture, manufactu ...
, a group of parliamentarians opposed to the abolition of slavery, on which Richard Pennant had served as chairman. Dawkins-Pennant received significant compensation when, in 1833, emancipation of slaves in the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
was eventually achieved, through the passing of the
Slavery Abolition Act The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. The act was legislated by Whig Prime Minister Charles ...
. In 1840, the Penrhyn estate passed to Edward Gordon Douglas, through his marriage to Dawkins-Pennant's elder daughter, Juliana. Douglas, who assumed the name Douglas-Pennant, was elevated to the peerage as 1st
Baron Penrhyn Baron Penrhyn is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of Ireland in 1783 in favour of Richard Pennant, who had previously served as a Member of Parliament for Petersfield and Liverpool. This creation bec ...
of the second creation in 1866. He, and his son and heir,
George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn George Sholto Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn (born Douglas; 30 September 1836 – 10 March 1907) was a British peer and landowner who played a prominent part in the Slate industry in Wales, Welsh slate industry as the owner of the Pen ...
, continued the development of their slate interests at Penrhyn Quarry, and of the supporting infrastructure throughout North-West Wales. Firmly opposed to
trade unionism A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
at their quarries, their tenure saw bitter strikes over union recognition and workers' rights, culminating in the Great Strike of 1900–1903, the longest dispute in British industrial history. Little development took place at the castle, which was not the family's principal residence and was mainly used as a holiday home in the summer months, but the interior was enhanced by Edward Douglas-Pennant's creation of a major collection of paintings. These provided the setting for entertaining guests, who included
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
, her son the
Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...
and
William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
. The castle passed from the family to the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
via the
National Land Fund The National Land Fund of the United Kingdom was a sum of money held by HM Treasury for the purpose of securing culturally significant property for the nation as a memorial to the dead of World War II. It was created in 1946. Proposed by Chancel ...
in 1951. Penrhyn Castle is a
Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
, recognised as Thomas Hopper's finest work. Built in the
Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...
style, it is considered one of the most important country houses in Wales and as among the best of the Revivalist castles in Britain. Its art collection, including works by
Palma Vecchio Palma Vecchio ( – 30 July 1528), born Jacopo Palma, also known as Jacopo Negretti, was a Venetian painter of the Italian High Renaissance. He is called Palma Vecchio in English and Palma il Vecchio in Italian ("Palma the Elder") to distingu ...
and
Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of cityscapes or ...
is of international importance. In the 21st century, the National Trust's attempts to explore the links between their properties and
colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...
and historic slavery have seen the castle feature in the ensuing
culture war A culture war is a form of cultural conflict (metaphorical " war") between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology (moral beliefs, humane virtues, and religious practices) upon mainstream society, or upon ...
s.


History


Early owners

In the 15th century, the Penrhyn estate was the centre of a large landholding developed by Gwilym ap Griffith. The land had originally been granted to his ancestor
Ednyfed Fychan Ednyfed Fychan ( 1170 – 1246), full name Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig, was a Welsh warrior who became Seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in Northern Wales, serving Llywelyn the Great and his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Ednyfed claimed descent fr ...
,
Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...
to
Llywelyn the Great Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (, – 11 April 1240), also known as Llywelyn the Great (, ; ), was a medieval Welsh ruler. He succeeded his uncle, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, as King of Gwynedd in 1195. By a combination of war and diplomacy, he dominate ...
. Despite losing his lands temporarily during the
Glyndŵr Rising Glyndŵr, also spelled Glyndwr, may refer to: * Owain Glyndŵr – Medieval Welsh prince and leader ** Glyndŵr rebellion – 15th century Welsh uprising * Glyndŵr (district) – District of Wales (1974–1996) ** Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr ( ...
, Gwilym regained them by 1406 and began the construction of a fortified
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
and adjoining chapel at Penrhyn, which became his family's main home.


17th and 18th centuries

The fortunes of the Pennant family were begun in the late-17th century by a former soldier, Gifford Pennant. Settling in
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, he built up one of the largest estates on the island, eventually comprising four or five slave plantations for the cultivation of
sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
. His son,
Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...
, rose to become
Chief Justice of Jamaica Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...
and by the beginning of the late 18th century the family had accumulated sufficient funds to return to England, invest their profits in the development of their English and Welsh estates, and manage their West Indian properties as
absentee landlord In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 b ...
s. Edward's grandson,
Richard Pennant Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (1737 – 21 January 1808) was a British politician who represented Petersfield and Liverpool in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1761 to 1790. He was the owner of Penrhyn Castle, an estate on the o ...
(1737–1808), acquired the Penrhyn estate in the 18th century, in part from his father, John Pennant, a Liverpool merchant, and in part from his wife, Ann Susannah Pennant, the only child of Hugh Warburton, an army officer. Richard expended his sugar profits on the creation and subsequent development of his North Wales estate, centred on Penrhyn. Recognising the potential for the industrialisation of slate production, he greatly expanded the activities of his main slate mine, Penrhyn Quarry, and invested heavily in the development of the transportation infrastructure necessary for the export of his slate products. A major road-building operation culminated in the creation of
Port Penrhyn Port Penrhyn () is a harbour located just east of Bangor in north Wales at the confluence of the River Cegin with the Menai Strait. It was formerly of great importance as the main port for the export of slate Slate is a fine-grained, foli ...
on the North Wales coast as the centre of his operations that saw the Bethesda quarries become the world's largest producer of slate by the early 19th century. The profits from sugar and slate enabled Pennant to commission
Samuel Wyatt Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737 – 8 February 1807) was an English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was primarily in a neoclassical style. C ...
to rebuild the medieval house as a "castellated Gothic" castle. Richard Pennant was elected Member of Parliament for
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, and sat for the city until elevated to the
Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...
as 1st
Baron Penrhyn Baron Penrhyn is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of Ireland in 1783 in favour of Richard Pennant, who had previously served as a Member of Parliament for Petersfield and Liverpool. This creation bec ...
in 1783. Between 1780 and 1790 he made over thirty speeches defending the slave trade against abolitionist attacks, and became so influential that he was made chairman of the
West India Committee The West India Committee is a British-based organisation promoting ties and trade with the Caribbean. It operates as a UK-registered charity and NGO (non-governmental organisation) "whose object is to promote the interests of agriculture, manufactu ...
, an informal alliance of some 50 MPs dedicated to opposing abolition.


19th and 20th centuries

George Hay Dawkins-Pennant George Hay Dawkins-Pennant (born George Hay Dawkins; 20 February 1764 – 17 December 1840) was a British politician who represented Newark and New Romney in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1814 to 1830. Early life George Hay ...
(1764–1840) inherited the Penrhyn Estate on Richard Pennant's death in 1808. He continued the approach adopted by his second cousin: developing the Penrhyn Quarry; opposing the abolition of slavery; serving in Parliament; and building at Penrhyn. Dawkins-Pennant's ambitions for his castle, however, far exceeded those of Richard Pennant for his: the building that Thomas Hopper created for him between 1820 and 1837 is one of the largest castles in Britain. The cost of the construction of this vast house is uncertain, and difficult to quantify as many of the materials came from the family's own forests and quarries and much of the labour from their industrial workforce.
Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...
's estimation suggests the castle cost the Pennant family around £150,000, equivalent to some £50m in current values. The German aristocrat and traveller
Hermann, Fürst von Pückler-Muskau Prince Hermann Ludwig Heinrich von Pückler-Muskau (; born as Count Pückler, from 1822 Prince; 30 October 1785 – 4 February 1871) was a German nobleman, renowned as an accomplished artist in landscape gardening, as well as the author of a ...
recorded his visit to Penrhyn in his memoirs, ''Tour of a German Prince'', published in 1831. He noted the ingenious design of the
bell pull A bell pull is a woven textile, pull cord, handle, knob, or other object that connects with a bell or bell wire, and which rings a service bell when pulled. Bell pulls may be used to summon workers in homes of people who employ butlers, housema ...
s: "a pendulum is attached to each which continues to vibrate for ten minutes after the sound has ceased, to remind the sluggish of their duty." He was even more impressed by the scale of Dawkins-Pennant's ambition; reflecting that castle building, which in the time of
William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
could only be carried out by "mighty" kings, was by the early 19th century, "executed, as a plaything, — only with increased size, magnificence and expense, — by a simple country-gentleman, whose father very likely sold cheeses." The elder of Dawkins-Pennant's two daughters, Juliana, married an aristocratic Grenadier Guardsman, Edward Gordon Douglas (1800–1886), who, on inheriting the estate in 1840, adopted the hyphenated surname of Douglas-Pennant. Edward, the grandson of
James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton, KT, FRS (1702 – 12 October 1768) was a Scottish peer and astronomer who was president of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh from its foundation in 1737 until his death in 1768. He also became preside ...
, was created the 1st
Baron Penrhyn Baron Penrhyn is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of Ireland in 1783 in favour of Richard Pennant, who had previously served as a Member of Parliament for Petersfield and Liverpool. This creation bec ...
(second creation) in the
Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great B ...
in 1866. In accordance with his father-in-law's wishes, he assembled a major collection of pictures for the castle. He was succeeded by his son,
George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn George Sholto Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn (born Douglas; 30 September 1836 – 10 March 1907) was a British peer and landowner who played a prominent part in the Slate industry in Wales, Welsh slate industry as the owner of the Pen ...
, in 1886. He was, in turn, succeeded by his son, Edward Douglas-Pennant, 3rd Baron Penrhyn, who lost his eldest son, and two half-brothers, as casualties in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
Hugh Douglas-Pennant, 4th Baron Penrhyn Hugh Napier Douglas-Pennant, 4th Baron Penrhyn (6 August 1894 – 26 June 1949) was a British nobleman and army officer. Life He was the second of two surviving sons born to Edward Douglas-Pennant, 3rd Baron Penrhyn, and Blanche Georgiana FitzRo ...
, who inherited the title and estates in 1927, died in June 1949, when the castle and estate passed to his niece, Lady Janet Pelham, who, following family tradition, adopted the surname of Douglas-Pennant. In 1951, the castle and 40,000 acres (160 km2) of land were accepted by the Treasury in lieu of
death duties International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and prop ...
, and ownership was transferred to the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
.


21st century

The National Trust has held custodianship of Penrhyn Castle since its transfer by the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
in 1951. It has worked to conserve the house and its setting, and to develop its attraction to visitors. In 2019/2020 Penrhyn received 139,614 such visitors, an increase over the two previous years (118,833 and 109,395). In the 21st century, the Trust has sought to develop its understanding and coverage of the links between the house and colonialism and slavery (see below). The Trust's 2022 Penrhyn Castle website records: "we are accelerating plans to reinterpret the stories of the painful and challenging histories attached to Penrhyn Castle. This will take time as we want to ensure that changes we make are sustained and underpinned by high quality research." A large collection of Douglas-Pennant family papers is held by
Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...
and was catalogued between 2015 and 2017.


Slavery and slate


Slavery

For much of the 20th century, conservation bodies such as the Trust largely ignored the issues of slavery and colonialism in relation to their properties. This position began to change at the very end of the century. In 1995, Alaistair Hennesey published a pioneering article on Penrhyn and slavery in ''
History Today ''History Today'' is a history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and publishes articles of tradit ...
''. Of Penrhyn, Hennesey wrote, "there is no building which illustrates so graphically the role which slave plantation profits played in the growth of British economic power." In 2009 the Trust organised a symposium, ''Slavery and the British Country House'', in conjunction with
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
and the
University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...
, which was held at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
. At the conference
Nicholas Draper Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In turn, the name ...
(inaugural director of the
Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, formerly the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, is a research centre of University College, London (UCL) that focuses on revealing the impact of Slavery ...
), discussed the records of the Slave Compensation Commission and their value as a research tool for exploring links between the slave trade and the
country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
. In 2020, the Trust published its ''Interim Report on the Connections between Colonialism and Properties now in the Care of the National Trust, Including Links with Historic Slavery''. The appendix to the report recorded that George Hay Dawkins-Pennant was compensated under the
Slavery Abolition Act 1833 The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. The act was legislated by Whig Prime Minister Charl ...
for being deprived of 764 slaves, being paid £14,683 17s 2d. The report itself provoked a strong reaction. The Common Sense Group of
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
MPs challenged the Trust's priorities; writing in a joint letter to ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'', "History must neither be sanitised nor rewritten to suit 'snowflake' preoccupations. A clique of powerful, privileged liberals must not be allowed to rewrite our history in their image." The columnist Charles Moore decried the report and stimulated criticism across a range of British media outlets. A complaint against the Trust's report was lodged with the
Charity Commission The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government that regulates registered charities in England and Wales and maintains the Central Register of Charities. Its counterparts in Scotland and ...
. Olivette Otele, Professor of Colonial History and the Memory of Slavery at the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
, explored the
dominant narrative Dominant narratives, sometimes called dominant cultural narratives, are frequently-repeated stories that are shared in society through various social and cultural institutions. The term is most frequently used in pedagogy, the study of education. Do ...
presented at Penrhyn after a visit in 2016. She examined the prevalent history of the Pennants as social, industrial and agrarian improvers and noted the absence of discussion of the slave-owning origins of their wealth. In 2020, the naming of a road in
Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...
as ''Ffordd Penrhyn'' provoked protests over the perceived links with Penrhyn Castle, "the capital of slavery in Wales." Although it had already begun consideration of the links between its properties and the British colonial heritage, the
murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...
and subsequent
Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
demonstrations, including the toppling of the
statue of Edward Colston A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture ...
, led the Trust to acknowledge that these protests had given their efforts a greater impetus. Writing at the time of the interim report's publication, Dr Katie Donnington wrote of the Trust's approach, "Is it
scone A scone ( or ) is a traditional British and Irish baked good, popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is usually made of either wheat flour or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often ...
s and tea and a bit of
Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...
-type fantasy? Does it do critical social history? Or is it a place of escapism where there is a resistance to being confronted with the unsettling realities of
empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
, race and slavery?"


Exhibitions

The castle has held several exhibitions that highlight its connections with slavery and colonialism. In 2007, coinciding with the bicentenary of the abolition of the
Slave Trade Act Slave Trade Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to the slave trade. The "See also" section lists other Slave Acts, laws, and international conventions which developed the conce ...
, staff at Penrhyn Castle developed an exhibition, ''Sugar and Slavery – The Penrhyn Connection'', funded by the
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
. The exhibition included contributions from children in Jamaica, England, and Wales, and from local interest groups. It was accompanied by programming in the form of study days, art sessions, and community outreach. The exhibition remained on display after 2007; however, by 2014, it had been shrunk to a small space off the main visitor route.   In 2018, an art piece by
Manon Steffan Ros Manon Steffan Ros (born 19 January 1983) is a Welsh novelist, playwright, games author, scriptwriter and musician (being one half of the acoustic duo 'Blodau Gwylltion'). She is the author of over twenty children's books and three novels for adul ...
, ''12 Stori'', was installed, which touched on the Pennants’ enslavement of African people. According to the Trust's researcher Eleanor Harding, over the six months it was displayed, the Penrhyn staff and volunteer team felt insufficiently confident and knowledgeable to present this history sensitively and appropriately. In 2019, there were two items on display in the castle that explicitly represented the Pennants’ Jamaican plantations: a pair of paintings presenting idealised scenic views of their “Pennants” and “Denbigh” estates, painted by a J.C.S. in 1871. The image depicted in “Denbigh” features
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
and shows a sugar processing factory in the background, with figures labouring in the fields in front. Harding states that "...the inconspicuous position of these paintings in the castle, with no written interpretation to attract a visitor’s attention, uggeststhat most people idnot notice them", and that many visitors in 2019 left the castle without gaining an understanding of Penrhyn's historical ties to slavery, according to an evaluation of the experience through on-site interviews of visitors. In 2020, a castle-wide exhibition called ''Beth yn y Byd / What a World: A Creative Look at Penrhyn’s Culture of Colonialism'' was installed. The exhibition team intended that, by displaying poetry alongside highlighted objects, visitors would be encouraged to look closely and consider a different way of understanding items that they would previously have considered only as a contribution to the overwhelming whole of Penrhyn’s decorative schemes. Harding of the National Trust explained that the aim of the exhibition was to place "the crucial role of empathy and emotion" at the centre of the audience’s engagement with the castle's history.


Slate

The Great Strike of 1900–1903 at the Penrhyn Quarry was the longest labour dispute in British history, and left a legacy of lasting bitterness. Its origins lay in earlier instances of industrial unrest relating to the refusal of Lord Penrhyn and his agent to recognise the
North Wales Quarrymen's Union The North Wales Quarrymen's Union (NWQU) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded on 27 April 1874 at the Queen's Hotel, Caernarfon after a month of discussions between quarrymen from Dinorwic and other supporters ...
. In 2018 local
Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...
councillors accused the Trust of failing to fully recognise the contribution of slate workers to the castle's history. The 120th anniversary of the strike saw the opening of a commemorative trail, ''Slate and Strikes'' in Bethesda. The
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
reported that some inhabitants of the town still declined to visit Penrhyn Castle and resentment against the Douglas-Pennants remained into the 21st-century.


Art collection

Penrhyn Castle houses one of the finest art collections in Wales, with works by
Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of cityscapes or ...
, Richard Wilson,
Carl Haag Carl Haag (20 April 1820 – 24 January 1915) was a Bavarian-born painter who became a naturalized British subject and was court painter to the duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Biography Haag was born in Erlangen, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, and ...
,
Perino del Vaga Piero Bonaccorsi (1501 – October 19, 1547), known as Perino (or Perin) del Vaga, was an Italian painter and draughtsman of the Late Renaissance/Mannerism. Biography Perino was born near Florence. His father ruined himself by gambling, and b ...
, and
Bonifazio Veronese Bonifazio Veronese, born Bonifazio de' Pitati (1487 – 19 October 1553), was a Venetian Renaissance painter who was active in the Venetian Republic. His work had an important influence on the younger generation of painters in Venice, particu ...
. The collection formerly included a
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
, ''
Portrait of Catharina Hooghsaet ''Portrait of Catharina Hooghsaet (1607–1685)'' is a 1657 painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt. Painting The painting was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1915, who wrote: Full length; life size. She sits in an arm-chair, on which both ...
''. In 2007 the painting was put up for sale. The Dutch Culture Ministry tried to buy it for Amsterdam's
Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...
in 2007, but could not meet the £40m asking price. The painting was subsequently sold to an overseas collector after the lifting of an export ban. In 2016 it was placed on loan to the
National Museum Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
for a period of three years. The collection was almost entirely the work of Edward Douglas-Pennant, who began collecting paintings in the middle of the 19th century; the collection was catalogued by his granddaughter, Alice Douglas-Pennant. His interests were predominantly Dutch landscapes, Spanish pictures and Italian ''
sacra conversazione In art, a (; plural: ''sacre conversazioni''), meaning "holy (or sacred) conversation", is a genre developed in Italian Renaissance painting, with a depiction of the Virgin and Child (the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus) amidst a group of sain ...
''. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
a large number of pictures from the
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
were stored at the castle to avoid
the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
. Ownership of the art collection at Penrhyn remained with the Douglas-Pennant family after the castle passed into the ownership of the Trust. Elements have passed directly to the Trust over the following seventy years as the family have ceded ownership in lieu of
inheritance tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pro ...
. Ten paintings were transferred in this way in 2008. In 2016 some forty further works were accepted by the Welsh Government and now form part of the permanent collection.


Architecture and description


Overview and architectural style

Penrhyn is among the most admired of the numerous mock castles built in the United Kingdom in the 19th century; Christopher Hussey called it, "the outstanding instance of Norman revival." The castle is a
picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...
composition that stretches over from a tall
donjon A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residenc ...
, or keep, containing the family rooms, through the main block built around the earlier house, to the service wing and the stables.
Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins FLSW (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust f ...
draws comparisons with
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...
,
Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much la ...
and Eastnor. Haslam, Orbach and Voelcker, in their 2009 volume ''Gwynedd'' in the Pevsner Buildings of Wales series, describe it as "one of the most enormous houses in Britain" and note its "wholeheartedly Romanesque" style. Coflein records that Hopper and Dawkins-Pennant selected the Neo-Norman, or
Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...
style, as opposed to the increasing fashionable
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
. Pevsner describes the castle as "a serious work of architecture", noting the "dauntingly fine masonry" construction. Hopper designed all the principal interiors in a rich but restrained Norman style, with much fine plasterwork and wood and stone carving. The castle also has some specially designed Norman-style furniture, including a one-ton slate bed made for
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
when she visited in 1859. The diarist Charles Greville recorded his impressions after a visit in 1841: "a vast pile of a building, and certainly very grand, but altogether, though there are some fine things and some good rooms in the house, the most gloomy place I ever saw, and I would not live there if they made me a present of the castle". Some modern critics have been similarly unimpressed; in his study ''The Architecture of Wales: From the First to the Twenty-First Centuries'', John B. Hilling describes the castle as "nightmarishly oppressive, a most uninviting place to live". Thomas Hopper (1776–1856) made his reputation as architect to the
Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...
for whom Hopper designed a conservatory in the
Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...
at
Carlton House Carlton House, sometimes Carlton Palace, was a mansion in Westminster, best known as the town residence of George IV, during the regency era and his time as prince regent, before he took the throne as king. It faced the south side of Pall M ...
. He was a versatile architect, whose dictum, "it is an architect's business to understand all styles, and to be prejudiced in favour of none", saw him build in the Neo-Norman style, at Penrhyn and at
Gosford Castle Gosford Castle is a 19th-century country house situated in Gosford, a townland of Markethill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was built for Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, and designed in the Romanesque Revival architecture in the Un ...
in Ireland; the
cottage orné dates back to a movement of "rustic" stylised cottages of the late 18th and early 19th centuries during the Romantic movement, when some sought to discover a more natural way of living as opposed to the formality of the preceding Baroque and Neo ...
style at
Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...
;
Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...
at
Margam Castle Margam Castle, Margam, Port Talbot, Wales, is a late Georgian country house built for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot. Designed by Thomas Hopper, the castle was constructed in a Tudor Revival style over a five-year period, from 1830 to 1835. ...
;
Palladianism Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
at
Amesbury Abbey Amesbury Abbey was a Benedictine abbey of women at Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, founded by Queen Ælfthryth in about the year 979 on what may have been the site of an earlier monastery. The abbey was dissolved in 1177 by Henry II, who founded ...
; and
Jacobethan The Jacobethan ( ) architectural style, also known as Jacobean Revival, is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the Engli ...
at
Llanover House Llanover House, Llanover, Monmouthshire, Wales, was a country house dating from the mid-19th century. Commissioned by Augusta Waddington, and her husband Benjamin Hall, later Baron Llanover, the house was designed by Thomas Hopper and was larg ...
. Penrhyn Castle is generally considered to be his best work.


Exterior

The castle is arranged in three main parts: the
donjon A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residenc ...
, modelled on
Hedingham Castle Hedingham Castle, in the village of Castle Hedingham, Essex, is arguably the best preserved Norman keep in England. The castle fortifications and outbuildings were built around 1100, and the keep around 1140. However, the keep is the only ma ...
in
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, which contained accommodation for the Pennant family; the central block which contains the state rooms; and the service wing and stables. The castle runs on a north–south axis. The scale is immense, its seventy roofs cover an area of over an
acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
, and its length, at , which makes it impossible to be viewed in its entirety, disguises variations in the plan caused by the Pennants' desire to incorporate, rather than demolish, elements both of the original medieval house, and Wyatt's earlier castle. The main building material is local
rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
, lined internally with brick and externally with
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
. The
masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...
is of exceptional quality. The main entrance to the castle is by way of a long drive which transverses the length of the castle before doubling back and passing through a
gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...
into a ''
cour d'honneur A court of honor ( ; ) is the principal and formal approach and forecourt of a large building. It is usually defined by two secondary wings projecting forward from the main central block ('' corps de logis''), sometimes with a fourth side, co ...
'' in front of the central block.


Interior


Grand Hall

The house is entered through a low entrance gallery. This leads into the Grand Hall, which Pevsner considers "a strikingly inventive piece of architecture". Of double height, it resembles the
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
or
transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
of a church. The ceiling forms a
triforium A triforium is an interior Gallery (theatre), gallery, opening onto the tall central space of a building at an upper level. In a church, it opens onto the nave from above the side aisles; it may occur at the level of the clerestory windows, o ...
supported by compound
column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...
s. The hall acts as a junction, to the left entry is to the keep and the family apartments, to the right, the service wing, and ahead stand the state apartments of the main block. A 20th century critic described it as, "about as homely as a railway terminus, admirably suited to house an exhibition of locomotives, or outsize dinosaurs." The stained glass is by
Thomas Willement Thomas Willement (18 July 1786 – 10 March 1871) was an English stained glass artist and writer, called "the father of Victorian stained glass", active from 1811 to 1865. Life Willement was born at St Marylebone, London, the son of Thomas Wi ...
.


Library

Mark Purcell, in his 2019 study, ''The Country House Library'', describes the library at Penrhyn as "not just gargantuan, but exotically and astonishingly opulent." The room is very large and bisected by four, flattened arches. These are
plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
, as is the ceiling, but grained and polished to appear as wood. Their decoration, and the design of the arches, draws on that found at the genuinely
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
St Peter's Church, Tickencote St Peter's Church, Tickencote is a Church of England parish church in Tickencote, Rutland. Apart from the chancel arch and the sexpartite vaulting in the chancel, which are Norman architecture, Norman and date from the mid 12th century, the bui ...
in
Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...
. The room contains a
billiard table A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, Pool (cue sports), pool, Russian pyramid, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface us ...
constructed entirely of slate and a range of bookcases and furniture designed by Hopper. Haslam, Orbach and Voelcker consider the library the precursor for a long subsequent history of "masculine rooms ormillionaires". The room still contains the basis of a "good gentleman's library", despite sales of some of the most important and valuable books in the 1950s.


Drawing Room and Ebony Room

The Drawing Room is the reconstructed
Great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...
of the medieval house, which Samuel Wyatt had previously incorporated into his late 18th-century remodelling. It follows the library in its
vaulting In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
and
panelling Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity ...
but the decorative style is lighter and more feminine, reflecting its use as a domain for the female members of the Pennant household. Much of the furniture is again by Hopper. The room has large gilt mirrors at either end. The author
Catherine Sinclair Catherine Sinclair (17 April 1800 – 6 August 1864) was a List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and children's writer, who departed from the moralising approach common in that period. She is credited with discovering that the author o ...
, who visited in the 1830s, described one as "the largest mirror ever made in this country". The Ebony Room is named for its
ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...
panelling and furniture, although much is in fact ebonised rather than real.


Dining Room and Breakfast Room

These two rooms served a range of purposes. Their primary function as rooms for consumption alternated depending on whether the Pennants were receiving guests; the larger and more formal Dining Room was used when they were, the Breakfast Room when the family was alone at the castle. Their secondary function was to serve as picture galleries for much of the large collection of paintings assembled by Edward Douglas-Pennant; the other main reception rooms offering little space for picture hanging due to their design and decoration.


Grand Staircase

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...
considers the Grand Staircase, "in many ways the greatest architectural achievement at Penrhyn." It took over ten years to construct, rises the full height of the house culminating in a
lantern A lantern is a source of lighting, often portable. It typically features a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle, a oil lamp, wick in oil, or a thermoluminescence, thermoluminescent Gas mantle, mesh, and often a ...
, its only illumination, and is built of a variety of grey stones decorated with "an orgy of fantastic carving". Haslam, Orbach and Voelcker think it Hopper's ''tour de force'' and see parallels with the contemporaneous approach in
Gothic Literature Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean m ...
, "antiquarian and anarchic, intended to play on the emotions as novels and poems were doing in words."


Bedrooms

The keep provided accommodation for the family, and important guests, arranged as a series of suites on each of its four main floors. In one of these is the slate bed, intended to accommodate
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
on her visit in 1859, but within which she refused to sleep. Many of the rooms are carpeted with high-quality
Axminster Carpets Axminster Carpets Ltd is an Axminster, Devon based English manufacturer of carpets, particularly the same-named Axminster carpets. Background Whilst visiting Cheapside Market, London, Devon-based weaving, weaver Thomas Whitty was impressed by a ...
and with walls papered in handmade Chinese wallpaper.


Service structures

Even by the standards of large, highly variegated, 19th-century
country houses 300px, Oxfordshire.html" ;"title="Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire">Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a To ...
, Penrhyn is exceptionally well provided for through its range of service buildings. Rooms within the house include a butler's pantry, a
servants' hall The servants' hall is a common room for domestic workers in a great house, typically referring to the servants' dining room. If there is no separate sitting room, the servants' hall doubles as the place servants may spend their leisure hours and s ...
, offices for the
estate manager A property manager or estate manager is a person or firm charged with operating a real estate property for a fee. The property may be individual title owned or owned under the sectional title, share block company owned, and may be registered for ...
and the housekeeper, and the kitchen, with separate
still room The still room is a room for preparing household compounds, found in most great houses, castles or large establishments throughout Europe, dating back at least to medieval times. Stillrooms were used to make products as varied as candles, furnitu ...
,
pantry A pantry is a room or cupboard where beverages, food, (sometimes) dishes, household cleaning products, linens or provisions are stored within a home or office. Food and beverage pantries serve in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. Etymol ...
and
pastry Pastry refers to a variety of Dough, doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury Baking, baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often descr ...
room. Many functions are allocated their own towers, all designed by Hopper to reinforce the impression of a multi-turreted castle. These include the ice tower, the dung tower and the housemaids' tower. The stables are similarly designed to present the appearance of a fortress gatehouse. On the wider estate are located an extensive Home Farm and a range of gate lodges. Not all of these structures have appealed to architectural critics.
Mowl Machine interpretation of documents and services in Semantic Web environment is primarily enabled by (a) the capability to mark documents, document segments and services with semantic tags and (b) the ability to establish contextual relations betw ...
and Earnshaw, in their study of lodges and gatehouses ''Trumpet at a Distant Gate'', are particularly dismissive of Hopper's Grand Lodge, and of Hopper more generally. The lodge is condemned as "misapplied
historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...
" while Hopper himself is censured as a model for the then-coming generation of Victorian architects, his career demonstrating how to "gain a whole world of rich commissions by eclectic dexterity, and still lose his own soul."


Historic listing designations

The castle is a
Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. Its
Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...
listing designation describes it as "one of the most important country houses in Wales; a superb example of the relatively short-lived Norman Revival of the early 19th century and generally regarded as the masterpiece of its architect, Thomas Hopper." Other listed structures within the estate, all of which are Grade II with the exception of the Grand Lodge which is designated Grade II*, include: the Grand Lodge itself, the Port Lodge and its walls, the Tal-y-bont Lodge, the walls to the flower garden, the relocated remnants of the original medieval chapel, a
bothy A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Sco ...
and its walled garden, an estate house, the estate manager's house, the estate kennels, nine buildings at the home farm, and the wall surrounding the park.


Gardens and grounds

The castle grounds are an example of the
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
style of gardening, with specimen trees, rhododendra, and much planting. A conifer was planted by Queen Victoria and another by Queen
Elisabeth of Romania Elisabeth of Romania (Elisabeth Charlotte Josephine Alexandra Victoria; , , Romanization, romanized: ''Elisábet''; 12 October 1894 – 14 November 1956) was the second child and eldest daughter of Ferdinand I of Romania, King Ferdinand I an ...
. There is a substantial home farm. The gardens contain a large underground
reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
, constructed in the 1840s and with a capacity of 200,000 gallons (900 cubic metres). Its purpose is uncertain, it may have been for use by the castle's in-house
fire brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...
in the event of a fire. The park is listed Grade II* on the
Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and ...
. The castle and its grounds are part of the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
, the
Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then rapidly during the Industrial ...
.


Other


Railway Museum

The
Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum The Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum () is a museum of industrial railway equipment, located at Penrhyn Castle near Bangor, Wales, Bangor in Wales. In the nineteenth century, Penrhyn Castle was the home of the Pennant family (from 1840, the Dougl ...
was a narrow gauge railway museum. The Pennant's slate quarry at Bethesda was closely associated with the development of industrial
narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...
s, and in particular the
Penrhyn Quarry Railway The Penrhyn Quarry Railway was a narrow-gauge railway in Caernarfonshire (now Gwynedd), Wales. It served the Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda, Gwynedd, Bethesda, taking their slate produce to Port Penrhyn, near Bangor, Gwynedd, Bangor. The railway w ...
(PQR), one of the earliest industrial railways in the world. In 1951 a museum of railway relics was created in the stable block. The first locomotive donated was ''Charles'', one of the three remaining
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
s working on the PQR. A number of other historically significant British narrow-gauge locomotives and other artefacts have since been added to the collection. In 2024 the museum was closed and the Trust announced plans to redevelop the stable block as a new exhibition space, "Industrial Penrhyn", with a greater focus on those parts of the collection that have direct connections to the Penrhyn Estate. The new exhibition space was due to open at the end of 2024. The redevelopment saw the Trust disperse the majority of the railway stock to other museums in the United Kingdom.


Popular culture and events

In 2014,
Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...
used Penrhyn as the location for their filming of
Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
's opera ''La chute de la maison Usher'', based on
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
's story ''
The Fall of the House of Usher "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in ''Burton's Gentleman's Magazine'', then included in the collection ''Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'' in 1840. The short stor ...
''. It has also been used as a television filming location. A
parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5K run, events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across five continents. Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinto ...
takes place in the grounds of the castle each Saturday morning, starting and finishing at the castle gates. The fee to enter the castle grounds is waived for runners.


Gallery

File:Penrhyn Castle - Exterior 2 (10357694196).jpg, Penrhyn Castle - exterior File:Castell Penrhyn (48395015587).jpg, Penrhyn Castle - exterior File:Penrhyn Castle Wales 003.jpg, The Grand Staircase File:Penrhyn Castle - geograph.org.uk - 3716925.jpg, Penrhyn Castle in 2011 File:Penrhyn Castle Wales 011.jpg, Carved stonework on the Grand Staircase File:Castell Penrhyn (48395193827).jpg, The Drawing Room File:Castell Penrhyn (48395087721).jpg, The Library File:Castell y Penrhyn Bangor Gwynedd 12.JPG, The Grand Lodge File:The Victorian Walled Garden at Penrhyn Castle - geograph.org.uk - 4538504.jpg, The Victorian Walled Garden


See also

*
Castles in Great Britain and Ireland Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 105 ...
*
List of castles in Wales Wales is sometimes called the "castle capital of the world" because of the large number of castles in a relatively small area. Wales had about 600 castles, of which over 100 are still standing, either as ruins or as restored buildings. The ...
*
List of gardens in Wales This is a list of notable gardens in Wales, open to the public either regularly or by appointment. Anglesey * Carreglwyd, Llanfaethlu * Cestyll Garden * Plas Cadnant * Plas Newydd Carmarthenshire * Aberglasney Gardens *Dinefwr Park * ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * *   * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Penrhyn Castle information at the National Trust
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1837 Mock castles in Wales Gardens in Wales National Trust properties in Wales Historic house museums in Wales Museums in Gwynedd Castles in Gwynedd Country houses in Wales Llandygai Grade I listed buildings in Gwynedd Toy museums in Wales Grade I listed museum buildings Registered historic parks and gardens in Gwynedd Romanesque Revival architecture in the United Kingdom