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NT Penrhyn Castle
We had glimpses of what looked like the keep of Penrhyn, rising out above the canopy of the trees, as we travelled in and out of Bangor, where the castle is located on the outskirts of the town. Little did we know, that what we could see was only a small part of this amazing property. Being located where it was I had visions of it being just the keep, the rest of the property possibly in ruins. How far from the truth could my thoughts have been. As you walk up the tree lined drive way from the visitor centre, taking in the amazing vistas, ahead and to the right that open up before you, the trees to your left clear and what you see on the hillside before you is this marvellously created facsimile of a castle, battlements, turrets and even archery slots, with grand imposing gateways. All to a design, an idea for a residence, never ever a castle which had to face marauders, or attacks of any kind. A fantasy castle in this area of Wales with so many of the genuine articles closeby. If the sheer scale and realistic appearance of the castle wasn't sufficient to impress then the interior certainly was. Pam & I just did not expect the degree of wealth and opulence shown throughout the interior. A real surprise - an hidden gem in the National Trust property portfolio.
Above: First impressions as you approach along the driveway from the visitor centre. The imposing grey brick castle, not built to defend attacks from an invading army, just to look impressive. Then Pam & I standing in front of the huge and imposing gatehouse, not the entrance to the house but the gated approach to the courtyard and stables. The house entrance can be seen in the last picture just to the right at the base of the keep.
Had you approached the house, as an invited guest, in its heyday, by carraige, you couldn't fail to be impressed. Where we walked you would have been driven on a road just above the walkway, once more initially through trees, with the castle, suddenly appearing to your left as the trees cleared. You would then appear to be being driven away from the property, with infront of you amazing panoramic views of the Orme, the bay and the surrounding Snowdonian hills and mountains. You would turn again to your left and now be dwarfed by the sheer scale of the walls of the building as you made your way up to the house entrance, passing through an arched and turreted gatehouse, before arriving at the quadrangle infront of the main entrance, where your driver would pull around to stop at the main doors - how to impress and on a grand scale. The house/castle was built between 1820 and 1833 for George Hay Dawkins, the first cousin of Richard Pennant, On the death of Richard, George inherited extensive lands in North Wales and in Jamaica. On his inheritance he added the name Pennant to his own, thus becoming George Hay Dawkins Pennant. He commisioned the then famous architect Thomas Hopper to design the castle. Hopper also had an involvement in the design and manufacture of the furniture, much of which was produced locally. Despite the grandness of the property the sad reality is that the business interests - slate mining in particular and its development was financed through the slave economy.
The inside of the house amazed, it couldn't fail, when you compare, despite its scale, the starkness of the grey castle walls, with the sumptousness of the inside. The sheer scale of the grand hall, its height, the detail in the ceiling and the huge decorated columns, very impressive.
Above: Pictures of the entrance hall, which hopefully depicts the scale of the room.
From the hall you could access various other areas of the house. The keep, the library and study, the dining room or a set of even more elaborate gothic stairs leading to the upper floors. On our first visit, yes, so impressed and unable to fit all the rooms in , we visited again, you progressed from the hall into the library and were immediately impressed by the richness of the suroundings, enhanced by the rich golden brown colouring of the columns, roof and woodwork. The columns are made to look like the finest italian marble but are infact cleverly created out of wood. Despite the warmth radiated from the room simply through the lighting, it would be amazing to see the room when lit by a roaring log fire. The room was large, and naturally filled with extremely comfortable furniture, numerous elaborate pillar tables with intricate marquetry inlays.
The library/study with its golden brown colouring and intricate detailing in the ceiling. Needless to say the rest of the rooms we were able to visit were equally impressive. On climbing the gothic staircase you jostled with people who had stopped mid climb, eager to join them to take in the various intricate features that had been incorporated into the columns and the capitals. One of the reasons for returning for a second visit was the fact that on the day we first visited it was extremely busy, many families with youngsters which meant queues to visit Harrisons Garden, a special exhibition taking place in parts of the keep, we were also running late and way past lunch, so drastically cut short the visit in favour of food. We hadn't arrived at the house until just before 12, when the doors officially open but decided not to go in at that time as there was a very long queue already waiting. We decided that Ben and I would go off to visit the Railway museum, which we did whilst Pam sat and rested. Neither of us expected what was in the museum, we were both pleasantly surprised and as a result of the mixture of trains and artefact on display ended up being there longer than expected. A remarkable collection of standard and narrow gauge trains, coaches and wagons, video displays and excellent scale models. We finally realised how long we had been and made an hasty return to Nana, where we immediately went into the house. Hence us having to skip the exhibition and some of the rooms.
Above:Picture of another room, then the private church. Pam & I posing in the very ornate corridor, note the intricate detail in the ceiling arches. Then pictures of the Gothic staircase with intricate detail from within one of the capitals.
Above: The reasons for our late entry into the house and then the rush to get lunch. A small, but interesting collection of well maintained standard gauge locos. In addition to these there was a working display, sadly not on the day we attended otherwise we may have never got into the house, of narrow gauge engines and rolling stock. The collection of narrow gauge stock originated from the slate works which, the family operated at nearby Bethesda.
On our second visit we benefitted as we missed access to the keep on our earlier visit. Only the ground floor was open, but sufficient to see the scale of the rooms and the views that each provided out over the countryside. We made short work of the ground floor rooms making a beeline for the Harrisons Garden exhibition, which we accessed from the first floor at the end of the grand corridor. The Harrisons Garden is an exhibition devised and organised for the National Trust by designer Luke Jerram. It is an homage to the famous Yorkshire inventor and clockmaker John Harrison. The garden, established on the upper floors of the keep building consist of numerous clocks laid out as plants, which you wander through as you would a real garden. There are thousands of clocks, of all shapes and sizes, from the small to grandfather and grandmother clocks, arrayed as plants. Very clever display - an igenious way to show clocks. After the clocks we descended to the ground floor to take in the two rooms we had bypassed, the dining room and the study. The dining room is as you would expect very large and impressive, with the table laid out in readiness for a special event. Information from the volunteer was that HM Queen Elizabeth 2 has partaken of a meal within the room.
Above: Pictures of Harrison's garden, laid out on the bare floor boards of rooms in the keep ay Penrhyn Castle. Finally the dining room and its ornate ceiling. I wonder where HM 2 sat, hopefully not with her back to the view!
A very interesting property - an amazing building both inside and out, a fascinating railway collection and all within beautiful grounds. A must, for any Trust members to visit.