Penrhyn Castle

I have wanted to visit this National Trust property for more years than I care to remember, we finally made it last Saturday just a few hours before my sojourn in the big house (hospital) in Wrexham!

I must admit that I went with mixed feelings knowing that the property was constructed with wealth created by working people (literally) to death in Jamaican sugar plantations and local slate quarries. The benefactor culprit was George Hay Dawkins-Pennant, the property was built to impress his business associates and boy did he succeed. I have rarely been so impressed by a property as this. The outside is extremely grey and foreboding having been built in a neo norman style. Inside it's a different story, simply stunning and other superlatives immediately spring to mind.

The house (for it is a house and not a castle) which was completed around 1837 took 27 years to construct at a cost of around £150k. Today that equates to about £50m although with the level of detail and opulence on display I imagine it would be impossible to reconstruct this for anything like that figure. The irony is that the family only used to occupy this property for around three months a year (no wonder we have such a dislike of second homes in Wales).

However I fell in love with this property and hope to return as soon as the weather improves (the house closes in early November until the Spring). Another plus point were the National Trust volunteers, it was plain to see that they were passionate about the house and very interesting to talk to. I have not found this to be the case in all NT properties.

In the picture above:

Top left: Rear entrance to the property, can you believe this is the back door?
Top right: Ceiling above one of the staircases by Italian plasters, the only part of the entire property not constructed by local craftsmen.
Bottom left: Formal dining room - quite spectacular.
Bottom right: Detail over the main door to the entrance hall, the whole property is covered in such carvings.

Anyone still with me and would like a little more information please click here or here.

See it a little closer or press L