Gwrych - The Castle of Adventure

I didn't have anything planned for Sunday, so decided after a bit of thought to head over to Abergele for a look round the Grade I Listed Gwrych Castle. This isn't your typical 'pay £4 and look round the roped off rooms' sort of castle, as it is completely derelict! One of my favourite books as a child was The Castle of Adventure by Enid Blyton and Gwrych has always strongly reminded me of the long abandoned castle in that story.

Built in 1819 to a design by Thomas Rickman for the Bamford-Hesketh family, Gwrych was one of the largest private houses in Wales and, to this day, is a familiar landmark to anyone travelling along the A55 though Abergele, as you'll see the castle on the hillside at the rear of the town.

Truly vast...Gwrych Castle (Photo Credit)

Winifred, Countess of Dundonald, inherited Gwrych in 1894. She was forced into marriage with the Earl of Dundonald. After the Earl's many affairs and an affair with the Archbishop of Wales on her behalf, they parted company. Due to these disagreements, the Countess left Gwrych to the Prince of Wales. This offer was refused so Gwrych was left to the Church of Wales and St John of Jerusalem.

It was in 1925 when the Earl of Dundonald bought Gwrych back (for £78,000) to spite his wife. He sold the Castle's contents in 1928 to cover costs. In 1946, Gwrych left the family's hands for the last time when the 13th Earl of Dundonald sold Gwrych to a Mr Rennie. In 1948, Leslie Salts bought Gwrych and opened it up to the public for 20 years as an entertainment venue, with the tagline 'The Showplace of Wales'. It attracted over ten million visitors during that time.

The View from Gwrych (Photo Credit)

During the 1970s, Gwrych became a medieval themed attraction where markets were held and jousting took place on the site of the formal gardens and Conservatory to the West of the castle. Gwrych finally closed to the public in 1985, never to open again. The Castle passed into the hands of an American property developer called Nick Tavaliogne in 1989, who had the dream of restoring the Castle into a 5 star hotel and opera house. Legal problems persisted though; this dream never became a reality. Security guards left in 1995, leaving the Castle open to the elements and the vandals. Halifax based Clayton Hotels bought the Castle in 2007 for £850,000, with the aim of developing it as a 5 Star Hotel. They removed all of the debris from the building's interior and tidied up the grounds but all work stopped when they went bankrupt in August 2009. The castle was again sold in April 2010, with the purchaser, Edwards Property Management (UK) Ltd of Widnes, paying £300,000.

The castle once had a total of 128 rooms including the outbuildings, an Outer Hall, an Inner Hall, two Smoke Rooms, Dining Room, a Drawing Room, a Billiards Room, an Oak Study, a Breakfast Room, twenty-eight Bedrooms, eight Bathrooms, several domestic Offices, Servants Hall, Wine Cellar, Coal Cellar, Butlers Sitting Room, Strong Room, Electric service lift, private Electric Supply, Laundry room, Cesspit, Gas Plant, a Bothy, Saddle Room, four Garages, a Pet Cemetery, a Stable Block suitable for six horses, an Ice House, and a Washhouse. There are nineteen embattled towers and the whole façade is over 2000 yards.

Chapel & East Wing (Photo Credit)

It's a truly vast place, built to impress. A lot of the castellated walls and towers are fake, built purely for their aesthetic value. Although its called a castle and looks like a castle, its actually just a mansion, so the fortifications may look impressive but serve no defensive purpose. If they had of done, the castle might be in significantly better shape today, as the legions of vandals and thieves that have destroyed the interiors may not have been able to gain access!

All front..like a movie set (Photo Credit)

The actual mansion itself is situated in the middle of the run of battlements and is sadly now completely derelict, lacking floors, ceilings and a roof. As recently as the mid 1980s, I can remember visiting Gwrych when a Sunday market was held in its grounds and the castle building was completely intact, albeit slightly run down. Sadly, a succession of disinterested owners unwilling for pay for proper security have left the castle an ideal target for vandals and thieves who, between them, have stripped the entire building of anything of value and destroyed the remainder.

The main mansion at Gwrych (Photo Credit)


Inside the Mansion (Photo Credit)


Inside the mansion (Photo Credit)


Inside the Mansion (Photo Credit)


Inside the Mansion (Photo Credit)

One of the grandest features of Gwrych was its magnificent 52 step staircase (added in the 1870s), built out of white & green Italian marble at a cost of over £20,000 (a phenomenal amount in 1870!). Running down three floors of the building, the hallway it was situated in also had a number of high quality stained glass windows. This all survived into the 1990s, when the marble was all stolen and sold (allegedly by a party of new age travellers who had made the castle grounds their home). The stained glass windows were either smashed or stolen, even the ornate iron balustrades on the balcony section of the hallway were hacksawed through and stolen. There's not a lot left today, although you can still see the odd section of white marble that has escaped the attentions of thieves:

Not a lot left...the marble staircase at Gwrych (Photo Credit)

As it used to be...Marble Staircase in the 1960s

Surrounding the main mansion are many other buildings, including a Chapel, Stables Block, Conservatory (mainly demolished) and several other ancillary buildings. The formal gardens have now largely disappeared under undergrowth but there are still many pleasant paths winding through the gardens and woodlands. If you're feeling a touch more energetic, you can take the ten minute walk up to Lady Emily's Tower, which is situated on the hill behind the castle and has fantastic views over the coast:

Lady Emily's Tower (Photo Credit)


View from Lady Emily's Tower (Photo Credit)

You can view my full 100+ photo tour of Gwrych Castle & Grounds over on Flickr by clicking here.

Finally...a warning. Although the grounds at Gwrych are very pleasant to stroll around, the main mansion building is in a very dangerous state and I don't recommend anyone enters the building. Several areas of stonework have collapsed in recent years and it's only a matter of time before more comes down. I wouldn't like you to be standing underneath when that happens!

Lost Mansion of Hafodunos

Wandering just a touch further afield than usual, the blog takes a look at the Lost Mansion of Hafodunos.

Hafodunos in 1954

Since I was a child, I'd heard stories about the fabulous Grade I Listed Gothic mansion (designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and built between 1861-1866) high in the hills above Colwyn Bay. In the days before the Internet (remember them?), information about such places was scarce and it was only the odd news story in the North Wales Weekly News that provided any information. Even then, its actual location was a complete mystery and it was more by luck than planning that I caught sight of its high clock tower as I wandered along a back lane by Llangernyw in about 1997.

I took the opportunity to have a little wander around the outside of the mansion and a look through its Grade II Listed (but very overgrown) gardens. The terraced gardens are worth a visit by themselves; believed to contain over 1,200 species of exotic plants, many are said to have been planted by the botanist and horticulturalist Sir William Hooker or his son J. D. Hooker. Back in those days, the mansion was empty and, apart from some minor vandalism, was in fairly good condition. In fact, its condition was such that you could almost imagine that there was someone still living there, shades of Great Expectations!

In fact, the family that had built it (the Sandbachs) had long since departed and it had suffered a succession of institutional owners, culminating in a stint as a nursing home under the notorious ownership of Les Whittingham - a man from the Morecambe area who loved buying unusual buildings but who didn't like spending any money whatsoever on maintenance. The nursing home was eventually closed down by Clwyd County Council in the mid 1990s and it remained empty until Les Whittingham's death in about 1999. It was then put up for sale and was eventually sold to SFJ Limited, a Colwyn Bay property developer, who announced plans to develop the mansion into a luxury country house hotel, with about 90 log cabins in the grounds. The locals were none too keen on this plan and put up a spirited campaign of opposition. The battle between developer and community ended on the night of the 14th October 2004 when two youths broke into the mansion and set fire to it. Despite a determined effort by the Fire Service, the main section of the mansion was completely destroyed....

And there its history almost stops, for the mansion and its 50 acres of gardens were effectively abandoned and have been left to their gentle decline ever since. It's been up for sale for the last couple of years but no sale has been concluded, almost as if the Estate Agent didn't really want to sell it. In the meantime, the mansion itself deteriorates little by little every year and the brambles in the garden grow ever higher.

Update: January 2010: I hear that Hafodunos has finally been sold. I also understand that discussions have taken place with both Conwy Council (who are willing to issue a grant towards stabilisation works for the Hall) and CADW (regarding renovation grants). CADW have issued a grant of £21,000 for emergency stabilisation works.

I viewed the Estate twice in 2008; the full set of photos is on Flickr (see link at bottom of page) but here's a selection to give you a feel for how Hafodunos looks now. I thought it important to document it as fully as possible, before the decline becomes overwhelming:

Main frontage in 2008 (Photo Credit)

Side of the Mansion & Main Entrance in 2008 (Photo Credit)

The Conservatories in 2008 (Photo Credit)

Looking up at the ruined Clocktower in 2008 (Photo Credit)

A bas-relief by John Gibson 'Venus Kissing Cupid' (Photo Credit)

Beautiful hand carved stonework, depicting wild plants found in the gardens (Photo Credit)

A full set of photos taken on my visits to Hafodunos can be found on the Flickr website here.