Penrhyn Castle

The Penrhyn estate was originally granted to Ednyfed Fychan, Seneschal to Llywelyn the Great, in the 13th century. By the early 15th century, his descendant Gwilym ap Griffith had consolidated the land and built a fortified manor house, which received a licence to crenellate in 1438. The estate passed through the Griffith and Williams families before being acquired by the Pennant family in the 18th century. Richard Pennant, who inherited wealth from his father, a Liverpool merchant, and his wife, Ann Susannah Warburton, consolidated the estate by 1785. He was elevated to the peerage as the 1st Baron Penrhyn in 1783 and used profits from his Jamaican slave plantations to expand the Penrhyn slate quarry and commission Samuel Wyatt to remodel the medieval house into a Gothick villa in the 1780s. Upon his death in 1808, the estate passed to his second cousin, George Hay Dawkins-Pennant, who received significant compensation following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 and commissioned Thomas Hopper to rebuild the house into a vast Neo-Norman castle. In 1840, the estate passed by marriage to Edward Gordon Douglas, who became the 1st Baron Penrhyn of the second creation in 1866. The Douglas-Pennants used the castle mainly as a summer residence and faced severe labor disputes, culminating in the Great Strike of 1900 to 1903, the longest industrial dispute in British history.

The interior of Penrhyn Castle holds an art collection of international importance, largely assembled by the 1st Baron Penrhyn of the second creation to provide an opulent setting for entertaining distinguished guests. The collection includes fine art, with notable works by Palma Vecchio and Canaletto. The interior decorative scheme itself constitutes a major holding of 19th-century craftsmanship, featuring ornate ceilings likely by Francesco Bernasconi, stained glass by Thomas Willement, and early 19th-century Chinese wallpapers. The castle also retains significant original furniture designed by Thomas Hopper, including slate pieces and bookcases shaped like ancient temples. Additionally, the Ebony Room preserves original late 17th- to early 19th-century wall coverings and curtains, along with ebony and ebonized wood furnishings. Although some items from the library have been sold, a core collection remains. The Douglas-Pennant family retained ownership of the art collection when the castle passed to the National Trust.

Among the most famous individual holdings at Penrhyn Castle is a one-ton slate bed made for Queen Victoria during her visit in 1859. The Drawing Room features one of the largest gilt mirrors in Britain, alongside vaulting, panelling, and furniture designed by Hopper. The Grand Hall is a double-height space resembling a church nave, complete with a triforium supported by compound columns and stained glass by Willement. The Grand Staircase rises the full height of the house, illuminated by an octagonal lantern and adorned with richly carved grey stone columns. The library retains its slate furniture and temple-shaped bookcases. In the stable block, the Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum housed industrial railway equipment, including the narrow-gauge steam locomotive Charles from the Penrhyn Quarry Railway. However, the museum closed in early 2024, with most locomotives relocated to other heritage railways to make way for a planned Industrial Penrhyn experience, though the Charles locomotive will be retained on site.

Built between 1820 and 1837, the castle is constructed in the Romanesque Revival style and incorporates elements of the earlier medieval and 18th-century structures. It stretches approximately 440 feet along a north-south axis, covers over an acre with roughly seventy roofs, and is the largest castle-style country house in Britain after Windsor Castle. The building consists of three main sections: a southern keep modeled on Hedingham Castle containing family apartments, a central block housing the state rooms, and a northern wing with service areas and stables. The imposing four-story keep is about 62 feet wide and 124 feet high with four corner turrets. Construction materials include local rubble masonry lined internally with brick and faced externally with Penmon limestone, also known as Anglesey marble. The stables court, designed to resemble a fortress gatehouse, accommodated up to 36 horses and included a coach house, smithy tower, and dung tower. The grounds feature Victorian gardens, specimen trees, a 100-metre-long Fuchsia Arch from the 1880s, a terraced walled garden, and a large underground reservoir from the 1840s holding 200,000 gallons. The park is listed at Grade II.