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Penrhyn Castle

📍 Gwynedd, Wales

4.5 ★★★★½ 4,500 reviews

About

Penrhyn Castle is a country house in Llandygai, Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales, constructed in the style of a Norman castle. The Penrhyn Estate was founded by Ednyfed Fychan. In the 15th century his descendant Gwilym ap Griffith built a fortified manor house on the site.

Built 1820-1833 for George Hay Dawkins-Pennant using profits from the massive Penrhyn slate quarry and Jamaican sugar plantations worked by enslaved people. Designed by Thomas Hopper in an extraordinary Norman Revival style. Contains a one-ton slate bed made for Queen Victoria (she refused to sleep in it). The stable block houses a railway museum with industrial locomotives. The castle was the scene of a bitter 3-year quarry workers' strike (1900-1903). National Trust since 1951.