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Tours > Wales > Penrhyn Castle
Penrhyn Castle
 At the junction of the A5 coming from Betws y Coed, and the main A55 coastal road from Bangor to Caernarfon (or Conwy), one can see on the shores of the Menai Strait, the massive bulk of Penrhyn Castle. Described by at least one travel writer as a "Cyclopean Edifice," and a "megalomanic's paradise," it is well worth a visit. The nearby Penrhyn Slate Quarries at Bethesda, now off-limits to visitors, form the largest open-cast system in the world, with a huge pit a mile long and 1200 ft deep hewn out of the terraces. The quarries were first developed in 1770 by Richard Pennant, who became the first Baron Penrhyn.
A special railway was built in 1801 to ferry the slate (for export) to Port Penrhyn, and for ten years, 1827-37, Thomas Hopper completed the Neo-Norman edifice for the enormously wealthy Pennant family, using local slate craftsmen. One of the Pennants was the second Baron Penrhyn, whose adamant refusal to give his quarrymen a decent day's pay resulted in the "Great Strike," the longest walk-out in the history of Britain's industrial relations. Beginning in 1900, it lasted three years. Its duration and eventual failure, caused insufferable damage to the local communities centered around Bethesda; they have never fully recovered.
A feature of the stupendous residence is the great slate bed, weighing some four tons, but there are many more attractions, including the Great Hall, the Ebony Room, and the Industrial Railway Museum in the stable yard, and the Doll Museum (containing some 1000 dolls in national costumes of countries around the world).
Next Stop: Aberconwy and Conwy
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