Marsh-Mel-O's Adventures: UK Road Trip Take Two

17th September

We had plans today to catch the train to the top of Snowdonia, one of the highest peaks in England, however due to the weather (fog) and the decreased visibility we decided against it. No point going up if there is nothing to see!! Instead we made the day trip out to Beaumaris and Beaumaris Castle.

We dawdled out to Beaumaris, taking in the small towns, shops and scenery as we drove. Beaumaris Castle was the last of Edward I’s great Welsh fortresses and was built to control the Isle of Anglesey. Although it was only completed long after Welsh resistance had been extinguished, it went on to play an important logistical role in the War of Three Kingdoms and remains a superb example of a castle built with concentric defences. It definitely was a beautiful castle, with moat still intact and working today!

We headed back off the headland after our tour of the Castle, stopping at a little pup called the Antelope for some lunch. After refuelling we headed out to the town of Bangor and Penrhyn Castle.

Penrhyn is one of the most admired of the numerous mock castles built in the United Kingdom in the 19th century. The castle is a picturesque composition that stretches over 600 feet from a tall donjon containing family rooms, through the main block built around the earlier house, to the service wing and the stables. The present building was created between about 1822 and 1837 to designs by Thomas Hopper, who expanded and transformed the original buildings beyond recognition. A spiral staircase from the original property can still be seen, and a vaulted basement and other masonry were incorporated into the new structure. Hopper's client was George Hay Dawkins-Pennant, who had inherited the Penrhyn estate on the death of his second cousin, Richard Pennant, who had made his fortune from slavery in Jamaica and local slate quarries. The cost of the construction of this vast 'castle' is disputed, and very difficult to work out accurately, as much of the timber came from the family's own forestry, and much of the labour was acquired from within their own workforce at the slate quarry. It cost the Pennant family an estimated £150,000. This is the current equivalent to about £49,500,000.

Unfortunately something we did not realise is that the castle rooms and majority of the grounds are closed to the public due to the Las Vegas film/TV company HBO currently undertaking filming! General speculation is, though no one would confirm, we were just on the set of Season Eight of Game of Thrones!!

After visiting the town of Bangor next to Penrhyn Castle, we headed home to start our packing for our ferry across to Ireland tomorrow. Our original ferry leaving at 1100 has already been cancelled due to weather conditions tonight and tomorrow morning of the incoming hurricane, so fingers crossed the 1400 ferry we have been moved too still runs!