Recommendation

We were chatting about upcoming hols with some Mythago friends and when I mentioned Anglesey they suggested a nearby NT property which I hadn't heard of. No idea why they thought I might like a castle rammed with grotesques👹

Now this might look for all the world like a traditional castle and it is indeed called Penrhyn Castle. However, appearances can be deceiving and for a mere 100 million quid [it cost£123K at the time] you could recreate this fantasy building we have before you. It was the fantastical idea of George Hay Dawkins-Pennant who owned obscene amounts of wealth earned from the enslaved people toiling on his Jamaican plantations and his slate mining interests in Wales. With this money this is what he and his architect Thomas Hopper created. George was a devotee of the Norman style of architecture and looked to the many beautiful cathedrals we still admire today in this land for inspiration. Believe you me it's all here and more. As you walk through the main door into the cavernous great hall it is akin to standing in one of these great churches. It's such an assault on the senses that it literally takes your breath away. Did I love it? Definitely not. It was way too much with every surface carved and it lacks a depth to it that the old carvings had. It's almost like painting by numbers, but it is equally extraordinary. The ornate staircase alone took a decade to complete and the whole project ran from 1822-1837. Sadly George only lived in his masterpiece for three years before dying in 1840. Rather touchingly the arch of hands are copies of the masons who created this work. 

Would I recommend a visit? 100% My photos simply can't capture how excessive and manic it is and I, for one, have never seen anything that even comes close!

Arilx