Conwy grave of Norman Stott

conwy_grave_norman_stottNorman Stott (d.1927)

Norman Stott was 23 years old when he died in a disastrous mountaineering trip not far from Conwy. His parents James and Caroline owned the Oakwood Park Hotel, a large building between Conwy and the Sychnant Pass.

On 20 November 1927 Norman and three others left a climbers’ hut beside what’s now the A5 west of Capel Curig. Their objective was Craig yr Ysfa, south east of Carnedd Llywelyn. The weather was poor. They completed their climb in darkness by the light of a lantern, which gave out as they descended along Bwlch Eryl Farchog.

One of the party, Arthur Taylor, stumbled into a lake, Llyn Ffynnon Llugwy. Norman waded in to rescue him. Both collapsed in exhaustion soon afterwards. Their companions, including the group leader, returned to the hut but controversially didn’t raise the alarm until the following morning. The bodies of Norman and Arthur were found, face down, in peat near the lake.

James Stott was a Conwy town councillor. He created the Oakwood Park Hotel as a place for wealthy visitors to stay. It had its own 18-hole golf course and a theatre, with stage scenery purchased from the Marquess of Anglesey.

In 1902 he was fined by the Court Leet of Nantconwy for taking gravel from the Conwy estuary foreshore. He died, aged 90, in 1934 and is buried here with Caroline. Before her death in 1947, the Oakwood Park Hotel was the wartime home of Rydal School. The school’s premises in Colwyn Bay were taken over by the Ministry of Food, evacuated from London in 1939.

Return to St Agnes Cemetery page