Llys Llewelyn & Castlebank footnotes
Llys Llywelyn and Castlebank Hotel, Mount Pleasant, Conwy
These buildings were originally villas, built in the mid 19th century. The architectural style, featuring stepped (or crow) gables, pays homage to Plas Mawr, the Tudor mansion within the walled town. The land belonging to the houses originally stretched down to the railway boundary.
Llys Llywelyn means Llywelyn’s court. The name reflects the connections between Conwy and Llywelyn Fawr (Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Wales) in the 13th century.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries bought Castlebank in 1923 for £1,200. For 50 years Castlebank was the UK’s main centre for research on bivalve shellfish (e.g. oysters and mussels). The first head scientist there was Robert William Dodgson, who developed a new system of purifying mussels in seawater sterilised with bleach. His research led to the opening of the first mussel purification plant, commonly called “the Tanks”, at Benarth Road.
The Conwy mussel fishery had closed in 1912 following cases of food poisoning. Dr Dodgson was awarded the OBE for his scientific work on mussel cleansing, which led to improved commercial shellfish production and better public health. He was related to Lewis Carroll, whose classic book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was inspired by a girl called Alice Liddell (who took her summer holidays in West Shore, Llandudno).
Castle Bank became the Castlebank Hotel in the 1970s. A Channel 4 documentary programme, called ‘Risking It All’, recorded the work of Joanne and Henrique Fino to upgrade and reopen the hotel after becoming its fifth owners in July 2003. Originally screened in May 2004, the programme attracted over 3 million viewers and was also shown in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.
FOOTNOTES
Previous Castle Bank occupants have said they believe the house was occupied in its early days by a doctor of divinity, and at some point housed a divinity school.
In 1871 the house was occupied by Thomas Jones, a timber merchant from Llanrwst, his wife Catherine, and their 9 children.
In 1881 the Squires family lived at Castle Bank. Horace Squires was an estate agent from Liverpool and lived here with his wife Eliza, their five children, a governess, a cook and a housemaid.
In 1891 a retired turpentine distiller, Robert Houlgrave from Lancashire, his wife Emma, and sister in law, Claire Dorrington, lived here, with a cook and housemaid. At some point Emma made a generous donation which contributed to the building of the Catholic Church, St Michael’s, on Rosemary Lane, Conwy. A plaque at the entrance to the church recognises her contribution.
More on the research centre:
In 1918 the Board of Agriculture & Fisheries took over the running of the mussel tanks at Benarth from the Conwy Corporation and Dr R W Dodgson moved to Castle Bank, where he worked until 1937 when he retired. Castle Bank was equipped with a laboratory, a library on the second floor, tank rooms in the basements, and offices at the top. Its staircases were widened. To see a photo of Dr Dodgson in Conwy, click here.
Work on oyster breeding continued during the Second World War, with H P Sherwood and R E Savage carrying out the research in the mussel tanks. During the war part of Castle Bank was also used as the local Public Health laboratory, whose staff remained there until 1948.
In 1953 Dr H A Cole took charge of the Ministry’s shellfish work and had his office on the first floor in Castlebank. A new annex was built. At that time there were about 15 scientists and support staff studying oysters, mussels, shrimps, shellfish pests, marine algae and sewage bacteria. The team included the late Dr Peter Waine. A Bangor University alumnus, he became a world leader in oyster rearing and shellfish hatcheries.
Since it was impractical to modify Castle Bank into a modern laboratory, a decision was made to build new research facilities at Benarth Rd. The scheme was not fully realised until 1976, when Castle Bank was sold by the government and became a hotel.
http://www.castlebankhotel.co.uk/
Postcode: LL32 8NY