Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw
Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, Llanbedrog
Although this grand Gothic building may look like a house, it was built for the art collection of Elizabeth, widow of Sir Love Jones-Parry. This family was the main landowner on the Llŷn Peninsula. The east window of nearby St Pedrog’s Church is a memorial to Sir Love.
Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw is Wales’ oldest art gallery, built in 1857. In 1896, Cardiff entrepreneur Solomon Andrews bought the building and developed it as a public gallery. He added a tea room and dance hall and developed the gardens. To improve accessibility, he constructed a tramway from the west end of Pwllheli to the gallery. The tramway closed in 1927 and its only surviving horse-drawn tram is displayed outside Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw.
The gallery (pictured left c.1920) closed temporarily in the Second World War, when the building was a hostel for the Women’s Land Army – women from all walks of life who became farmers to help the war effort. The Andrews family sold the property in 1945.
The gallery’s collection includes Swansea and Nantgarw porcelain, from the early 19th century, on long-term loan from the Andrews family. Pictured below is an example, known as “The Three Graces”. The gallery holds exhibitions of work by artists from Wales and further afield, as well as concerts and other events.
Also on loan to the gallery are two Latin-inscribed stones discovered c.6km away in the 1830s. They commemorate two Welsh saints who lived in the 5th or 6th century. They were left in situ until the 1890s, when they were sent to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. They returned to Llŷn a century later, following a local repatriation campaign.
“Oriel” is Welsh for gallery. “Glyn” = valley or glen. “Gweddw” = widow.
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Postcode: LL53 7TT
Website of Oriel Plas Glyn y Weddw – including detailed historical information
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