Penrhyn Castle, Bangor
The Wales Coast Path runs along the northern edge of Penrhyn Park, developed by a family which made a fortune from sugar plantations worked by slaves and from slate quarrying.
The park and Penrhyn Castle are managed by the National Trust but there’s no direct access from the coast path. Follow the link below for visiting information.
Part of the castle can be glimpsed from the coast path, at the top of the grassed slope. Below the coast path are the ruins of a marine bath, built for the castle’s occupants in the 18th century.
Penrhyn Castle replaced a manor house which was enlarged and fortified c.1440. The current castle was built from 1822 to 1837 for George Hay-Dawkins Pennant. He had married into the Pennant family, which owned the Penrhyn estate. It also owned sugar plantations in Jamaica which Gifford Pennant had started developing in the 17th century.
The estates were inherited by Richard Pennant. He was a Liverpool MP who frequently spoke in Parliament in support of slavery, from which he and the city both benefited financially. Richard, the 1st Baron Penrhyn, owned almost 1,000 slaves by 1805. He died in 1808 and his estates passed to George.
After Britain abolished slavery in 1833, the government compensated slave owners for their freed slaves. George had to release 764 slaves, on four Jamaican estates. For this he received almost £14,700 compensation, c.£1.8m today. The slaves received no compensation.
George died in 1840 and his vast wealth passed to his daughter Juliana and her husband Edward, who was made Lord Penrhyn in 1866. The drawing of Penrhyn Castle c.1840 is shown here courtesy of the National Library of Wales
From 1782, successive members of the family developed the Penrhyn quarry, near Bethesda, into the world’s largest slate quarry. They also funded or gifted land for many roads, houses, places of worship and schools.
Sources include the Centre for the Study of Legacies of British Slave-ownership, and the National Trust
Postcode: LL57 4HT View Location Map
Visitor information and more history – National Trust website
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