Virtual Portmeirion Castell Deudraeth Historical Photos

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Castell Deudraeth

Historical Photos

"The largest and most imposing building on the Portmeirion Estate" Clough Williams-Ellis, 1932
Castell Deudraeth is situated within the grounds of Portmeirion, set upon a level site, with the ground rising to the rear and falling to the front, on the raised promontory between the Glaslyn and Dwyryd estuaries. The core of Castell Deudraeth is probably an 18th Century cottage which was enlarged in the early 19th century into a substantial mansion known as Bron Eryri. In 1841 it was acquired by David Williams (1799 - 1869), an attorney, landowner and first liberal MP for Meirioneth. During the 1850s he enlarged and converted it into a castellated edifice which he renamed Castell Deudraeth. The name derives from the original Castell Deudraeth built c. 1175 by Clough's ancestor Gruffydd ap Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd on an escarpment above the estuary which now overlooks Portmeirion village.
David Williams' architect, who has not identified, was clearly influenced by John Nash's castle-house. The plan is of villa type with a small number of principal rooms, and the service range forms part of the towered and crenelated main front. The eclectic Gothic and Tudor architectural features include a vaulted porch with sliding wrought-iron doors reminiscent of a portcullis and a baronial hall fireplace flanked by Owain Glyndwr to the left and Dafydd y Garreg Wen (the blind harper) to the right. The elegant Victorian solarium will be reinstated to adjoin the entrance hall and dining room.
While David Williams was building Castell Deudraeth, Mr Westmacott and the Sir William Fothergill Cook were both spending fortunes at Aber I‚, the old house which later became Clough's main hotel building on the shore.
The Castell is constructed of pointed stone walls and is roofed in slate pitches falling to valley and parapet gutters with the main drainage falling to a central point at the centre of the building. This arrangement has caused many of the building's problems. Clough bought it in 1931 from the trustees of the estate of his uncle Sir Osmond Williams, Bt., MP, Lord Lieutenant, and Constable of Harlech Castle. He was aware that the building had both wet and dry rot - his uncle 's trustees had previously asked him to advise them how to treat it. With the roof as it was there was little he could do and the problem remained. He wrote an account of the castle in Portmeirion: The Place and its Meaning (1963): "My uncle, being also County Member and consequently much in London, sometimes let the place, only keeping a small but charming house down by the sea where his grandson, the present Sir Osmond, still lives. His Castle tenants were often a sore trial to the rather jealously watchful owner, as lunatics might well be - for I recall it let for some years as a private asylum. It was when I heard that the estate's trustees were considering an offer to purchase the place as an institution for the treatment of delinquent youths of low intelligence that I thought I had to intervene and bought it in self-defense."

The first mention of the original Castell Deudraeth was by Giraldus Cambensis in 1188 on his tour through Wales with Archbishop Baldwin: "We crossed the Traeth Mawr and the Traeth Bychan. These are two arms of the sea, one large and one small. Two stone castles have been built there recently. The one called Castell Deudraeth belong to the sons of Cynan and is situated in the Eifionydd area, facing the northern Mountains." Clough salvaged the strewn stones from his ancestor's castle and used them as the basis for the Bell Tower at Portmeirion. The present Castell Deudraeth, however, is one of a series of nineteenth-century mock-castles strung along the north Wales coast. Its 1850s conversion was rather late for a Gothic castle-house, but the building was an expression of the owner's belief in his noble ancestry. Sited within the grounds of Portmeirion, on the Penrhyndeudraeth promontory, it is set on a level site, with the ground rising to the rear and falling to the front between the two estuaries. The property is approached over the main driveway through the Portmeirion estate. The whole is set with an adjacent gravel forecourt, with lawns to the front linking to formal gardens to the west. Clough's plan for the garden dated 1911 is his earliest drawing relating to what was to become the Portmeirion estate and its completion in tandem with the restoration of Castell Deudraeth will fulfill his vision for Portmeirion.
The purchase of Castell Deudraeth and its grounds in 1931 added substantially to Clough's Portmeirion Estate. He bought it to protect the woods and farmland surrounding his existing holding and to gain the access driveway. Likewise he had bought the Parc and Croesor Estate some years earlier: "I added a couple of adjoining and very beautiful properties that included the twin mountain summits of Moelwyn and Cnicht and the seventeenth-century manor house of Parc, since they had widely advertised as promising areas for mineral prospecting and development. Some day it is to be hoped, really informed and sympathetic State protection may make natural beauty less precariously dependent on private piety." (Architect Errant 1971). Both Brondanw Estate and Portmeirion are owned by the Second Portmeirion Foundation, a registered charity. Clough's concern for conservation was evident in his own properties and he believed that being owned by a Charity would help to ensure their long term preservation for the enjoyment of future generations. In 1973 the buildings at Portmeirion were given Grade II listed status and in 1993 Portmeirion was designated a Conservation Area.

Left: Photo of the sitting room from when the Castell was used as overflow accommodation for Hotel guests. The sitting room has been restored and today serves as the smoking are for the Castell restaurant.The bay window is to the left and the entrance to the conservatory is in the center of the photo.