Penrhyn Castle
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Port
Holyhead, Wales, United Kingdom
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Activity Level
Moderate
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Excursion Type
Information Not Currently Available
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Wheelchair Accessible
No
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Starting At
$99.95
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Minimum Age
Information Not Currently Available
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Duration
Approximately 4 Hours
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Meals Included
Meals not included
This is a self-guided visit to Penrhyn Castle. Once a simple fortified manor, Penrhyn was renovated to be a Victorian folly -- a private house that is also a fantasy vision of a Norman castle. Today, the castle boasts opulent Victorian furnishings and a stunning art collection.
Travel across Anglesey on a panoramic drive by motorcoach and cross the Menai Strait into mainland Wales to Penrhyn Castle.
The present-day building dates to the early Victorian Era, when Thomas Hooper transformed the house into the somber, Norman Revival fantasy for the 2nd Lord Penrhyn, who made his fortune from Jamaican sugar and Welsh slate. Only Welsh stonemasons, carvers and joiners were allowed to work on the castle. This National Trust Property is now considered one of the finest mock castles in England. It features carved stone grotesques, handmade wallpapers, exquisite stained-glass windows, and an immense, one-ton slate bed built for Queen Victoria. The castle also boasts what is arguably the finest art collection in Wales, including works by Canaletto and Palma Vecchio.
Notes
Tour requires around two hours of walking. Terrain includes many stairs (five stories in the castle) and uneven surfaces. Wear comfortable walking shoes.