The Rise and Fall of Gwrych Castle
One night, during the Christmas school holidays of 1998, I sat down in my
room and put pen to paper. The words just seemed to flow as I recalled what
I had learned over the preceding years regarding the history of Gwrych Castle.
I was only 13 years old but nonetheless I was inspired by the forlornness
of the building yet commanding majesty that emanated from the castle. I
began to write the book in a logical order, starting from the earliest day
moving forward.
Chapter one encapsulated the early history of Gwrych and was entitled ‘The
Dream’ as I had found out that the builder of Gwrych had dreamt up the notion
for its creation as a child. This, naturally, found resonance with myself
and further inflamed my already burgeoning passion. I can remember clearly
telephoning and actually visiting the Royal Institute of British Architects
at the age of 12 to carry out research on the architects who built Gwrych.
Much time was spent at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, which
my parents quite graciously turned into family holidays. Vivid is the memory
of my grandparents sitting on the bench outside the National Library on
a scorching hot day looking out over Aberystwyth. They must have been there
for hours but that didn’t seem to concern them at all! I thought it would
be interesting to break up the content by interspersing chapters on the
history with architectural appraisals.
The Park, Gardens and Gatehouses; discussed the estate as well as what the
chapter title states. Again, I logically went through all the gate lodges
detailing the various architectural elements that were associated. One of
my favourite sections of this book was the third chapter on the Dundonalds.
Reading what I wrote as a 13 year old I am rather surprised by my depth
of analysis and understanding. It has been some years since I last read
through this book, as I have tended to regard it with not as much respect
as I ought to have. There is a purity and naiveté, which is rather refreshing
and adds a charm to the work. It makes me feel quite happy to reflect back
on this book and be quite pleased with how it has held up over the years.
It is amazing to think that this little volume literally sold out overnight
and that copies are now collector's items!
Gwrych Castle ~ A Pictorial History
Following on from the success of The Rise and Fall of Gwrych Castle in 1999 many people suggested that a picture postcard collection should be assembled. During the summer of the year 2000 I started to collate a selection from the vast archive of material which I had assembled during the several years prior to this. It was a rather different experience than writing a book. When I fell ill with chickenpox this meant lots of rest and recuperation which allowed more time to be devoted to the book. I remember being asked to open the Llanddulas Millennium Festival together with Brian Jones, co-author of ‘Llanddulas – Heritage of a Village’, but I was so ill and covered in spots I was unable to leave the house! The chickenpox lingered on for so long that most of the talks with the printers Gee and Son, Denbigh were done over the phone via a third party. As the gentleman in charge had never had chickenpox himself and his grandson had neither also, returning to school was delayed by a few weeks but this gave me more time to edit the selection of images and to finalise the captions.
The colour of the cover was taken from the back leaf of a little volume I had bought some years previously, on Celtic history. It was a cross between a Victorian bottle green and the colour of ivy. When the book was printed I was hugely impressed by the quality of the printing and of the materials used; the closure of Gee and Sons has been a tremendous loss to North Wales. I asked Liz Legge, the chairperson of the Llanddulas Village Hall Association to write the forward as the association had been a great support to the campaign for the rescue of Gwrych. It was at the village hall, on November 25th 2000 that the book was launched and despite the changeable weather over one hundred people attended. Looking back, this book really proved to cement the campaign for Gwrych.
The Rise and Fall of Gwrych Castle
& Winifred, Countess of Dundonald
~ A Biography ~
I embarked on the biography of the Countess during Easter 2001 whilst on holiday at my parent’s Spanish apartment. Ever since starting the research on the history of the Gwrych Castle Estate, the Countess had always held a particular fascination. Vivid is the memory of the day I first realised that the Countess and I shared the same birth date; as a young child, this came as quite a shock! Within a week or so I had formulated the outline of the book and had finished the first draft of the opening chapter. The present Earl of Dundonald was most helpful in providing a wealth of information regarding his families’ time at Gwrych. Much of the summer was spent in London researching the countess’ houses, also sorting various photographs of herself and her family, as well as founding the Building Preservation Trust for Gwrych and filming with Esther Rantzen. I was aiming for the book to be released in 2002 in its own right, but in March of that year my maternal grandmother fell seriously ill and due to hospital negligence she was in intensive care for nearly sixty days.
This meant that everyone was so physically and emotionally
drained that there was no chance to finish off the book. In 2003 I felt
strong enough to put the final touches to the Countess’ biography, yet in
the meantime the Rise and Fall of Gwrych which had been released in 1999
had sold out. So I made the decision that instead of having two separate
books I would re-write the original 1999 work and include the Countess’
biography. To coincide with the launch of the book a documentary was made
by HTV Wales which detailed the writing of the biography and also the story
of the history of Gwrych and the book was launched at Abergele library together
with a new website to promote the books. This was during the annual exhibition
and the book proved to be a success like its predecessor.
Myths and Legends of the Gwrych Castle
Estate
CLICK HERE TO BUY!
For many years, a vast number of people would ask about myths and ghost stories of Gwrych. I at first just disregarded most of these enquiries but it became apparent that there was a wealth of information concerning the legends of the Gwrych Castle Estate. So in 2003 when ghost hunting was at its height of popularity with the introduction of the television programme Most Haunted, I started collecting stories and anecdotes from visitors to the exhibition and those who had been to Gwrych. This book was kept on the slow burner for nearly three years and by the time I had decided to publish it, the original text was greatly expanded to include the archaeological elements of the estate and also it served to be an oral history collection.
The approach was very methodical, going through each section of the house, outbuildings, gardens, park, estate buildings and the neighbouring towns of Abergele and Llanddulas. I thought it was especially interesting to view the towns through the eyes and words of historical visitations such as Edward Lhwyd who visited the area in 1699 but I consciously placed these in the context of the Gwrych Estate. The Myths and Legends has also been a favourite amongst younger readers who have devoured the tales of the forlorn Countess haunting the marbled halls of her stately home!