Penrhyn Castle and Garden

Behind the formidable architecture, Victorian grandeur and fine interiors, present day Penrhyn Castle’s foundations were built on a dark history. One of exploitation, Jamaican sugar fortunes and the transatlantic slave trade.

Learn more about the history of the Great Strike of Penrhyn 1900-03, the longest running industrial dispute in British history.

Take a quick look at the background of this neo-Norman castle and the family that owned it.

Meet the man largely responsible for our special place as we see it today. Thomas Hopper was a famous 19th-century architect well known for his extravagant and unusual designs.

The beauty and variety of our grounds and gardens owe a lot to the Victorian Head Gardener, Walter Speed. He was a loyal and devoted employee of Penrhyn as well as an exceptionally skilled gardener.

Penrhyn, along with a number of other places and collections in our care, has direct links to colonialism. Learn more about what we are doing to address the histories of slavery and colonialism and to acknowledge their impact and legacies.

Penrhyn is collaborating with a team of historians, including Dr Corinne Fowler at the University of Leicester, on Colonial Countryside. This child-led writing and history project explores African, Caribbean and Indian connections at 11 of our places.