After beginning to familiarise myself with the lay-out of the building I spent some time with members of the conservation team joining a small group tour alongside inspecting some of the paintings and drawings in the collection.
In parallel my week involved an extensive exploration of the surrounding area including visiting the local quarry. Although I only spent an afternoon on-site at Welsh Slate I was amazed at the scale of the excavation works. From bright yellow plant machinery through to highly skilled manual ‘splitting’ the operation today works on a scale that ranges from hand-held to globally distributed.
The sites and sounds of the quarry resonate strongly with the history of the castle and its formation. Built upon sugar and slate, its presence represents a tumultuous historical relationship between power and production, the unions and the landed gentry.
I’ve been struck by the immense wealth held within the walls of the castle from it’s internationally renowned paintings, fabrics and exquisite finery to the human-scale quarrymen's cottages in Bethesda.