‘In the old days you had to do three slates to count as one. The old people used to say one was to keep Lord Penrhyn in his castle in Bangor. One was to keep his staff and the other one was to keep you!’
His stories were fascinating and I hope to include them in my final film for this project.
Putting the castle to sleep
As the week went on I was able to spend some time with both Conservation Assistants and volunteers alike as they put the castle to ‘sleep’ - a fascinating process that involves recording damage, dusting, hoovering and cleaning. Alongside wrapping everything from bone china to four poster beads.
Strike letters
On Thursday I spent the entire day reviewing the Penrhyn Quarry Strike (PQS) letters at Bangor University Archive. Amounting to 400 documents in total, I had requested to view 29 specific documents. I must admit to feeling like my sense of history shifted from static to organic, with each and every hand written letter, postcard and newspaper cutting. The documents cover a period from the early 1900’s through to 1903 and one note in particular stood out: