A decades-long battle to save Gwrych Castle in Wales has come to a successful conclusion after a grant of more than £2m was awarded to the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust.
Country Life reported back in 2003 on the efforts of Mark Baker — then an 18-year-old student, now Dr Mark Baker — to
Many people will know Gwrych Castle in north Wales from its two-year run as the filming location for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here during the pandemic. However, the Gothic ruin near Conwy, listed Grade I will soon be a ruin no more, after it was announced that £2.2 million of funding has been granted by the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF).
The funding will enable the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust (GCPT) to rescue the castle’s corps de logis (the main block) from imminent collapse by undertaking urgent repairs that had been halted due to a lack of funding and closure to the castle during the covid pandemic.
Built in 1812–22 by Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh as a memorial to his family, the property pays homage to the ancient castles of the UK, with its Gothic windows, crenellations, battlements and towers, but the three-storey corps de logis is currently without a permanent roof and floor. The two lower wings on the flanks contain the state apartments, in which you will find a ‘spectacular’ Italian marble staircase regarded as ‘one of the Seven Wonders of Wales’.
‘The buildings are in perilous condition following the pandemic, when development plans were limited and significantly delayed by the lack of funding streams and restrictions on construction work,’ says the aforementioned Dr Mark Baker, chair of the GCPT.
Gwrych Castle. Picture © Paul Highnam for the Country Life Picture Library
‘This, combined with extreme weather conditions, has contributed to a decline to the roofless main building. With this substantial funding award, we can reverse the critical situation that the site is currently in, allowing Gwrych Castle to be returned to its former glory and offering our visitors the best experience when they come to learn about the fascinating heritage it has to share.’
The funds are part of a larger NHMF grant that will see four other heritage sites receive help to protect their futures. These are Gladstone’s Library in Flintshire, two medieval churches (one in Pembrokeshire and one in Monmouthshire) and Insole Court in Cardiff. In total, the NHMF is providing £4.1 million towards heritage sites in Wales as part of the Covid-19 Response Fund.
‘Gwrych Castle is a testament to the rich history of Wales, and the UK more widely, and is a notable example of how heritage shapes our lives and the places in which we live,’ said Simon Thurley, chair of the NHMF and Country Life contributor.
‘We’re tremendously proud to have provided a lifeline for some of Wales’s incredible heritage sites and assets…. from castles and churches to libraries.’
You can read Marcus Binney’s article for Country Life on Gwrych Castle here, or see the castle’s own website for more news and information.
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