Bodelwyddan Castle

Bodelwyddan Castle stands in parkland near the village of Bodelwyddan in Denbighshire, Wales. Built around 1460 as a manor house, it later became home to the Williams-Wynn family for two centuries. The castle was remodelled in 1805 and then transformed between 1830 and 1832 into a castellated Greek Revival style by Sir John Hay Williams with architects Joseph Hansom and Edward Welch. Hansom’s work was described as wildly dramatic and original, while formal gardens and an estate wall were added at the same time. The grounds were used for trench warfare training during the First World War, and traces of these trenches remain today. The castle is also reported to be haunted. The castle’s history includes periods as a recuperation hospital, a girls’ private school named Lowther College, and a museum with loans from the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts. Lowther College opened a swimming pool and a private golf course, and its tableaux concerts were highly regarded. The portrait gallery opened in 1988 and won Museum of the Year in 1989 before its funding ended in 2017. The site has since been sold and is now being refurbished for future use. Visitors once found a restored historic house with Victorian interiors, a portrait gallery, and large formal gardens designed by Thomas Hayton Mawson in 1910. The parkland and woodlands offered walking paths and views across the estate. The nearby Bodelwyddan Castle Hotel operated separately and remained open even when the castle was closed to the public. Today, access to the woodlands, parklands, play area and trench experience is no longer granted, but the hotel continues to welcome guests.