Bangor — Penrhyn Castle

Returning to the UK felt like coming home. I’ve spent more than three months here during this trip, so returning to fish & chips, Tesco supermarkets, Wetherspoons, organized queues, and panel tv shows brought a certain feeling of comfort. I’m on my way to Ireland to meet Joe & Sue in Dublin (and then everyone else in Shannon) so I’m hanging out this week in North Wales. The welcome I got today from Sandra when I arrived in Bangor was truly heartwarming. She runs a little hotel and Chinese restaurant near the station, and she just couldn’t do enough for me. It was her suggestion to go to Penrhyn Castle. “In spite of the politics surrounding it,” it is her favorite. She circled some spots on the map, arranged for a cab, gave me a big hug, and sent me on my way. Penrhyn was beautiful. It was a perfect re-entry to Wales with its lush green setting, fluffy white lambs in the meadow, and deep gray stones of the castle. This is slate country. In fact, its the namesake for Bangor, Pennsylvania which was founded by a man from this Welsh city who set up the slate industry there. Penrhyn Castle sits on a hill overlooking the Bangor shoreline. It was a strategic location in the 15th century when it was first built. The wealthy barons who lived in the castle in the last 200 years were on the Jeff Bezos level, according to one of the docents on the castle tour. I asked her to explain what Sandra would have meant by her comment that Penrhyn was unpopular because of its politics. In 1900, the Baron of Penrhyn owned much of the land surrounding Bangor, including the slate quarry. When the workers in the quarry unionized and threatened to strike, the baron refused to negotiate. When the workers decided to strike, he closed the quarry and then later replaced them with non-union workers. Known as The Great Strike of Penrhyn, it lasted for three years, the longest dispute in British labor history. It divided the community, weakened the slate industry in Wales, and caused great suffering for quarry workers and their families. Signs in Bangor homes proclaimed “Nid oes bradwyr yn y ty hwn” (There is no traitor in this house) to make it clear that the home did not belong to someone who crossed the picket line. And that is why Sandra was almost embarrassed to say how much she liked the castle. It holds a dark place in Welsh history, mainly because Bezos-level wealth meant that the Baron could afford to just shut down the quarry and outlast the striking quarrymen. The opulence of the castle’s interior was much less impressive after learning of its history.Read more