Visiting Penrhyn Castle

Drawing Room

Pink colours are repeated throughout this room including the carpet and silk upholstered furniture. It’s hard to imagine this room was once used as an office, during the Second World War, by the car manufacturing company Daimler. The furniture is both solid and elegant and has remained functional to this day.

Ebony Room

This is the room where Lady Penrhyn would write her letters and organise domestic arrangements with her staff, because it was close to the servants’ quarters.

It’s home to a mixture of exotic furniture, including mahogany on the low chairs imported from Sri Lanka. The beautiful wallpaper is 17th century and, although sadly faded now, would’ve made for a dazzling display on the walls.

State Bedroom

This spacious apartment, together with its own dressing room, was reserved for important guests, with its luxuriously drafted four poster bed this room would’ve been the height of comfort, with its particularly comfortable chairs for having an early or late tea in the bedroom.

Next door is an early example of a fully flushing toilet. This would’ve been flushed with collected rainwater – a very environmentally friendly invention.

The Keep Bedrooms

A suite of rooms containing two bedrooms, a dressing room, sitting room, bathroom and toilet. These rooms would have been the bedrooms for Lord and Lady Penrhyn but were also the guest suite when Royalty visited.

One-ton slate bed

The Keep Bedrooms are currently the home of a one-ton slate bed which demonstrates the versality of the stone and a brass bed ‘fit for a king’, with its imperial crown placed on top which was commissioned for the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1894.

Far reaching views

These rooms command the best views of the Penrhyn estate as it disappears up into the Eryri (Snowdonia) mountain range and, on clear days, the Penrhyn Quarry is visible.

Lower India Room

This room is the last room that Hugh Napier (the Fourth Lord Penrhyn), lived in after he was divorced. The room is a reflection of the ‘East’, a label that was attached to anything that came from afar, and many of the things in the room have a Chinese or Japanese origin.