CASTLE IS MARK’S LABOUR OF LOVE
ACASTLE in Wales is being brought back to life by a team of volunteers – led by a historian who fell in love with the building when he was a child. Mark Baker was taken around Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales, by his parents when he was young – but was devastated when it fell into disrepair.
Now, 20 years on, the castle is slowly coming back to life.
“I went there as a very young child,” said Dr Baker, now 32, who has written multiple history books. “I remember being on my dad’s shoulders. It was like a fairytale, it was so big.”
It wasn’t just young Mark’s imagination, Gwrych is a huge structure.
The frontage is 1,500ft in length and there are six miles of walls around the estate. It was built by a family of Welsh gentry who wanted to build a memorial to their ancestors. They did a pick and mix of Welsh castles, taking inspiration from places like Conwy Castle.
“It was sold by the family in 1946 due to death duties,” said Dr Baker.
“It was opened to the public and became really successful. But then in 1989 it was sold to an American who had the idea of turning it into an opera centre but he went under financially.
“Then it was in good condition and you could move into bits of it. Throughout the 1990s it was asset- stripped. You had salvage people going in, taking out fireplaces and doors, the top-range stuff.
“In the mid-1990s new age travellers moved in and took all the lead off the roof, stripped the slates off and then took all the floorboards, wiring and glass.
“What was left by the end of the 1990s was just a skeleton. This is national heritage being destroyed.”
Dr Baker said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he returned at the age of 12.
“My first trip would have been in the late 1980s,” he said. “I then remember going back a few years later when the New Age Travellers had been in. It was like a nuclear fallout. There were used needles, abandoned vehicles and fire damage. It was an apocalyptic scene.
“I just thought that ‘ someone has got to do something here.’
“I started researching and wrote a book when I was 14 called the Rise and Fall of Gwrych Castle. I started the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust.”
“The campaign did really well and it was picked up by Newsround and the Big Breakfast – I got to meet Tony Blair and Prince Charles.” The trust, a registered charity, has fundraised to help restore the house.
Dr Baker said: “The trust has a longterm lease on the house. So far we have restored five acres of outbuildings and gardens.
“I find it amazing that 20 years of campaigning has helped do this. In another 10 years we would hope that the whole building will be fully restored, back to its former glory and be completely open to the public.
“The restoration of the Gardener’s Tower will be a great transformation.
“The Countess’ Writing Room [in the tower] has been brought back to life – it was completely destroyed by building work in the 1970s.”
When trying to make history alive the details are very important. The trust is even bringing back some of the flower species that grew at the castle during its glory days.
“We found the name tags for some of the flowers the countess had planted here in 1905,” said Dr Baker. “Those little details bring it to life.”
Twenty years on, Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust has a 25-year lease for five acres of the site.
The Countess’ Writing Room is being used for writing groups, the formal gardens are regularly opened and were included in the Gardens of North Wales Festival. The public is now able to explore via guided and self-guided tours daily.
Dr Baker said: “Our main aim has been to make the castle safe for visitors and locals.
“All of this would not have been possible without the team of amazing volunteers; some retired, some still at school, some voluntary, some as part of programmes from Job Centre Plus and other organisations, some with a love of history [or] gardens, some to help with tours and events, some to gather archival materials.
“But the one thing all the volunteers have in common is that they love Gwrych Castle and work hard to restore, renovate and revive it. Without that passion none of this would have been possible.”