Back from the brink – just look at us now
NORTH Wales is packed full of historic properties from 13th century castles built by princes to the mansion homes of rich industrialists.
Our sister paper the Daily Post has previously featured some of the homes that are on the brink and other properties that were on the market for a plucky investor.
Here we highlight some of the properties that had at some point faced uncertain futures but have now been gloriously restored.
The list shows the potential for those with deep pockets and a strong commitment for bringing crucial part of our history back to life.
Built in Pontblyddyn in 1610 by Sir John Trevor the Jacobean mansion has had a long and illustrious history.
The original design was altered during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by Lady Dacre and the Trevor-Ropers.
The house remained in the family’s hands until the end of the eighteenth century when it was bequeathed to a cousin by marriage.
By the early-1950s, Plas Teg was in a state of advanced decay and under threat of demolition. Following a public outcry, the derelict house received a Grade 1 listing from Cadw, protecting it from demolition.
Cornelia Bayley purchased Plas Teg in 1986 and has lovingly restored the house back to its former glory.
It is now open for public and private visits. Bodysgallen, near Llandudno, is believed to have begun life as a watch- tower for Conwy Castle, probably in the C13th, to warn of surprise attack.
It was not until late in the Elizabethan era, when it was owned by Richard Mostyn, who served as High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire, that it became a house, surrounded by one of the fin- est arts and crafts gardens in Wales.
The mansion suffered from decline in the 20th Century before it was bought by Historic House Hotels, who first restored it in 1980 after years of neglect. They then gave it to the National Trust in 2008 to maintain its unique character.
It now attracts thousands of guests every year - giving a major boost to the local economy.
Gwydir Castle is an ancient Welsh house situated in the beautiful Conwy Valley.
It is regarded as one of the finest Tudor houses in Wales, the castle was formerly the ancestral home of the powerful Wynn family.
In 1895 a cousin, Charles Wynn Carrington, later Marquis of Lincolnshire, bought Gwydir which he used as his primary seat until he sold the castle and its contents in 1921.
After a fire in the Solar Tower the following year, the house fell into dereliction, and after passing through several ownerships it was purchased in 1944 by Arthur Clegg.
He commenced a restoration of the house, which his son Richard continued after his father’s death in 1964. However, by the late 1980s the castle had once more fallen into a state of dereliction.
Peter Welford and Judy Corbett bought Gwydir Castle in 1994, and since then have undertaken the restoration of both house and garden.
Its restoration has taken over 20 years and is still a work-in-progress by its current owners. It is now open to visitors and welcomes B&B guests.
The earlier part of the present mansion at Plas Coch was built by Dafydd Llwyd, an Anglesey lawyer living in London, in 1569.
It was remodelled later in the last decade of the sixteenth century by his son Hugh Hughes, attorney general for North Wales from 1587, in a distinctive earlier Renaissance style with ornate crow-stepped gables.
The house close to the Menai Strait later fell into disrepair but was redeveloped in 2008-9 by Donald Insall Associates and is the centrepiece of the exclusive Plas Coch Holiday Park.
In 1682, Joshua Edisbury was appointed High Sheriff of Denbighshire; it was to be the making of Erddig, and the unmaking of Edisbury.
Edisbury chose the dramatic site on an escarpment above the winding River Clywedog a mile south of Wrexham to build Erddig.
Work began in 1684 on a house, nine bays wide. But he overstretched himself and by 1709 was bankrupt.
John Meller, a successful London lawyer, bought up the debts of Joshua Edisbury. He began extending it to the north and south by the addition of two-storey wings, his ‘rooms of parade’.
He then bequeathed the house to