Qualla: Bodelwyddan Castle https://qualla.com/bodelwyddan-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/m/w/bodelwyddan-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Bodelwyddan Castle https://qualla.com/bodelwyddan-castle Bodelwyddan Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/bodelwyddan-castle/ Photo credit Tyssil, CC BY-SA 4.0. Joseph Hansom is best known for inventing the Hansom cab, the small two-wheeled horse-drawn taxi that defined Victorian London streets. Hansom was also an architect, and one of his most dramatic projects sits in the Vale of Clwyd at Bodelwyddan: a 15th-century manor house that he and Edward Welch remade in the early 1830s into what the architectural historians later called 'wildly dramatic and owing nothing to its predecessors.' Gothick turrets, castellated walls, an entrance staircase with detailing that looks more theatrical than defensive. The original manor under all the Hansom flourish was built around 1460 by the Humphreys family of Anglesey. Five centuries later, the castle is empty - closed since 2019, the National Portrait Gallery's loans long since withdrawn, the Williams-Wynn family seat reborn as a Victorian gentleman's romance and now waiting for its next chapter.

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Image: Tyssil | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/m/w/bodelwyddan-castle-wp/gcmw-bodelwyddan-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Bodelwyddan Castle: Five Centuries of Owners https://qualla.com/bodelwyddan-castle/ Photo credit Tyssil, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bodelwyddan began around 1460 as a fortified manor house built by the Humphreys family of Anglesey. In 1690 Sir William Williams, who had served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1680 to 1681, bought the property from the Humphreys. The Williams-Wynn family - one of the gre...

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Image: Tyssil | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/m/w/bodelwyddan-castle-wp/gcmw-bodelwyddan-castle-five-centuries-of-owners.mp3 0:06 2 full Bodelwyddan Castle: The Hospital and the Trenches https://qualla.com/bodelwyddan-castle/ Photo credit Tyssil, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the First World War began the castle became a recuperation hospital for wounded soldiers. The grounds, with their large parkland and formal gardens, were used by soldiers based at the nearby Kinmel Camp for trench warfare training - practice trenches dug into Welsh soil befo...

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Image: Tyssil | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/m/w/bodelwyddan-castle-wp/gcmw-bodelwyddan-castle-the-hospital-and-the-trenches.mp3 0:06 3 full Bodelwyddan Castle: The National Portrait Gallery in Wales https://qualla.com/bodelwyddan-castle/ Photo credit Tyssil, CC BY-SA 4.0. In the 1980s, after Lowther College closed, Clwyd County Council bought the site with the aim of opening the castle as a visitor attraction. The interior was restored by Roderick Gradidge, an architectural historian who specialised in Victorian buildings, and the historic house w...

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Image: Tyssil | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/m/w/bodelwyddan-castle-wp/gcmw-bodelwyddan-castle-the-national-portrait-gallery-in-wales.mp3 0:06 4 full Bodelwyddan Castle: Closed and Waiting https://qualla.com/bodelwyddan-castle/ Photo credit Ввласенко, CC BY-SA 3.0. Denbighshire County Council decided to sell the site in 2017. In February 2019 the 99-year lease was still listed for sale, valued at around GBP 1 million. By June 2019 the Bodelwyddan Castle Trust announced the historic house had closed. By August the grounds and attractions wer...

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Image: Ввласенко | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/m/w/bodelwyddan-castle-wp/gcmw-bodelwyddan-castle-closed-and-waiting.mp3 0:06 5 full