But the strange juxtaposition of styles and buildings of Portmeirion was the dream of architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. He designed the resort to engage the visitor with interesting views wherever they should stop

It also inadvertently provided the perfect backdrop for the TV series The Prisoner in the late 1960s. More than a folly or private monument, from its inception, Portmeirion was intended to be a demonstration of how a naturally beautiful site could be developed sympathetically.

Clough William-Ellis first began to plan Portmeirion at the age of five or six when he had already decided to become an architect and planner of towns. In his book about the village, 'Portmeirion - The Place and its Meaning,' he wrote, "Some day, somewhere, I would even assuredly erect a whole group of buildings on my own chosen site for my own satisfaction; an ensemble that would body forth my chafing ideas of fitness and gaiety and indeed be me".

In 1925, after exploring many small islands off the British coast, Williams-Ellis found the ideal location for his project near his home at Plas Brondanw in North Wales. The private peninsula was originally called Aber Ià, which he changed to Portmeirion: Port to reflect its coastal location and Meirion to place it in Meirioneth.

In 1926 he opened the main house on the shore as the Hotel Portmeirion to finance his venture. Over the years Williams-Ellis designed and added many buildings to the village, completing his work in 1976, when he was over 90 years old.

Portmeirion was developed in two phases, 1926-39 and 1954-72, the break a result of William-Ellis's wartime service. He first acquired the site of the existing village, then the land beyond it, and eventually the lands surrounding Deudraeth Castle - and the 'castle' itself. It was owned by his uncle, Sir Osmond Williams, a descendant of David Williams, an attorney and the first Liberal MP for Meirioneth. The authentic castle has long since been destroyed and is marked by a tablet near the base of the Campanile:

"This tower, built in 1928 by Clough Williams-Ellis, architect and publican, embodies stones from the 12th Century castle of his ancestor Gryffyrd ap Cynan, King of North Wales, that stood on an eminence 150 yards to the west. It was finally razed c.1869 by Sir William Fothergill Cook, inventor of the Electric Telegraph, "lest the ruins should become known and attract visitors to the place." This 19th Century affront to the 12th Century is thus piously redressed in the 20th Century"
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