My home, Picton Castle in Troed yr Allt, is just on the outskirts of town, below the college and above what was the town's school, which burnt down in 1962.
Troed yr Allt used to be the infants' school, then there's Picton Castle, then the intermediate and senior schools, so it's quite a landmark because all the children of Pwllheli had to pass it on their way to school. So many people tell me they dreamt of living here as a child because it looks like a fairytale castle.
We don't know when it was built, only that the deeds start in 1811 after the 1810 Enclosure Act when everyone had to register their land. But I have discovered that there have been some fascinating occupants.
The first known person to live here was Dr Abraham Jones Williams in 1846. He was famous for specialising in amputations, and he probably did his operations in the empty school next door.
I found information about a school inspector who visited the school. They couldn't find any evidence of academic work, but did find straw on the floor of the library and a putrefied limb in a drawer!
The town was full of shipbuilders and there was a quarry nearby, so there would have been a lot of accidents with chains, ropes and explosives, giving him plenty of patients to work on.
It was called Castle Cottage then, but changed to Picton Castle, presumably when Griffith Thomas Picton-Jones, the son of one of the leaseholders, came to live here after the doctor.
He went on to stand up for the Welsh language, arguing in front of a very harsh judge for the rights of locals to have legal hearings in a language they could understand.
Later, a 23-year-old shipbuilder moved in. He was famous for having built a great schooner, the Joseph Brindley, which was advanced for its time. They held a big party to celebrate and had 'good beer, food and singing'. It must have been quite crowded because, although it looks like a castle on the outside, the house is very small. Unfortunately he over-stretched himself and had to go off to sea to make more money.
Later, a Miss Jones ran a girls' school in the cottage. It was evidently quite the thing in Victorian times to set up little schools everywhere to teach rich young ladies the niceties of life, rather than the three Rs. We don't know which room was the schoolroom, though when we stripped the floor of the kitchen we did find lots of ink stains.
I've recently got in touch with a man from New Zealand who used to live here in the 1940s. He tells me there was a working canon in the garden and a willow patterned loo, but they've gone now. His mum ran a bed and breakfast here and a Spitfire pilot who knew the famous Douglas Bader came to stay. I don't know where she found the room.
We took the cottage over two years ago and had to do a lot of work to bring it back to its best. We had been planning to move to Harlech, but the sale fell through so I got on the computer and I found this.
We came to look out of curiosity and fell in love with Picton Castle right away.
There's a beautiful church window in the cottage. Pwllheli had a little church built in around 1830 called St Peter's, but was demolished 20 years later to make way for the great big St Peter's Church.
My window must have come from there because it's St Peter with Jesus, walking on water, with a little eel and a fish at the bottom. There's also a castle, so it's really in keeping with the cottage which has a little dome and turrets on top.
There's also evidence of two staircases, so I suppose it must have been two cottages at some point.
I love this cottage and I'd just like to know why it's there. Why did someone decide to build a little cottage which looks like a castle? Val Bethell
your comments
Arfon williams
My friend lived with his family in Picton Castle in the 70s. Some of the best memories of being on holiday in Pwllheli were of the times playing at Picton Castle.
Wed Jul 8 13:33:35 2009
Peter Cholmondeley, Houston, Texas
You can not believe the memories reading this page has bestowed on me, I remember the Thomas family well as many days were spent playing there whilst my father John Cholmondeley did extensive renovations to the Castle. I grew up in North Villa North Street and ss a young child the awe of being inside Picton Castle was spine chilling and adventursome. I hope on my next visit back to Pwllheli I may have the honour of at least standing within the gate and the hope of once again having a quick tour.
Mon Jun 1 09:36:26 2009
John Jones - Croydonj
I recall from my childhood days going to Picton Castle with John Arwyn - nephew of the then owner, "Jonny Shop Chips"-the shop at 17 High Street (now Chinese Take-away). Jonny was an avid collector of antiques. Pieces that I remember were swords, spears, shields and in particular a full suit of armour. He also had storage for his antiques in a loft above stables in a cobbled yard at the rear of the then National Provincial Bank (now Nat West), up the steps and next to the workshop of Tom Rowlands - Saddler, from Rhosfawr.
As for the schools, the infants, your first ever school at the bottom of the hill now the Court (Headmistress Miss Roberts).Next was Troed yr Allt built in 1856 (destroyed by fire) for up to 11year olds.(Headmaster Wheldon Hughes) This is where your future lay - in that you took your 11+ to graduate to the County School at the very top of the hill (then became Pwllheli Grammar - YRP - to be now Coleg Meirion).However should you have failed the examination you went to Central School in Upper Ala Road. I still have a panoramic photograph of all the teachers and pupils taken at the Grammar School in April 1949.
Nostalgia from early school days reminds one of "Shop Mrs Jos Glo" next to the side gate to the infants school -the tuck shop. Then there was Mrs Morgan, also in North Street,who sold us apples when in season, at the front door from her apron. Along North Street at the rear of the little chapel was a factory making Welsh No 8 Rock (the seaside humbug variety)owned by William Owen -India Rock. This was later taken over by Victor Barma who was well known throughout the fairs and markets of North Wales selling the "Famous No 8".
Wed Jul 9 14:25:21 2008
David Thomas from Twickenham
As a former resident of Picton Castle I thought I might add a little to Val Bethell’s history. When my family moved into Picton Castle in about 1953 the cannon which the man from New Zealand remembered was still there, although not in working order. The wooden cradle eventually became rotten and collapsed and the barrel went to a scrap merchant. It was a short squat cannon, the barrel being only about half a metre long. I guess the man from New Zealand must have been Bob Jones who has a short piece on the Ask a Local page where he recalls a night in 1942 when a German aircraft was shot down. He 'saw the fiery light from my bedroom window'. Perhaps that was the same window from which, 20 years later, as a 14-year-old, I watched another fiery light when Troed-yr-Allt junior school burnt down. Picton Castle may not have had any famous residents, but it was perhaps home for a time to the mother of a very famous man. In a book by William George, David Lloyd George’s nephew, called ‘The Making of Lloyd George’, the author says that Lloyd George’s father was working at the British School at Troed-yr-Allt in 1858 when he met his wife-to-be, 'Elizabeth Lloyd, known to her contemporaries as Betsy Lloyd'. At the time she was, “in service with a Miss Evans who lived at Y Castell (The Castle) in Pwllheli, next door to Troed-yr-Allt School”. The name ‘Y Castell’ does not match either Picton Castle or Castle Cottage, but the location next door to the school would strongly suggest that David Lloyd George’s mother was in service in what is now Picton Castle. A check in deeds of who was living there in 1858 might resolve the matter!
Wed Jun 4 15:21:35 2008
