Three Towns Forum

The Local => Genealogy & Research => Topic started by: wardeworld on August 18, 2013, 04:13:52 pm

Title: Bodlondeb House
Post by: wardeworld on August 18, 2013, 04:13:52 pm
Information wanted about Bodlondeb House prior to the Council owing it - I believe my Grandfather Harry Ward worked there around 1912
Title: Re: Bodlondeb House
Post by: DaveR on August 18, 2013, 04:18:06 pm
The house at Bodlondeb was built in 1877 for Albert Wood, whose family had made its fortune manufacturing anchors and cables at Saltney, Chester. The company’s anchors were selected for Brunel’s Great Eastern, the biggest ship ever built at the time. Wood’s Patent Anchor was used on Royal Navy ships and other vessels. Many other notable buildings along the North Wales coast were also built as idyllic homes for people who had amassed wealth in industrialised north-west England.

Earlier houses had occupied this prime area, up the slope from the Conwy estuary. Thomas Holland, from a rich local family, built one in the vicinity in 1742. Visitors to the house included the composer Sir Edward Elgar and prime minister David Lloyd George. Queen Victoria expressed a desire to stay at Bodlondeb, but the house was too small to accommodate her retinue.

Lloyd George presided over the ceremonial handing over of the property and 60 acres of grounds to the public in 1937. The house then became the offices of Conway Borough Council. Now it’s the headquarters of Conwy County Borough Council. It features a debating chamber. Additional offices were created in an extension designed to complement the original house.

The park at Bodlondeb, a stone’s throw from the town walls, is an important recreational area for locals and visitors. It’s home to Conwy Cricket Club and hosts the International Bluegrass Music & Dance Festival each summer. There are public trails through the woods, where the trees include native oak, birch, ash, beech, Scots pine, cherry, yew and evergreen oak. Inside the woods is an unusual alley of holly.

http://historypoints.org/index.php?page=bodlondeb-civic-offices (http://historypoints.org/index.php?page=bodlondeb-civic-offices)