Gwrych Castle in 2020

Disgrifiad

Photograph of Gwrych Castle, taken in 2020.

About Gwrych Castle.

Gwrych Castle is a Grade I listed 19th century country house in Abergele, Denbighshire. Recently made famous for hosting 2020 and 2021 seasons pf ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, the castle also as a history connected to Jewish Refugees. Between 1939 and 1941, Gwrych Castle hosted around 200 Jewish refugee children who had fled from Nazi-occupied Europe. The castle was organised into a hachshara (agricultural training centre), which were originally set up in Germany by Zionist organisations such as Youth Aliyah and Bachad to prepare young people for agricultural work in Palestine.

Use of the castle was offered for free by the owner Lord Dundonald but it was in very poor condition. Only a few rooms were able to be used and they had to dig holes outside for toilets. The very old stove used for cooking smoked all the time leading to some slight cases of carbon dioxide poisoning. The water pump, which used water from the Abergele supply, wasn't powerful enough to provide for 200 people, meaning children had to run down to the kitchen and carry buckets of water back up to their bathrooms.

Source.

Refugees from National Socialism in Wales: Gwrych Castle [accessed 22 December 2021]