Bodelwyddan Castle

Bodelwyddan Castle is a large stone mansion that owes much of its distinctive military character to alterations and additions made for Sir John Hay Williams by the architects Hansom and Welch between around 1830 and 1842. The earlier mansion's form, with its pair of advancing wings, is still visible on the south-east side, which serves as the main front, but elsewhere the composition deliberately avoids symmetry. The older portion rises to three storeys, while most of the additional sections are two storeys.

The masonry is constructed in local limestone, axe-dressed and coursed, with ashlar surrounds to the windows and other features. A corbelled and crenellated parapet conceals the roofs. Prominent stone towers conceal chimneys, and part of the north-east elevation features twin towers linked by a high-level battlemented arch with similar parapets. The entrances to the domestic yard are marked by lattice gates resembling portcullises, with machicolations above.

The main front facing the park is the south-east elevation, the only truly symmetrical part of the composition. It divides into equal thirds, with the outer two sections advancing. Each outer section contains a crenellated bay window, a single 12-pane sash window at first-floor level, and a single 6-pane sash window at second-floor level. The centre features a two-storey triangular crenellated projecting window with flanking 15-pane sash windows and 12- and 6-pane windows above. The windows of this elevation have stone surrounds only lightly bonded to the main masonry, suggesting the window openings were reduced in size.

The north-east elevation overlooks the village of Bodelwyddan and displays the military character most prominently. On the left stands a possibly 17th-century carved figure in an unsophisticated style, standing in a niche with a Welsh inscription on the base identifying him as Y Gwr Hir. He wears what appears to be a cowl but otherwise non-monastic garb, and his face may be intended to appear cadaverous. Bones are said to be immured in this location. Beneath him is a blocked window. To the right are twin towers with large loops and oeillets. On the crenellated arch joining them at parapet level are shields, one carrying the cross-foxes crest and the other damaged. Within the great arch are three storeys of two Gothic windows, with three storeys of one similar recessed window to the right. Further right is a three-window range of two storeys with an octagonal bay at the centre containing three Gothic windows and flanking similar windows, with three simpler Gothic windows above. Finally, to the right is a single-storey entrance hall with a similar window and pseudo-portcullis and machicolations of the entrance with two-storey octagonal towers.

To the south of the main house is an irregular sequence of walls and towers (now occupied by the Hotel and called the Williams Village) linking the older part with the domestic yard to the west. Much of this additional section is ivy-grown and rises to two storeys with Gothic windows generally under four-centred arches. It is connected to the wall of the domestic yard by a gateway containing a pair of portcullis gates with a wicket. This was the original main entrance to the castle, leading to the small entrance yard containing castellated and buttressed buildings (now occupied by the Hotel as part of The Hensroost), oriented with the main house.

The main domestic yard extends westward of the house, forming an irregular rectangle of considerable size adjacent to the original entrance and smaller yard. This yard features buttresses regularly spaced along its curtain walls, three-storey corner towers, and a formal entrance on the west side facing one of the gates in the park enclosing wall. The formal entrance has a dummy tower to the left and an occupied tower to the right, with machicolations over the gates.

Within the domestic yard are buildings now occupied by the Hotel, probably predating Hansom's work and now considerably added to and altered. A range of buildings along the south curtain wall from the west corner retains its low-pitch hipped roof. An adjacent range to the east (St. David's Restaurant) retains original stonework at the front including a pedimented Gothic porch. Parallel to these, the Elwy Lounge retains three large Gothic windows with timber tracery. To the east is a range with altered fenestration including two small two-light Tudor-style windows which formerly had window bars. This range has a chimney with ribs on two faces, similar to cottage chimneys in the village datable to 1856. Another parallel range to the north (now the Hensroost) has three similar chimneys and, on its north elevation facing the car park, signs of six former tall round-headed windows, now blocked, the building having been refenestrated.

The castle has an irregular double-pile plan with a long rear wing to the north-west. At the extremity of this wing, under the covered way to the courtyard, is the main entrance. This room is symmetrical with an axial staircase and Gothic fireplace. The floor of this room and the adjacent corridor (Watts' Hall) are in encaustic tiles bearing the cross-foxes motif and the date 1886, indicating alterations commissioned by the 4th baronet.

The finest room is the Drawing Room, now a sculpture gallery, executed in the Gothic style with three bays of fan vaulting. The ribs spring from king's head corbels. Four-centred arches frame the entrance door, an opposite recess, and the fireplace, with wide moulding hollows enriched with flowers. The pelmets of the three windows were rediscovered in a cellar and restored. Bodelwyddan has its own private gas supply, and early gas-light brackets remain at each side of the fireplace. This room is attributed to Hansom and Welch in the 1830s, though executed in a Regency manner.

The Ladies' Drawing Room features Regency-style decoration. The Library contains bookcases with draw-out shelves. The Dining Room, enlarged with a canted bay to the side, contains a marble fireplace with a scene of stone quarrying on the bressummer.

To the rear is a Billiard Room with a strapwork frieze featuring hunting scenes and a Gothic fireplace. The main staircase has heavily moulded handrails and carved newels with knobs and pendants. A servants' staircase with iron balusters also exists. The passage to the service quarters is tiled, including a closet adjacent, and the kitchen (now the Victorian Tea Room) has a smoke jack.

A second-floor room is said to have a deep-coved ceiling with 18th-century enrichment at the centre. Brick-vaulted cellars lie beneath.