From Farmhouse
to Palace, to Ruins
In 1553 an official grant by the King of England was given to John-ap-Owen, here Penrhos began a new form of history as a farming estate called Tudor House, built by the Owen of Penrhos family, nestled towards the coastline.
'Penrhos' literally translates to "Head of the Moor" and was established as the estate's official name with the Owen family's grant. Prior to 1553, the Owen family was a patronymic line called The Penrhos Family who farmed the same lands prior to English rule, dating back all the way to Romano-Britons c. 150 AD.
The Owen family planted much of the surrounding woodland and worked the land peacefully for over 200 years. Originally, the land would have been one of the last vestiges for Romano-Briton and Celtic settlers that were pushed away from the west mainland by the Romans, and later the Angles, Saxons. and Jutes. With the use of modern technology, we can see this Celtic and Ancient-Briton DNA present in ancestors of these Holyhead families.
An ancestor of the Owen of Penrhos family, Cunedda Wledig, was the founder of the 1st Dynasty of Gwynedd, which became one of the strongest Welsh kingdoms defending against England up until the 1200s, alongside Powys and Deheubarth.
In 1763 the estate passed from the Owen family via marriage to the English Stanley of Alderley family, the simple farm was expanded first into a luxury estate, then a grand mansion and finally into a veritable palace that dominated the coastline.
In time, the site grew neglected and was sold by the Stanley family in 1947, after use as a World War 2 army base, the mansion was neglected further and eventually, in the 1980s, Plas Penrhos / Penrhos Mansion was demolished.
Leaving behind Penrhos Service Tower today as a quiet reminder of the estate’s once noble, nature-loving owners.
Centuries of serene wilderness have prevailed, and Plas Penrhos now serves as a testament to the wild returning to the Welsh countryside.
It likewise honours the influential lineages that once presided over this historic estate and saw human-made creations co-existing with the beauty of nature.
In Roman descriptions of the area c.200AD the inhabitants of these lands were described as "savages who sacrifice humans in the name of pagan druids" and while no archaeological evidence of human sacrifice has been found in Wales, the evidence of ancient life is still present in sites like the nearby Penrhos Feilw Standing Stones.
The Penrhos Estate
Owen Family c.1553-1763
Penrhos House 1763
Expansion by Stanley Family
Penrhos Mansion 1850s
A Grand Estate Peaks
Palace/Plas Penrhos 1947
Stanley Family Sells the Site
The Penrhos Feilw
Standing Stones
c.4000 BC
Penrhos Tower in Penrhos Nature Reserve, Taken 2025
Ancient Remains
In 1942, The Valley RAF expanded a runway to make way for heavier bomber planes, in the process they found a horde of Iron age weapons and items from c 100 AD. Less than 5 miles from Penrhos.
Distance Between Penrhos and RAF
Recent archaeological surveys of the area from 2011 validated the presence of extensive prehistoric artefacts beneath Penrhos, ranging from ancient currency to historic standing stones.
As part of the upcoming 2025 planning application, developers have committed to excavating 201 test trenches across designated zones (indicated in blue).
Curiously, this investigation explicitly excludes "dense woodland zones and existing built heritage." In a striking coincidence, the excluded territories are the exact locations where Roman coins, ancestral burial mounds, Iron Age roundhouses, and a neolithic standing stone were previously identified. Observers suggest this strategic oversight intentionally ignores the site’s most vital heritage in the hopes of an empty find.
RAF Valley Recovered Artefacts
Site Map With Proposed Trenches
Situated near Holyhead, just off the A55,
by the Menai Strait / Irish Sea coast.
Come and visit these beautiful woodlands,
connect with nature and ancient Welsh history!
Penrhos Coastal Park, Holy Island,
Anglesey, North Cymru, LL65 2JD.
Free Admission & Free Parking
Open 8:00AM-6:30PM