Penmynydd Hidden Houses of Wales

If you turn your back on the town, if you take that village track up an unmade road

you'll find something absolutely extraordinary - Wales's hidden houses.

In this series I'll be stepping back in time,

going over the threshold of some extraordinary places.

I will be revealing secrets

and I'll be seeking out scandal-packed histories. Bricks and mortar?

They will never seem the same again.

Today we are on the Isle of Anglesey

and the birthplace of the House of Tudor.

Every Tudor house, every Tudor fireplace, every Tudor thing

really originated in this house, and the fact that Owain's surname,

as it was taken to be later was "Tudur" - Tudor.

It has been a consolation prize for spurned love.

The Marquis did actually propose to her and she turned him down.

It has been a hovel, near rack and ruin

and now it is the home of a mountaineering magnate.

It was a huge commitment, but from my point of view,

it was a labour of love and it was a labour of love

for the family to live in and enjoy.

I'm on Anglesey, ancient island of myths and mist.

Everywhere you are surrounded by hints back to its dark past

and secretive links to the ancient Princes of Wales.

But I am coming to this house, Plas Penmynydd because it has

the extraordinary distinction of being the family home

to one of the big-hitter royal brands of British history.

For the past 800 years, it has stood in the heart of rural Anglesey.

It is a country house without grand pretensions,

but for such a modest building, it has got a massive history.

From the 13th century, these lands were home to one clan

who first ruled Anglesey as warriors and nobles,

then they ruled the world as kings and queens of England.

This is very much a family home and is the ancestral family home of the Tudors.

You may know them better as Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

Today it is the home of Richard Cuthbertson, the owner of a global climbing equipment business.

Richard bought the house 30 years ago

and together with his former wife,

this is where they raised their family.

Hello. You look wonderful, very baronial.

Very "lord of the manor" there. Nice to see you.

Nice to meet you too, Laurence.

How old is what I am looking at now then?

1576. We think it was rebuilt from an earlier house at that period.

Why do suddenly, you turn a corner in a little overgrown path,

see this rather random collection of rocks.

What makes you suddenly fall in love with that and make this long-term commitment to it?

First of all it is in such a beautiful situation.

The history of the house is to die for.

So many interesting people have lived here

and I was aware of that when I came to see it, of course.

Also, it is so quiet and peaceful.

There is something about it that people have lived here for so long

they've obviously thought it a good place to be.

Structurally, did it have a roof, did it have windows?

Believe it or not, it was so overgrown here,

that the outbuildings you see here, we didn't even know were there.

They were completely covered by undergrowth, etc.

The front of the house was covered in slates which were bedded in lime mortar.

A lot of what you have done here has a real sense

of liberating the original building from this rather...

..mealy-mouthed suburbanisation that happened under the Victorians.

I think, from the middle of the 1800s,

maybe the late 1800s, the Tudors didn't have a very good press,

for one reason, particularly here in Wales.

Maybe the pride that you would have imagined people would have felt for their ancestral home

was somewhat suppressed and the consequence was

that their decorative schemes they used did not really

emphasise the fact that it is the ancestral home.

How do the royal family today feel about it?

I have certainly spoken to Prince Charles about it and he is interested.

I think one day he may well want to come here.

-Do you keep a nice full cake tin just in case?

-Just in case.

The best biscuits just in case he should drop by?

-I have to keep HIS biscuits, in that case.

-Absolutely!

-I can't quite afford those!

Let me have a look. I am intrigued by this...

by this history and this cast of characters.

Did you just pitch up here with your toothbrush, sit down and think,

look at this, this is all done or was there a lot to do in here?

There was a huge amount to do.

To be honest, you could not even think about doing all the work.

You just had to take it task by task.

Admiring Richard's handiwork, what is striking is how he has managed to

evoke medieval Wales while giving a cheeky nod to his own personality.

Unbelievably, the Plas looked like this 30 years ago.

But following decades of neglect, Richard spent six years

lovingly restoring the house and outbuildings.

It was a huge commitment, but from my point of view, it was a labour of love.

It was a labour of love for the family to live in and enjoy.

This is an emotional thing for you, this is a sort of real historical link.

Yes, it was saving a very important piece of heritage from my point of view.

It's dominated by the fireplace. That is a real eye-catcher.

When it was built, it would have been probably

something that people would have come from miles around to have a peek at.

-Just to check out the fireplace.

-Check out the fireplace.

-Come and look at my inglenook.

An inglenook doesn't go halfway, actually.

It's big enough to have a reasonably sized party in, I think.

This must have been a jaw dropper when you walked through the door

to see a fireplace like this.

When I came, in fact, there was a wall in the front here and just a small hearth in the middle.

-Really?

-So you couldn't really tell what was behind at all.

So part of the excitement was wondering what was behind that wall.

So you started picking away at it.

We sure did. On either side, we found these very interesting niches.

It really is quite special because there is a bit of moulding around the outside,

then above you can see the fleur-de-lys which is, of course,

the badge of Catherine of Valois, Queen of France and Queen of England.

And that links the house to Catherine of Valois and therefore, it is a very important find.

A lovely house, but it is not dead posh, it is not dead grand,

it is not terribly royal feeling, why on earth is there an emblem of

Queen of France/Queen of England?

The person who was born and lived here, Owain Tudur, married her

after the death of her husband, her first husband, Henry V.

That, of course, is the connection of the Tudor line with this house

and with its famous ancestry afterwards.

-This is Tudor central?

-Absolutely.

This is the absolute starting point from which anything Tudor comes?

Nothing would have been called Tudor if it hadn't been for Owain Tudur

living here and having that very romantic liaison with Catherine.

Every Tudor house, every Tudor fireplace, every Tudor thing

really originated in this house, and the fact that Owain's surname,

as it was taken to be later was Tudur, Tudor.

Fascinating. Let's have a talk about Owain.

Owain Tudur anglicised his name to Owen Tudor,

later becoming the grandfather of Henry VII,

great-grandfather of Henry VIII,

and great-great-grandfather of Elizabeth I.

We know that Owain left Anglesey behind round about 1425

to make a name for himself at the English court

and he managed that all right.

The swaggering Anglesey lad caught the eye of the attractive young widowed queen of Henry V.

During a marriage that scandalised society, Catherine and Owain had five children.

Amazingly, within 60 years of Owain's arrival in London,

his grandson was crowned Henry VII, and a new world order had begun.

But, just how did the young Welsh warrior Owain become the godfather of the Tudor dynasty?

We do have some descriptions of him.

We know he was tall, that is for sure.

More than one description describes him as handsome,

we know that he was a good dancer, he was brave, a good swordsman,

so I think he would be a very fine figure.

And there is the wonderful legend of the dowager Queen Catherine

looking out of her window one day at the river and seeing him

go down there and bathe and thinking what a fine figure of a man he was.

He was appointed as Keeper of the Wardrobe in the Queen's entourage.

-He was her Gok?

-Well, not quite!

I think it was more of a name for a position.

-He wasn't re-accessorising her and bringing in a cinched-in waist there.

-I don't believe so.

But it was a high position in court, so he must have been well thought of

and I think that gave him access to the body of the Queen,

as they would say, not literally, of course.

But moving in those circles did mean they would see each other

and, of course, the famous scene in Shakespeare where he stumbles and falls into her lap

is often seen as the beginning of their romance.

Tudor is such an incredibly big name to deal with

in historical terms, it is the big royal brand.

Henry VIII, Elizabeth I,

and to think that these two world-changing monarchs

actually derive from your fireplace is extraordinary?

It is extraordinary, but somehow it encapsulates the energy,

the bravery and the self-reliance that Owain had.

It almost feels as if this is one of the great moments

where a bit of energy and a bit of ability

is let into the British royal line by, you know,

taking this guy that could survive on his wits

rather than on his inheritance,

-and it's like opening a door and letting the light in.

-Absolutely.

Then, through Henry VII, and obviously Henry VIII

and Elizabeth I,

you get these intelligent, decisive, charismatic monarchs.

Well, I think the Tudor monarchy brought about the Renaissance within Britain.

And they brought a completely new style.

The old order really died with Richard III

and the new order came with Henry VII.

It seems that there is a very defined sort of Welshman

that can survive very well in England

with very little material resource,

but through charm and mercurial tact and energy.

-Somewhat like yourself!

-I'm beginning to see myself in all of this,

exactly, in a foreign court!

But, long before the House of Tudor was making its royal mark on the world,

Plas Penmynydd was the local power base for Owain's ancestors.

As you come out of the house,

you suddenly realise that it's almost like a little village here.

You would expect outbuildings, but these are quite regular little hutches, almost.

The palace of a nobleman would have seven buildings.

It was quite usual, certainly in medieval times,

for the household offices - bakery, dairy, kennels, stable -

all to be in separate buildings, and the kitchen, too.

So the likelihood is that the hall would have been used for feasting and sleeping

and then each of the outbuildings might have been used

for a particular domestic purpose.

Back then, you were the top of a community.

Without you, nobody got fed, nobody got watered.

I think that is exactly right.

They actually ran the court system as well,

-so even justice was dispensed by...

-Well, there was no real centralised power

other than the disembodied concept of a royal family many, many hundreds of miles away.

But actually, on a day-to-day basis,

you or I, at the top of our tree, would have been him.

Yes.

What is becoming obvious to me

is that Owain's Welsh blood acted as rocket fuel to the English crown.

Owain himself was descended from ancient Welsh princes and nobles.

Some of them are buried here at the Tudor family church up the road.

Everywhere you look there are signs of brand Tudor,

from the coat of arms to Henry VII's Tudor rose insignia.

I'm hoping that historian Anthony Carr will shed a bit of light on

how the Tudor's Welsh pedigree helped Owain's grandson, Henry, secure the English crown.

Where does the Tudor dynasty start?

Well, as the ruling house, it starts, of course, with Henry VII's victory

at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

And then, once Henry is proclaimed King of England,

then that is the start of the Tudor age.

Actually, Henry VII didn't really have anything like

the right kind of claim to be King of England, did he?

No, he was lucky. Henry was the right man in the right place.

He had the credibility in Wales

because he is connected to all these people, he is related to so many of them.

To the Welsh gentry, he was one of them.

-They could see in him what could be open to them all.

-Perfect.

And then, once you get the Tudors on the throne, there is a feeling that all doors are open for Welshmen.

The thing about Henry VII is that actually, his son and heir, Henry VIII,

his terrible insecurity about not having a son,

which leads him to kill wives and divorce wives and goodness knows what,

is very much down to the fact that he knows it is a parvenu dynasty.

It is, yes, and there are threats to it.

You can understand Henry, really,

that he is driven by this need for a male heir

because of the fear that if he doesn't,

then the civil war of a generation earlier might be repeated,

and that was the worst thing that could possibly happen.

I have a certain amount of sympathy for Henry VIII in that.

Owen Tudor wasn't just an Anglesey lad made good.

He was an Anglesey lad made extremely good.

What he didn't know that his grandson Henry

would end up at the very top of that ladder, as English king.

And after Henry, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I,

two of the most iconic monarchs the British throne would ever see.

But what was wonderful was that the House of Tudor made sure they repaid that debt to the Welsh.

For the first and only time in history, a badge of Wales, the dragon of Cadwallader,

becomes absorbed into the national insignia and symbology of Britain

for the first and only time.

It clear to me now that the Tudors' dynamism and resourcefulness is down to their Welsh roots.

Their rule lasted 118 years from 1485 to 1603,

and Tudor genes are an important ingredient of today's Royal Family.

Thanks to Richard's restoration, Plas Penmynydd now proudly bears

the Tudor coat of arms once again, and reminders of their blood link to this house are everywhere.

Rather reluctantly, I am going to have to say goodbye

and move on from the lover, the legend that was Owen Tudor.

But history in this house didn't stop with him.

For a start, there was the extraordinary week when Oliver Cromwell came to stay.

Not that I'm claiming he left his helmet behind.

One thing is for sure, I am going to have to go downstairs and find out more about the rest of the house.

This is a very snug snug.

-It is the snuggest of snugs, isn't it?

-Is this your lair?

It sort of is, to tell you the truth, because I can come in here

and start looking through books and never stop, really.

This is extraordinary.

The last Tudor to live here of the direct line, Angharad,

died as an only child, childless herself,

in about 1680, and the then house went by reversion

to the Buckley family, who were a great landowning family from Beaumaris.

And that is the Buckley coat of arms.

There seems to be an insertion there?

-Well, of course...

-Who is this RCK?

RC is supposed to be me. K is Kerry, my ex-wife.

C and E are my two daughters, Cara and Estelle.

1979 was when the house was bought.

So it was put there is a bit of fun.

But of course, it started just as a bit of fun, but 1979 now sounds like quite a long time ago.

It is quite a decent history as it is.

I think that doesn't feel like an intrusion, and it shouldn't feel

like an intrusion, because you do seem to fit very, very naturally.

Just what you have done in here is absolutely perfect for a space like this.

I am imagining that you have put in the bookcases and the panelling.

Strangely enough, the only thing really that there was

in this room were the ceiling beams and the panelled wall.

-And so all of the outside panelling and everything else, the floor etc, is all new work, so, yes.

-Marvellous.

Well, I think it is a wonderful, very clubby, gentlemen's retreat.

We have actually only travelled a few feet physically, but it feels like time-travel,

because we are suddenly in a completely different century.

And when is this from, because it has a very, very characteristic feel to it?

Yes. There was a date in the torching of the plasterwork of 1811,

and that would fit, architecturally, with the features that we see here,

the bigger window, the higher ceilings and the feel of a Georgian comfortable dining room.

You have got a very impressive piano full of royalty here.

Inch for inch, there is probably more regality than I have seen on any piano before.

And look, you are in all of them, friends in very high places.

But these are interesting, because we are very used to you

as a sort of relaxed surfer squire in your shorts

and everything, but actually, you have been very involved

in a lot of very specific, very high-profile heritage work, almost.

-How long were you chairman of the National Trust here in Wales?

-For 10 years, or nearly 11 years.

It was a wonderful job for me, because it was so close to my heart.

Looking at the beautiful places, I'm a keen mountaineer,

a keen surfer, so the beaches and the mountains were absolutely...

If only you were interested in old houses as well.

And there you go! You have got the three in one.

There are bits of this place that are making me think that that you probably pre-haunt it.

I think you have been here for many, many, many lifetimes.

I have been here in another life. I like that idea.

But you came here by a very, very odd route in many respects,

because you started off as an executive for Heinz.

Let's keep the parents happy, let's get a nice, straightforward job...

-A proper career.

-In beans.

Live in London, and do those things.

Exactly. But then it goes a bit Reggie Perrin.

-Well...

-A little bit, you're not the corporate fella.

Some strange insect must have bitten me and brought me to North Wales rock-climbing.

And I just fell in love with the mountains.

I am a Scot originally, so I've always liked mountains.

And I had the Reggie Perrin moment of thinking, is the rest of my life going to be working as an executive

in London, or am I going to do something physical

and indulge my real joy of climbing?

What was it like for the family? This is a moment of total empathy.

Because I'm constantly insisting that they live

in virtually Iron Age conditions whilst the roof comes off our home or something is being redone.

But did you get a lot of moaning, "oh, Dad, please can I have a carpet in my bedroom?"

No, I don't think I got that sort of reaction.

And of course, the situation and the grounds around the house were just a perfect playground.

Very early in their lives, they fell in love with horses, and so that was very helpful to me, too.

But I can always remember my youngest daughter's biggest complaint about

when we went out was, are we going to see another field of stones, Daddy?

I'm sure this house is very relieved to be owned by you.

Because it does, as I say, have a very real sense of attracting strong

personalities, of attracting people that like the big brush strokes.

But it was a bit of a competitive tender in the early days.

You were against a quite major player.

That's right. Anglesey Council, obviously realising the historical significance of the house,

were very keen that they should have it, and in a way, I supported them too.

But that didn't come through for one reason or another, and it is just simply gave me the chance

to buy it, and the situation was difficult,

because it was a trust fund that owned it at that time.

But the majority of the members obviously thought

that I looked like a suitable person to have it, and I am very grateful to them.

It is safe to say that if Richard hadn't come along, this place would

have been a museum rather than a home. It is the only Tudor family house still in private ownership.

But I am also intrigued by the story of one of the last big characters to live here before Richard.

80 years ago, the very fearsome Maggie Rowlands was a tenant farmer

who rather suddenly ended up owning the lands and house.

I have been told that she had a very close relationship

with the son of the then Lord Anglesey,

but for some reason, they couldn't actually agree to go forward to marriage.

Do think that might have been the shower cap holding them back?

I suspect that if I were him, I would be worried about someone wearing a shower cap.

Anyway, as a result of that, if there was a forthcoming marriage, it was called off.

But they didn't buy the freehold.

They were given the freehold.

And I rather think that must have been as compensation for perhaps not continuing.

I wonder whether any of Maggie Rowlands' family can confirm any of these romantic rumours.

Now, ah.

I have got a posse here.

You will probably be extremely interested to see this.

-Wow!

-Way-hey! What a shirt!

Look at her!

I think this sheds a lot more light

on to the stories of her and Lord Anglesey.

They were courting. They used to go riding. She was a great horsewoman.

The story goes that the Marquis did actually propose to her, and she turned him down.

-So it was her?

-Silly woman!

Well, she certainly looks like a woman that really knows her own mind.

She is not going to be blinded by the glamour of aristocracy.

Nobody messed about with Maggie, apparently.

It is wonderful to feel that we have got a little bit of a resolution there.

If you were given an opportunity to do all this again, would you do it?

Don't think about it. Would you do it?

Yes.

I haven't enough years left, probably, but if the challenge presented itself,

particularly if the feeling was that if I didn't do it, that bit of history might disappear forever,

-I don't think I could resist that challenge.

-The lure of history.

The lure of history, and the lure of feeling that you have saved

a little bit of it, I have to say, is quite a strong motivator.

And you enjoy living with history?

Completely. I sort of live in a dream world, in a way, where travelling across Anglesey,

I think of the Druids, of the people before the Druids, of the history. I think of all those things.

-Some bloke called Tudor lived here.

-I sometimes think of him too.

I was slightly surprised when I first met you that Henry the dog

had such an ordinary Henry the dog-type name,

but I am beginning to understand now that Henry is only half the story.

Well, when he was young, he used to take our shoes, which he still does now.

But he doesn't do what he did then, which was to chew them to pieces,

and so his nickname became Henry Chewed-Up.

So, from Henry Chewed-Up, it was a very small

move to get him to be Henry Tudor.

Does the house have the last word, though?

Is it true to say that that the inscription on the outside, which is...?

"Peractus est opus, laus deo." "Praise the Lord, at last the work is finished."

-Is the work finished for you here?

-Well, no. I don't think the work ever would finish,

because the grounds are very nice, you can always do more work there.

And people will come after me, and they will have different ideas about how the house should look.

So I think it is something that will go on for a long time yet.

I will agree with you there.

No, you know what? I don't think Richard's work is done here at all.

Like most of the people that have lived here,

most of the people that have loved this place, his energy

and sheer bloody-minded individuality appear to be boundless,

and I think it is wonderful

that today's chapter in the history of Penmynydd includes a surfing squire,

a former head of the National Trust of Wales,

who has done so much to restore the history, the craggy Tudor royalty of this place.