Explore Penrhyn and Wales’ role in transatlantic slavery in episode two of Podlediad Penrhyn.
Large map of the Denbigh and Clarendon estates in Jamaica. Courtesy of Bangor University’s Archives and Special Collections,
In this eye-opening episode, host Kayla Jones explores Penrhyn’s connection with the slave trade in the 18th-19th century. Recorded during the height of the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020, this episode highlights one of many heritage sites across the UK that have been looking a bit closer into their colonial connections, Penrhyn Castle, which is a National Trust property in northwest Wales.
Join Kayla as she learns about the Jamaican sugar plantations owned by the Pennant family, previous owners of the Penrhyn estate. Richard Pennant and his second cousin, George Hay Dawkins, were absentee landlords in Jamaica, managing their plantations from afar, using the profits to fund enterprises in Wales, most notably Penrhyn Quarry, which was once the largest slate quarry in the world.
Slave Wales by Dr Chris Evans.
Though Jamaica is thousands of miles from north Wales, their stories are intricately intertwined
One of the most surprising parts of the episode, was finding out how Wales played a part in the transatlantic slave trade and how interwoven slavery was into the society and economy of 19th century Britain. Kayla spoke with Dr Chris Evans, who authored the book Slave Wales which highlights how Wales played an active part in the growth of slavery worldwide, and how Welsh-based industries such as copper mining and woollen mills helped maintain the slave trade in surprising ways.
To read Chris Evans’ book Slave Wales, visit here.
For those who wish to explore plantation systems and the harsh realities of enslaved life in Jamaica, Dr Evans recommends Professor Trevor Burnard’s book Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire, exploring the diary of plantation owner Thomas Thistlewood.
Dr Marian Gwyn presenting on the Penrhyn estate. Courtesy of the Institute of the Study of Welsh Estates.
This episode also features Dr Marian Gwyn, who is a heritage consultant and researcher, whose work specialises in the ways heritage organisations can share their connections to colonialism. The Pennant family acquired plantations in Jamaica when Gifford Pennant went over as a soldier in the Cromwellian Army in 1656. He ended up buying extensive land in the West Indies. The family eventually became a large producer of sugarcane in the Clarendon area.
The family also rose in social standing in Jamaica, when Gifford Pennant’s son, Edward, became the Chief Justice of Jamaica. Edward then had two sons, Samuel, who became Lord Mayor of London, and John who was a well-known West Indies merchant based in Liverpool. Eventually, the family returned to the UK, acting as absentee landlords while the day-to-day operations of the plantations were left to agents. The money made from the sugar production in Jamaica allowed John Pennant to purchase half of what was known as the Penrhyn estate. His son, Richard Pennant, bought the other half of the estate through an advantageous marriage to Anne Susannah Warburton in 1765. Richard Pennant became the first Lord Penrhyn, and as MP for Liverpool was an outspoken supporter of rights for slave owners in the UK. His growing fortune allowed him to develop the Penrhyn estate, and he built roads, houses, schools, agricultural buildings and began to develop the slate quarry.
Event at the Archives and Special Collections at Bangor University exploring Penrhyn’s Jamaican connection. Courtesy of the Institute of the Study of Welsh Estates.
Dr Gwyn highlighted the horrors of life in Jamaica for enslaved workers, pointing out the harsh working and living conditions and high death rates of Jamaican enslaved workers who were working on the Pennant Plantations at the time. Though there is not much information about the individuals who laboured on the Pennant plantations, Dr Gwyn talked to Kayla about what she did find in the Penrhyn papers at Bangor University Archives. There are wills, inventories, maps, and letters as well as annual inventory lists that give the names, ages, and health assessments of the enslaved workers on the plantations. Letters were sent back and forth between Richard Pennant and his agents, which talk about uprisings and sickness amongst the enslaved and unbearable weather conditions in Jamaica. Through her research, Dr Gwyn found that around 30 percent of enslaved workers would be too ill to work at any given time.
Painting of Richard Pennant by Henry Thompson, circa 1800. Accessed via Wikimedia Commons available from the National Library of Wales.
In 2007, Dr Gwyn headed up the ‘Sugar and Slate’ project at Penrhyn Castle, which was a special exhibition and events programme that explored Penrhyn’s connection with slavery during the Bicentenary of the 1807 Act for the abolition of the Slave Trade. For the project, local volunteers visited the archives to look through documentation connected to the Jamaican plantations. The volunteers wrote down their findings as a part of the exhibit, which highlighted just how interwoven the slave trade was to life in the UK in the 18th century, and to the development of the Penrhyn estate. The project also included school children from the ‘Penrhyn Triangle’: north Wales, Liverpool, and Jamaica. The students created artwork, stories and poetry on artifacts connected to the slave industry.
““So without slavery to provide the basis for these institutions, then the industrial revolution would not have happened so quickly when it did in Britain. By now it must be a part of the story, but not as an additional story.” ”
Kayla also spoke with Eleanor Harding, who was formally the National Trust’s Assistant Curator for Wales at Penrhyn Castle who spoke about past, present and future exhibitions, and events at Penrhyn Castle focusing on Penrhyn’s Jamaican plantations.
The only visual representation of the plantations at the Castle are two paintings that were commissioned by the family in the mid-1800s after the end of the slave trade in Britain. Not much is known about the paintings other than they are a very stylised, romantic version of the plantations, with bright colours and the depictions of a few labourers working idly in the fields. The paintings of the plantations that are mentioned in the podcast are featured on the National Trust’s website.
In 2020, the National Trust released a report on many of its sites’ connection with transatlantic slavery and colonialism. The report gives widespread evidence of heritage sites across the UK that have connections to the slave trade around the world. Visit their website to read the report, entitled Addressing our histories of colonialism and historic slavery.
““The National Trust cares for places and collections on behalf of the nation, and many have direct and indirect links to colonialism and historic slavery. We’ve released a report examining these connections as part of our broader commitment to ensure that these links are properly represented, shared and interpreted. The buildings in our care reflect many different periods and a range of British and global histories - social, industrial, political and cultural. As a heritage charity, it’s our responsibility to make sure we are historically accurate and academically robust when we communicate about the places and collections in our care”.”
Illustrations of structures formerly located on the Jamaican plantations. Courtesy of Bangor University’s Archives and Special Collections.
In the episode, Eleanor mentions an exhibition in 2020 and 2021 called What a World! which showcased a collection of Penrhyn’s links to colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. Inspired by a group of local children, the objects on display were presented based on the children’s experience with the objects. The students’ poems were then displayed throughout the castle alongside the objects, and they challenged visitors to view these objects in a new light.
To see more about the exhibition, visit the National Trust’s page.
Lastly, Kayla references the S4C television program Welsh Treasures: Houses, Land and Secrets which is a six-part series looking at country houses in Wales such as Penrhyn, Powis Castle, Tredegar House, Chirk Castle and Plas Newydd. The program is hosted by comedian Tudur Owen and investigates hidden stories and uncomfortable histories connected with prominent houses across Wales. Click here to learn more about the program.
Though Penrhyn’s history is complex, and often hard to learn about, it is so important to bring visibility to its connection to the slave trade. Podlediad Penrhyn is just one small part of the research and work being done around slavery and its connection with north Wales. To learn more about research at Bangor University’s Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates, visit the website.