Castle closes to public

Tomorrow evening the great 13th-century door will thump shut, and the oldest inhabited castle in Wales will again become - as it was for nearly 1,000 years - a very private house, heavily fortified to keep out uninvited guests.

Penhow Castle, near the Severn bridge, between Newport and Chepstow, has only been open to visitors for the last 30 years, since a 23-year-old film maker looking for a weekend cottage fell in love with it, and sold his London house to buy it.

After decades spending every hour he could spare and every penny he earned on Penhow, Stephen Weeks is now leaving Wales, and what has meanwhile become an award-winning visitor attraction, to start all over again with a chain of 25 derelict castles in the Czech Republic. . .

Penhow was built as one of a circle of small Norman strongholds around their great fortress at Chepstow. By the time Mr Weeks bought it the building was a roofless ruin. He opened it, to help pay for restoration work, as soon as he had put down enough floor boards to prevent visitors plunging into the cellars, and introduced the world's first stereo headphone tour guide to compensate for his lack of staff. . .

Tomorrow will be the last general opening day, though school groups are still booked for a few weeks. Then Mr Weeks hopes to cross his draw bridge for the last time.

He will leave the mutton bones, excavated from below the unglazed windows through which they were slung after some 14th century dinner, but take the naturally mummified rat found behind the Tudor panelling.

The rat was voted the single most popular exhibit by school children. "I think he'll have to come, we've been together a long time - he's a bit of a good luck charm."

Posted by David on December 30, 2002 11:30 AM