Abergele’s Gwrych Castle in the 1970s was a sight to behold. Regular readers will remember this fabulous photo of the cast of the Gwrych Castle Crossed Lances Jousting and Banqueting Cast by former member Karen Linley. Well Karen has been kind enough to send some more images of Gwrych Castle from her own photographic archive. I’ll publish them in two parts. The next part shows Crossed Lances cast members and this batch shows Gwrych Castle in the 1970s in all its glory. Enjoy…

Abergele’s Gwrych Castle in the 1970s was used as a centre for medieval jousting and banquets. It was as a cast member and horse groom that Karen Linley came to Abergele to work. While she was here, she took these photos. We’re grateful to Karen for sharing these photos – for which she holds the copyright – with us.

Karen is understandably protective of her photographs and said in 2012 when we began corresponding: “Somebody decided to steal my pics and I wasn’t happy with that as they are my personal pics for my family. So I copyrighted them, as the pics were being used for personal gain, and I believe that wasn’t right. However, I do not mind them being used for free for non-personal gain, as long as Gwrych somehow benefits from it.”

When she wrote, Karen had fond memories of her time at Gwrych Castle in the 1970s and said: “I recently found out that one of my colleagues on the team at Gwrych is now in charge of entertainments at Warwick Castle and is a stunt rider and does take part in the shows there. Although I have tried to contact him I have not yet had any success.”

If you’d like to support the restoration of Gwrych Castle today by the Gwrych Preservation Trust, here’s a link to just one of the fundraising activities going on.