The Mail on Sunday, July 26, 1998
Castle owners retrieve treasure plundered by 'Citizen Kane'
Please may we have our
dining room back?

HE WAS an absolutely ruthless newspaper tycoon…and a legendary scavenger.
The American media magnate William Randolph Hearst - immortalised in film by Orson Welles as Citizen Kane - scoured the world for historical masterpieces to adorn his fabulous palace, San Simeon, in California.
He bought up entire Renaissance rooms from Italy and sculptures from Greece.
And then, in 1920, his acquisitive eyes alighted on pictures of 14^th Century Gwydir Castle in Wales and its magnificent Jacobean dining room. He had to have it. The wood panelling was stripped from the walls, boxed and shipped across the Atlantic.
And there it lay for three quarters of a century until Gwydir was bought for a six-figure sum by a young couple - Judy Corbett, a bookbinder, and her architectural historian husband, Peter Welford.
Tired of City life, they had put their life savings into the extraordinary task of rescuing the rundown castle on the banks of the River Conwy at Llanrwst in Snowdonia.

Miraculously they traced the dining room panels and yesterday the couple welcomed the Prince of Wales to their castle to officially reopen the room, restored to its glory.
It was the culmination of a romantic dream. Judy, 30, had known Gwydir since childhood, but was horrified when she went there with her husband on a nostalgic visit. The castle she loved was in total disrepair - and being used as an unofficial nightclub for weekend ravers.
Peter, 33, recalls: "We were quite shocked and angered to see how rundown it had become. All these drunken tatty weirdo's were burning bits of panelling off the walls. The place was certainly not in safe hands."
So, when they heard that the debt-laden owner was prepared to sell, they seized the opportunity to buy their castle.
In November 1994, the couple moved in. They were soon fascinated by the castle's folklore and intrigued when villagers spoke of how furniture and whole rooms had been sold off in an auction earlier in the century.
The couple did their own detective work. Peter says: "It was a question of picking up threads and following sources. In the end someone gave us one of the original sale catalogues from Ward Price & Co in 1921.
"And sure enough, there was a dining room, Lot 88. It had been bought by New York dealers, French & Co, acting on behalf of William Randolph Hearst. It had been bequeathed after his death in 1956 to the Metropolitan Museum."
Although Hearst had taken the room to the United States, he had never even had it unpacked. Neither had the museum. The priceless oak fireplace, doorcase, panelling and elaborate gold-and-silver leather frieze were still in the 14 crates, weighing six tons, in which they had been shipped across the Atlantic.
After contacting museum officials, Peter and Judy travelled to New York and, in a dramatic clandestine operation, were driven through the streets of the Bronx in a vehicle with blacked-out windows to one of the museum's storerooms, the location of which had to be kept secret even from them for security reasons.
There, with a crowbar, they began opening the crates which had remained untouched for more than 70 years. "It was emotional," recalls Judy. "We thought there might be crates of woodworm dust but instead found this gleaming leather. It still smelled of Gwydir and was better than we had dared hope for."
After a museum official travelled to North Wales to see what they were planning for Gwydir, the go-ahead for the repatriation was given. A purchase price was agreed and Judy and Peter brought the dining room home.
There, with the help of Cadw, the Welsh historic monuments association, the restoration and conservation began. Using two local carpenters, the couple have worked night and day for the past three months piecing together the panelling - which had been broken down into hundreds of pieces - and putting it back into its rightful place.
It is believed to be the first time one of Hearst's British buys has found its way back across the Atlantic, and will give further encouragement to campaigners in the Wiltshire village of Bradenstoke who are seeking to repatriate their historic tithe barn, another of his acquisitions.
As Prince Charles Toured Gwydir yesterday and planted a Cedar of Lebanan tree, it was clearly an emotional moment for the couple. The Prince told them: "It's terrific, fantastic. It must have been very exciting for you."
Judy and Peter had always planned to move from London to Wales to restore a historic house. Judy says: "Fate took us down this path. I am a great believer in finding your house and then buying it. We happened to be in the right place at the right time and didn't hesitate."
Yesterday's visit by the Prince was a particularly apt way for the room's restoration to be celebrated, continuing a 300-year tradition of royal links for Gwydir, once the family seat of the powerful Wynn family.
Charles I is said to have visited the castle as the guest of Sir Richard Wynn, second baronet, Treasurer of Queen Henrietta Maria, and Groom of the Royal Bed Chamber.
George V and Queen Mary stayed there as Duke and Duchess of York in April 1899 and Edward VII is believed to have been another visitor.
Peter said: "The fact that Gwydir has had this history of royal links makes it proper and exciting that in our time we are helping to give it another notch on the tally."
And what of the future? Well, now the hunt begins for Lot 65 - the breakfast parlour.

Pictures, from top, left to right: William Randolph Hearst. The dining room after William Randolph had it stripped of its oak panelling, fireplace and gilded leather frieze - and the vandals had moved in. Judy and Peter who spent three months returning Gwydir to its Jacobean glory. Prince Charles congratulating Judy and Peter.