Can you help us locate our missing room?
Gwydir’s famous sixteenth century Oak Parlour was crated up and sold from the house in 1921.
The room consisted of fine linenfold panelling and an impressive plasterwork overmantel depicting the figures of Julius and Augustus Caesar. It was dated 1597 and proudly displayed the arms of the Wynns of Gwydir. Here it is in 1921, just before it leaves Gwydir.
The room was one of two sold to the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Caine’) at the famous Gwydir sales in 1921. The first room, the Dining Room, was bequeathed to the New York Metropolitan Museum on Hearst’s death in 1956. It was repatriated to Gwydir Castle in 1999.
The panelling, ceiling and fireplace from the second room, the Oak Parlour, were installed in Hearst’s New York apartment (called The Clarendon) and are shown there in photographs of 1929. By 1936, however, the room appears to have been removed. Despite extensive research and enquiry, the whereabouts of these important pieces of the Gwydir jigsaw remain unknown. We are currently trying to establish where they went when they left The Clarendon.
News items relating to the search for the missing Oak Parlour:
BBC News: Link here
BBC News: Link here
BBC Radio 4 Interview: Link here
BBC Radio Cymru: Link here
BBC Radio Wales – Good Morning Wales Innterview starts at 01: 54: Link here
Daily Telegraph: Link here
Huffington Post: Link here
Daily Post: Link here
Western Mail: Link here
Sample Press Cuttings :
Video interview with Judy. Part one – link here. Part two link here.
Article in Daily Post about the restoration of the Great Chamber. Link here.
The Mail on Sunday, July 26, 1998
Royal Visit :
HRH The Prince of Wales visited Gwydir on 6th July, 2018. We had an opportunity to show the Prince the on-going restoration of the house and gardens and were able to discuss our concerns about flooding. In addition, we discussed various lines of enquiry relating to the finding of the elusive Oak Parlour. More on this story as it unfolds….
