Exploring our shared History
Wales and Jamaica have a very obvious shared history and nowhere is this more obvious than in the Ogwen Valley, where the Pennant family owned the biggest slate quarry in the world. Further down the valley towards the sea towers the massive Penrhyn Castle, the grand folly built and furnished by the Pennant family in a show of their wealth and power.
And where did this great wealth come from? It came from the production of 'white gold' as sugar was called in the 1700's from the plantations owned by the Pennant family in Jamaica. This crop was planted and harvested by the many enslaved African men, women and children who were owned by the Pennant family.
