Editing Portmeirion (section)

==History==
[[File:Views of Portmeirion (26275785812).jpg|thumb|upright|Sir [[Clough Williams-Ellis]] at Portmeirion in 1969]][[File:Portmeirioncastle.jpg|left|thumb|[[Castell Deudraeth]]]]

Sir [[Clough Williams-Ellis]], Portmeirion's architect, denied repeated claims that the design was based on the fishing village of [[Portofino]] on the [[Italian Riviera]]. He stated only that he wanted to pay tribute to the atmosphere of the [[Mediterranean]]. He did, however, draw on a love of the Italian village stating, "How should I not have fallen for Portofino? Indeed, its image remained with me as an almost perfect example of the man-made adornment and use of an exquisite site."<ref>Headley, Gwyn and Meulenkamp, Wim. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cZlMAAAAYAAJ&q=Portmeirion ''Follies: a National Trust Guide''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402160528/https://books.google.com/books?id=cZlMAAAAYAAJ&q=Portmeirion |date=2 April 2023 }} Cape, 1986. p.156</ref> Williams-Ellis designed and constructed the village between 1925 and 1975. He incorporated fragments of demolished buildings, including works by a number of other architects. Portmeirion's architectural [[bricolage]] and deliberately fanciful [[nostalgia]] have been noted as an influence on the development of [[postmodernism]] in architecture in the late 20th century.

The [[The Hotel Portmeirion|main building of the hotel]] and the cottages "White Horses", "Mermaid", and "Salutation" had been a private estate called ''Aber Iâ'' ({{langx|en|Ice estuary}}), developed in the 1850s on the site of a late 18th-century foundry and boatyard. Williams-Ellis changed the name (which he had interpreted as "frozen mouth") to ''Portmeirion'': "Port-" from its place on the coast; "-meirion" from the county of Merioneth (Meirionydd) in which it was sited.<ref name="bbcdocu">"Portmeirion" a BBC Wales documentary, 2006</ref> The very minor remains of a [[mediaeval]] [[castle]] (known variously as Castell Deudraeth, Castell Gwain Goch and Castell Aber Iâ) are in the woods just outside the village, recorded by [[Gerald of Wales]] in 1188.

In 1931 Williams-Ellis bought from the estate of his uncle, [[Sir Osmond Williams, 1st Baronet|Sir Osmond Williams, Bt]] (1849-1927), the [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] [[Battlement|crenellated]] mansion [[Castell Deudraeth]] with the intention of incorporating it into the Portmeirion hotel complex, but the intervention of the war and other problems prevented this. Williams-Ellis had always considered the Castell to be “the largest and most imposing single building on the Portmeirion Estate" and sought ways to incorporate it. Eventually, with support from the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]] and the [[European Regional Development Fund]] as well as the [[Wales Tourist Board]], his original aims were achieved and Castell Deudraeth was opened by the Welsh opera singer [[Bryn Terfel]] as an 11 bedroom hotel and restaurant on 20 August 2001, 23 years after Williams-Ellis's death.

The village of Portmeirion has been a source of inspiration for writers and television producers. [[Noël Coward]] wrote ''[[Blithe Spirit (play)|Blithe Spirit]]'' while staying in the ''Fountain 2'' (''Upper Fountain'') suite at Portmeirion, though Clough Williams-Ellis, in a television interview, said: "...the Watch House...where Noel Coward wrote that delightful thing of his, Blithe Spirit".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uybmg3cHtG0&ab_channel=Flycatchers1958 | title=On Show Portmeirion BBC2 Wales | website=[[YouTube]] | date=17 September 2016 }}</ref>  [[George Bernard Shaw]] and [[H. G. Wells]] were also early visitors. In 1956 the architect [[Frank Lloyd Wright]] came, and other famous guests included [[Gregory Peck]] and [[Ingrid Bergman]]. In the late 1950s, [[Stanley Long]], a former [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] photographer, came to create a collectible [[Stereoscopy|stereoview]] series through [[VistaScreen]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://brooklynstereography.com/2019/09/22/be-seeing-you-portmeirion-the-village-from-itvs-the-prisoner-in-3d/ |title=Be Seeing You: Portmeirion, The Village from ITV's "The Prisoner", in 3D |date=2019-09-22 |website=Brooklyn Stereography |language=en-us |access-date=2019-10-08 |archive-date=8 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008220404/https://brooklynstereography.com/2019/09/22/be-seeing-you-portmeirion-the-village-from-itvs-the-prisoner-in-3d/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The village has many connections to the [[Beatles]]. Their manager [[Brian Epstein]] was a frequent visitor, along with [[Paul McCartney]], and [[George Harrison]] spent his 50th birthday there in 1993. It was while Harrison was in Portmeirion that he filmed interviews for [[The Beatles Anthology]] documentary. Musician [[Jools Holland]] visited whilst filming for the TV music show ''[[The Tube (1982 TV series)|The Tube]]'', and was so impressed that he had his studio and other buildings at his home in [[Blackheath, London|Blackheath]] built to a design inspired by Portmeirion.

[[File:Portmerion Hotel - view from NE.jpg|thumb|left|Portmeirion Hotel]]
[[File:Portmeirion, Wales (49280865701).jpg|thumb|right|Battery Square]]
Portmeirion is now owned by a [[Charitable trusts in English law|charitable trust]], and has always been run as a hotel, which uses most of the buildings as hotel rooms or self-catering cottages, together with shops, a cafe, tea-room, and restaurant. Portmeirion is today a major [[tourist]] attraction in North Wales<ref>{{cite web |url=http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/holidays/topten |title=IcNorthWales - top 10 tourist attractions in North Wales |access-date=2006-08-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818141555/http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/holidays/topten/ |archive-date=18 August 2006 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> and day visits can be made on payment of an admission charge.

The village was the setting of the inaugural [[Festival N°6]], which took place in September 2012 and featured headline acts [[Spiritualized]], [[Primal Scream]] and [[New Order (band)|New Order]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/walesmusic/2012/04/festival-number-6-portmeirion-new-order-primal-scream-spiritualized.shtml |title=New Order, Primal Scream and Spiritualized for Portmeirion festival |date=24 April 2012 |publisher=BBC |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525152722/https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/walesmusic/2012/04/festival-number-6-portmeirion-new-order-primal-scream-spiritualized.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> The festival then ran each year in September at Portmeirion until 2018, when the festival organisers announced that the festival would be taking an indefinite break.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-44886319 |title=Gwynedd's Festival No.6 to take hiatus |publisher=BBC News |date=2018-06-19 |access-date=2021-12-01 |archive-date=1 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201200157/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-44886319 |url-status=live }}</ref>