Llangollen Museum

Llangollen Museum occupies the town's former court house and magistrates' court on Parade Street, providing an intimate and engaging introduction to the fascinating story of this beautiful Dee Valley town and its extraordinary cultural connections. Established in 1952 and run by volunteers of the Llangollen Museum Trust, the museum punches well above its weight in terms of the historical riches it documents.

Llangollen is one of the most scenically situated and culturally rich small towns in Wales. The River Dee rushes through a steep-sided wooded valley here, spanned by the medieval Llangollen Bridge (one of the Seven Wonders of Wales), with the ruins of Dinas Bran Castle — a native Welsh fortress — commanding the skyline above. The town has drawn travellers, artists and writers for centuries, from the Romantic era onwards, attracted by the combination of dramatic scenery, cultural vitality and the famous welcome of its inhabitants.

The museum explores four principal themes that together give Llangollen its unique character in the Wales and wider world. The International Musical Eisteddfod — founded in 1947 by Harold Tudor and W.S. Gwynn Williams as a gesture of post-war reconciliation — has grown into one of Europe's most celebrated festivals of music, song and dance, bringing performers from over 50 countries annually to compete on the Llangollen stage. The museum's Eisteddfod collections include costumes, programmes, photographs, trophies and personal objects that trace the festival's seven-decade history.

The Ladies of Llangollen — Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby — are perhaps the most famous residents in the town's history. These two Irish aristocrats who eloped to Llangollen in 1778, setting up home at Plas Newydd in defiance of their families and contemporary social convention, became celebrated figures of Romantic Europe, receiving visitors including William Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott, the Duke of Wellington and virtually every notable figure of the age. Their relationship, lifestyle and the romantic cottage they created at Plas Newydd are explored in detail.

The Llangollen Canal and its spectacular Pontcysyllte Aqueduct — designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009 — form the third major theme, while the town's prehistoric, Roman and medieval history, its textile trades and its development as a Victorian tourist destination complete the museum's comprehensive coverage of this remarkable place.