Issue 48 AUG 25 web - Flipbook - Page 46
Penllyn Castle My Welsh Castle
If ever a building were to stop you in your tracks Penllyn Castle is likely to be one to do so.
A beautiful tale of a dream coming slowly but steadily to
reality. In 2018 Jude and Terry Edgell were looking for a
modern, low maintenance holiday home in Spain. They
ended up buying a very derelict castle in Wales, and here
the story begins.
The whole project is a complete labour of love. From the
moment of viewing Penllyn Castle, Jude realised that her
life was about to take on a very different direction as she
took on the task of project managing.
A vision for the restoration of this castle
The first priority was keeping out the wet from above.
This then progressed through assessing and rectifying the
years of neglect coupled with endless issues of dry rot in a
building which dates, in part, from 1135 but mainly 1790s
With her new role as Project Manager and with no
experience of restoration, Jude started learning, going on
courses both around the country and online and also
constant reading. Jude quickly became very aware that
the house needed to breathe again. She laughed on telling
me that her builder has offered to put this on her
gravestone as all conversations about the house are
related to this point. Jude understands that this holistic
approach applies particularly to the floor and so she
discovered limecrete. Limecrete floors have been installed
throughout the castle.
The first task was to calculate the U Values for the
property. A limecrete floor will add to the thermal mass
capability of the property, absorbing and retaining the
residual heat of Penllyn Castle.
After digging out of the old flooring was completed, a layer
of geotextile, nonwoven membrane was laid on top of the
soil.
On top of the membrane went the recycled foam glass.
This is the modern aspect of a traditional limecrete floor.
Recycled foam glass (RFG), is a very light product made
from heating up recycled glass incorporating air and
forming coal size nuggets. The benefits of this are that it
provides superb insulation, it does not wick, is light and
easy to work with and, most importantly, it allows any
moisture vapour there may be to escape. Another huge
benefit is that it is a very eco-friendly product being made
of a waste material created with renewable energy.
