Clough Williams-Ellis
Encyclopedia
Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE
, MC
(28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was an English
-born Welsh
architect
known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion
in North Wales
.
, England
, but his family moved back to his father's native North Wales when he was four. The family have strong Welsh roots and Clough Williams-Ellis claimed direct descent from Owain Gwynedd
, Prince of North Wales.
He was educated at Oundle School
in Northamptonshire
. Though he read for the natural sciences tripos at Trinity College, Cambridge
, he never graduated. After a few months at the Architectural Association in London in 1903/4 (which he located by looking up "Architecture" in the London telephone directory) he worked for an architect for a few short months before setting up his own practice in London.
In 1908, he inherited a small country house, Plas Brondanw
from his father, restoring and embellishing it over the rest of his life, and rebuilding it after a fire in 1951. He served with distinction in World War I
serving first with the Royal Fusiliers and then the Welsh Guards
with whom he was awarded the Military Cross
. He began work on Portmeirion
during the 1920s. Notably, Portmeirion formed the set for the cult 1960s TV show The Prisoner
.
, and groups of cottages at Cornwell, Oxfordshire
; Tattenhall
in Cheshire
and Cushendun
, County Antrim
, Northern Ireland
. Williams-Ellis is also known for his design (in the 1930s) of the former summit building on Snowdon
, which - after unsympathetic alteration in the 1960s and a long-term lack of maintenance - was described by Prince Charles
as "the highest slum in Wales".
Williams-Ellis also served on several government committees concerned with design and conservation and was instrumental in setting up the British National Parks
after 1945. He wrote and broadcast extensively on architecture, design and the preservation of the rural landscape.
, used the name Portmeirion Pottery
for the company she created with her husband in 1961. Clough Williams-Ellis' great-nephew David Williams-Ellis is a renowned contemporary figurative sculptor.
"for public services". He was made a Knight Bachelor
in the New Year Honours 1972 "for services to the preservation of the environment and to architecture". At the time, he was the oldest person ever to be knighted.
at Portmeirion some twenty years after his death.
With others
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion
Portmeirion
Portmeirion is a popular tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village and is now owned by a charitable trust....
in North Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
Origins, education and early career
Clough Williams-Ellis was born in Gayton, NorthamptonshireGayton, Northamptonshire
Gayton is a rural village from Northampton town centre in South Northamptonshire. It is situated on a hill close to the larger villages of Bugbrooke, Milton Malsor and Blisworth, with a linked public footpath network. -History:...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, but his family moved back to his father's native North Wales when he was four. The family have strong Welsh roots and Clough Williams-Ellis claimed direct descent from Owain Gwynedd
Owain Gwynedd
Owain Gwynedd ap Gruffydd , in English also known as Owen the Great, was King of Gwynedd from 1137 until his death in 1170. He is occasionally referred to as "Owain I of Gwynedd"; and as "Owain I of Wales" on account of his claim to be King of Wales. He is considered to be the most successful of...
, Prince of North Wales.
Oundle School
Oundle School is a co-educational British public school located in the ancient market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire. The school has been maintained by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London since its foundation in 1556. Oundle has eight boys' houses, five girls' houses, a day...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
. Though he read for the natural sciences tripos at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, he never graduated. After a few months at the Architectural Association in London in 1903/4 (which he located by looking up "Architecture" in the London telephone directory) he worked for an architect for a few short months before setting up his own practice in London.
Plas Brondanw and Portmeirion
Plas Brondanw
Plas Brondanw in Carreg Llanfrothen, Gwynedd, North Wales, was the family home of Clough Williams-Ellis, creator of the Italianate village Portmeirion, and elements of similar architectural styles can be seen at both locations....
from his father, restoring and embellishing it over the rest of his life, and rebuilding it after a fire in 1951. He served with distinction in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
serving first with the Royal Fusiliers and then the Welsh Guards
Welsh Guards
The Welsh Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division.-Creation :The Welsh Guards came into existence on 26 February 1915 by Royal Warrant of His Majesty King George V in order to include Wales in the national component to the Foot Guards, "..though the order...
with whom he was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
. He began work on Portmeirion
Portmeirion
Portmeirion is a popular tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village and is now owned by a charitable trust....
during the 1920s. Notably, Portmeirion formed the set for the cult 1960s TV show The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
.
Later life
A fashionable architect in the inter-war years, Williams-Ellis' other works include buildings at Stowe in BuckinghamshireStowe, Buckinghamshire
Stowe is a civil parish and former village about northwest of Buckingham in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Boycott, Dadford and Lamport....
, and groups of cottages at Cornwell, Oxfordshire
Cornwell, Oxfordshire
Cornwell is a village and civil parish about west of Chipping Norton in West Oxfordshire.-History:The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter was originally Norman, and the chancel arch survives form this time. Most of the windows are Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic additions. The...
; Tattenhall
Tattenhall
Tattenhall is a village and civil parish, 8 miles south-east of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. At the 2001 Census, the population was recorded as 1,986.-History:...
in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
and Cushendun
Cushendun
Cushendun is a small coastal village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits off the A2 coast road between Cushendall and Ballycastle. It has a sheltered harbour and lies at the mouth of the River Dun and Glendun, one of the nine Glens of Antrim. The Mull of Kintyre in Scotland is only about...
, County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Williams-Ellis is also known for his design (in the 1930s) of the former summit building on Snowdon
Snowdon
Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales, at an altitude of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland. It is located in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, and has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain"...
, which - after unsympathetic alteration in the 1960s and a long-term lack of maintenance - was described by Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
as "the highest slum in Wales".
Williams-Ellis also served on several government committees concerned with design and conservation and was instrumental in setting up the British National Parks
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
after 1945. He wrote and broadcast extensively on architecture, design and the preservation of the rural landscape.
Family
In 1915, Williams-Ellis married the writer Amabel Strachey. Their elder daughter, Susan Williams-EllisSusan Williams-Ellis
Susan Williams-Ellis , a pottery designer and the eldest daughter of Clough Williams-Ellis, was best known for co-founding Portmeirion Pottery.-Background:...
, used the name Portmeirion Pottery
Portmeirion Pottery
Portmeirion is a British pottery company based in Stoke-on-Trent.-History:Portmeirion Pottery came into being in 1960 when the pottery designer Susan Williams-Ellis and her husband, Euan Cooper-Willis took over a small pottery decorating company in Stoke-on-Trent called A. E. Gray Ltd.. Susan...
for the company she created with her husband in 1961. Clough Williams-Ellis' great-nephew David Williams-Ellis is a renowned contemporary figurative sculptor.
Honours
In 1958, Williams-Ellis was made a Commander of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
"for public services". He was made a Knight Bachelor
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in the New Year Honours 1972 "for services to the preservation of the environment and to architecture". At the time, he was the oldest person ever to be knighted.
Death
Sir Clough Williams-Ellis died in April 1978, aged 94. In accordance with his wishes, he was cremated, and his ashes went to make up a marine rocket, which was part of a New Year’s Eve firework display over the estuaryEstuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
at Portmeirion some twenty years after his death.
Writings
- Reconography (by student in BEF, pseudodonym Graphite) Pelman (1919 and 4 editions)
- England and the Octopus, London, Geoffrey Bles (1928)
- Cottage Building in Cob, Pise, Chalk and Clay: a Renaissance (1919)
- The Architect, London, Geoffrey Bles (1929)
- Cautionary Guide to Oxford, Design and Industrial Association (1930), 32 pages
- Cautionary Guide to St Albans, Design and Industrial Association (1930) 32 pages
- Laurence Weaver – a Biography, London, Geoffrey Bles (1933)
- Architecture Here and Now, London, T Nelson and Sons (1934)
- The Adventure of Building: being something about architecture and planning for intelligent young citizens and their backward elders, London, Architectural Press (1946), 91 pages
- An Artist in North Wales, London, Elek (1946), pictures by Fred Uhlman, 40 pages
- On Trust for the Nation (2 vols), London, Elek (1947), pictures by Barbara Jones, 168 pages
- Living in New Towns, London (1947)
- Town and Country Planning, Longmans, Green, London and British Council (1951), 48 pages
- Portmeirion, The Place and its Meaning, London (1963, revised edition 1973)
- Roads in the Landscape, Ministry of Transport (1967), 22 pages
- Architect Errant: The Autobiography of Clough Williams Ellis, London, Constable (1971), 251 pages
- Around the World in Ninety Years, Portmeirion (1978)
With others
- Clough & Amabel Williams-Ellis, The Tank Corps (A War History), London (1919)
- ____ The Pleasures of Architecture London, Jonathan Cape (1924)
- ____ and Introduction by Richard HughesRichard Hughes (writer)Richard Arthur Warren Hughes OBE was a British writer of poems, short stories, novels and plays.He was born in Weybridge, Surrey. His father was a civil servant Arthur Hughes, and his mother Louisa Grace Warren who had been brought up in Jamaica...
, Headlong Down the Years, Liverpool University Press (1951), 118 pages - Susan, Charlotte, Amabel and Clough Williams-Ellis, In and Out of Doors, London, Geo Routledge and Sons (1937) 491 pages
- With John Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...
, Britain and the Beast, London, Dent (1937), 332 pages - With John Strachey, Architecture (1920, reprinted 2009), 125 pages
- With Sir John Summerson, Architecture Here and Now
External links
- North Antrim website with designs by Clough Williams-Ellis
- Official Portmeirion site
- Plas Brondanw