|
The Hotel Portmeirion
also known as in TV's The Prisoner This web page was created January 8, 1996, and updated May 10, 1998 with several new scans. All photographs on this page are by
Visit the Portmeirion Gallery
featuring |
Tide in the estuary rises and falls with significant differentials. In
The Prisoner, scenes were filmed at both low tide (e.g. "Dance of
the Dead") and at high (e.g. "Many Happy Returns").
Architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis fulfilled a lifelong dream when he
created Portmeirion, a unique and quaint combination of buildings, statues,
gardens and curiosities on a rocky peninsula on the coast of North Wales'
Cardigan Bay. Opened in the 1920's, Portmeirion was later dubbed by its
creator as a "home for fallen buildings," and indeed, many of its buildings
were disassembled at sites hundreds of miles away, and shipped piece-by-piece
to Portmeirion for reassembly.
Patrick McGoohan had visited Portmeirion many years prior to his creation
of The Prisoner, and in fact, had filmed location scenes for at least
one episode of Secret Agent at the resort ("View from the Villa"). In
transforming Portmeirion to "The Village", McGoohan achieved one of the most
original and fascinating utilizations ever of a natural location for a filmed
work of fiction.
A mansion originally located on the peninsula serves as Portmeirion's main
hotel, and includes a restaurant, a bar and several public rooms. In
The Prisoner, the main hotel mansion was used as the "Old People's Home."
Immediately in front of the hotel and afixed to the lawn wall and
rocky shore is an old ship, known in The Prisoner as "The Stone Boat."
The main hotel suffered a devastating fire in 1981, which destroyed most
of its irreplaceable interior. By the late 1980's, the building had been
restored to its original appearance and as much as possible internally, and
it was re-opened for guests.
Just beyond the main hotel is the "Camera Obscura," a small structure which
features a lens, a mirror and a projection table in a dark room, all which
can be used to view objects toward which the lens is rotated, including
the hillside village.
Portmeirion's "Pantheon" (pictured left), which overlooks the village grounds
and "Piazza" (pictured below right), served as the residence for The
Prisoner's "Number 2", and was referred to in the series as "The Green
Dome."
From the Gloriette one looks over a reflecting pool and fountain and toward
the Gothic Pavilion (pictured left). To the right is the nearby Castle
Deudraeth, which doubled as The Village's hospital in The Prisoner.
Fans of The Prisoner will instantly recognize this Portmeirion
structure as the residence of Number 6. Although the series depicted
the interior as spacious, it is in reality quite small. Today, this shop
in Battery Square is named "Number Six" and is home to "The Prisoner Shop,"
which sells videos and mementos associated with the television series.
(The Prisoner Shop is run by Max Hora, long-time fan of The Prisoner,
and in command of an encyclopediac knowledge of the series).
To the left below is the Salutation Restaurant. To the right is Hercules
Hall, referred to as "Town Hall" or the "Council Building" in The Prisoner
This page is part of the RetroWeb The Prisoner web site.