Quarry loses in Restoration final

Villagers were elated when Pen yr Orsedd won the Wales heat

The Welsh contender in BBC Two's Restoration Village programme has failed at the final stage.

Campaigners for Pen Yr Orsedd Workshops in the Nantlle Valley in Gwynedd wanted to return the buildings back to work manufacturing decorative ironwork.

Their bid had won the backing of opera star Bryn Terfel who lives in Gwynedd.

But a 19th Century wheelwright and blacksmith's workshop near Stratford-on-Avon took the £2m prize.

Chedhams Yard in Warwickshire came first, Watts Gallery in Surrey came second, and one of the first Scottish lighthouses, the 18th Century Dennis Head Old Beacon on North Ronaldsay, was third.

Supporters for the Pen yr Orsedd bid to convert the former quarry buildings into heritage engineering workshops travelled to the live final of the Restoration Village series in Sussex.

Captured imagination

It had beaten two other entrants from Wales for a place with eight other UK schemes in the final.

Before the final, Dr David Gwyn said whatever the outcome they would carry on with the scheme to create jobs in the Nantlle area.

"Posters have been put up from Caernarfon to Merthyr for people to ring in and vote for us," said Dr Gwyn.

A busload from the 200-strong community in Nantlle left early on Sunday to travel to the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum near Chichester in Sussex.

The Nantlle scheme plans revolves around workshops which will provide training and workshops to repair, recreate and manufacture heritage engineering, including reproduction ironwork.

"This is an exciting project," said Dr Gwyn. "It's not just about restoration, it's about renewal.

"The scheme at Pen yr Orsedd really has captured people's imagination as it's not just another community or arts centre. It's hope, jobs, work, confidence.

"Even if we are unsuccessful we will plough ahead with our plans, but it will of course be at a slower pace than if we win the Restoration contest," he added.

More than half a million votes were cast in the third series of the heritage programme, Restoration Village, which concentrated on dilapidated rural buildings.