The Ugly Truth Behind This British Aristocrat's Massive Wealth | Historic Britain | Absolute History

Alan Titchmarsh reveals the shocking truth about Penrhyn Castle and how it was built from fortunes made in the plantations of the West Indies.
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Пікірлер: 153

  • @nomanor7987
    @nomanor7987 Жыл бұрын

    So much wealth the result of so much human misery.

  • @ravenwolf7128

    @ravenwolf7128

    Жыл бұрын

    It's so horrible, all those people bought and forced to work so one family can build a castle and show off. That list of enslaved workers, God, that sums up what's wrong with they way wealth corrupts. People far away running the economy built on the blood and sweat of others. Wish it was different today, but much of the world is still run this way, although they don't technically call it slavery anymore--so many people still suffering so someone else can have way more than they need. Greed is the worst human vice.

  • @nomanor7987

    @nomanor7987

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ravenwolf7128 and they built what? A fake ass castle!

  • @foyerfelin

    @foyerfelin

    Жыл бұрын

    Same as today.

  • @samanthasmith61

    @samanthasmith61

    Жыл бұрын

    the fact that black people even fantasize this culture ( Bridgerton) is beyond disgusting

  • @maribellelebre6809

    @maribellelebre6809

    Жыл бұрын

    Wealth is theft It’s not just socialist rhetoric

  • @Abcdefghijk920
    @Abcdefghijk920 Жыл бұрын

    I love that they say “enslaved people” instead of “slaves”. It means A LOT

  • @OstblockLatina

    @OstblockLatina

    Жыл бұрын

    Germans no longer call a popular salat dressing a "Zigeuner Sauce", because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Still, they completely ignore the problem of Roma people trafficked into forced street work and begging, the latter involving plenty of children and adults crippled in horrible ways (including multiple limb amputations) by the trafficker gang members and then placed in the key city locations. It's not enough to get the vocabulary to sound nice, if real actions which aid and compensate the affected people aren't introduced.

  • @Jerseyboondocks

    @Jerseyboondocks

    Жыл бұрын

    Okay I'm glad you love that but these people were slaves. Maybe not the kind you're thinking of but they were still slaves. Because they met the definition of what is a slave.

  • @Celisar1

    @Celisar1

    Жыл бұрын

    @@OstblockLatina Only some Germans follow that absurd attempt to censor normal language. The problem with the exploitation of their own family and group members by Roma and Sinti leaders is the consequence of living in a very hierarchical and strongly patriarchal, misogynistic structure where abuse of all sorts is bound to happen. Since the German government has shown itself unable to do anything against illegal immigration which happens at a much larger scale there is no hope it will enforce proper controls when it comes to citizens of an EU country. But the ones to blame for this inhumane exploitation of their group members are the Sinti and Roma leaders.

  • @hannahbrown2728

    @hannahbrown2728

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Jerseyboondocks The point in saying "enslaved people " vs "slaves" is to continue to recognize their humanity beyond their circumstances, at least thats how I see it.

  • @ludovicleprinceroyal8721

    @ludovicleprinceroyal8721

    Жыл бұрын

    764 "satisfied customers"

  • @angelaberni8873
    @angelaberni8873 Жыл бұрын

    Nothing much has changed today. We need to stand UNITED !!!!

  • @dkleath8697
    @dkleath8697 Жыл бұрын

    History fascinates me, but the cruelty & greed disgusts me...

  • @mikkelnpetersen

    @mikkelnpetersen

    7 ай бұрын

    EVERY nation has some "skeletons in their closet", how many and how they look/got there is a whole other discussion.

  • @deanne1671
    @deanne1671 Жыл бұрын

    Those homes carved out of caves, were the most absolutely beautiful homes I've ever seen! I'd love to live there even today. No running water or indoor toilet included. What an absolutely enchanting place. The most beautiful place I've ever seen. Wow.

  • @nicolawebb6025

    @nicolawebb6025

    Жыл бұрын

    I know Knver quite well and they've done a great job of over romanticising the caves. It was a hard place to live

  • @kyndramb7050

    @kyndramb7050

    Жыл бұрын

    I wonder if they inspired Tolkien's hobbit holes?

  • @nicolawebb6025

    @nicolawebb6025

    Жыл бұрын

    @@kyndramb7050 Tolkien taught at the nearby Birmingham University so maybe

  • @ReclusiveEagle
    @ReclusiveEagle Жыл бұрын

    The fact that 40 million of today's currency could build a castle in the 1900s vs a hole in the ground today

  • @deethebee80

    @deethebee80

    Жыл бұрын

    His whole worth was £50m - that’s not the spend on the castle. they’ve got the comparisons muddled for sure ….

  • @skywatcher_sa
    @skywatcher_sa Жыл бұрын

    Best episode of the entire series. Bravo!

  • @philippebrehier7386
    @philippebrehier7386 Жыл бұрын

    🤔Even today, if you want to possess such amount of wealth, a lot of people will have to suffer in the process. Every billionaire have, at least, somebody else's blood on his hands.

  • @angelinapatt5589

    @angelinapatt5589

    Жыл бұрын

    YEEESS! Im saying this for years. You think youve worked for your money, but in fact others did.

  • @Santor-

    @Santor-

    Жыл бұрын

    You got that right. That or threw someone under the bus, and ripped their lively hood away.

  • @deethebee80

    @deethebee80

    Жыл бұрын

    Who’s blood is on Richard Branson and Bill Gates’s hands ?

  • @rrice1705
    @rrice1705 Жыл бұрын

    The part in the attic was neat. The Salt Lake City Tabernacle is similar: wood timbers with lathe and plaster covering them and a void space in between.

  • @judybaackebrewer61
    @judybaackebrewer61 Жыл бұрын

    Love this channel its awesome very informative keep up the great work

  • @frenchartantiquesparis424
    @frenchartantiquesparis424 Жыл бұрын

    Very interesting, thank you!

  • @OstblockLatina
    @OstblockLatina Жыл бұрын

    I welcome that long awaited and long overdue insight to the background of British colonial wealth. However, it was far more than just this castle that was funded by slavery and other despicable practices that were condoned by legal system and the monarchs for centuries. I think it would be appropriate to invest some of GB's time and resources (with a close cooperation with Heritage GB among others) to go through the archives of all sorts and track back the documented and possible sources of income of the royal aristocratis and noble houses across the history and then adron their surviving mansions, manors, castles and palaces with big and brightly colored notice boards, signs etc. stating that this or that piece of British heritage was funded from triangular trade, slavery, excruciatingly inhumane work conditions of the native lower layers of society, with and estimate of so and so many mortal victims, lethally ill, crippled and extremely impoverished men, women and children desperate to make a living while being structurally cut off from chances of getting education to secure themselves a better fate, suffering from the outcome of the work they provided in service of their masters and employers. A suggestion concerning the notice boards and signs: start from Windsor Castle and Bunkingham Palace. I'm sure it's going to draw even more tourist traffic to your country than living royal free-loaders occupying them (the lack of which doesn't negatively affect tourism in other European countries no longer ruled by monarchies).

  • @Celisar1

    @Celisar1

    Жыл бұрын

    That would be all historical buildings. I mean the horrible living conditions of the British working class during the last centuries are legendary.

  • @markv1974

    @markv1974

    Жыл бұрын

    The british museum would be a good place too. All the stolen stuff they have there.

  • @JadeScorpion31
    @JadeScorpion31 Жыл бұрын

    Well damn. My last name is Pennant. I knew there was some connection but never truly looked into the history beyond the area in Jamaica with the same name as mine. I know my family came from there but not much else. This is interesting.

  • @roxyroxii1152

    @roxyroxii1152

    Жыл бұрын

    Your uncles have a castle! 😃

  • @kennethcarlsen8920
    @kennethcarlsen8920 Жыл бұрын

    How sweet Marilyn was! What a gem! Smashing episode!

  • @Moonpearl121
    @Moonpearl121 Жыл бұрын

    Lol. The men singing in the castle is a final "up yours" to those mine owners who wouldn't have let them through the door. But I'd be interested to see a whole series on how many of our stately homes were built on the backs of slaves in the West Indies and other places. Our history has been whitewashed for far too long.

  • @adriennelara9037

    @adriennelara9037

    Жыл бұрын

    Well said, and thank you.

  • @FigaroHey

    @FigaroHey

    Жыл бұрын

    And how many on stolen Catholic church property?

  • @TeresaEliz

    @TeresaEliz

    Жыл бұрын

    @@FigaroHey - A lot!

  • @deethebee80

    @deethebee80

    Жыл бұрын

    @@FigaroHey I often wonder about this !!

  • @deethebee80

    @deethebee80

    Жыл бұрын

    A huge amount of Britain’s wealth was from the slave trade and related industries….

  • @haroldtakahashi8875
    @haroldtakahashi8875 Жыл бұрын

    💛...there's a small town in california named 'penryn' that was named by welsh immigrants who were working as miners in the gold country... quarry men too...

  • @haroldtakahashi8875

    @haroldtakahashi8875

    Жыл бұрын

    ...also, there was a welsh men's choir in the gold town of nevada city/grass valley...they have become co-ed, but they still perform during christmas time... they once sang in a large chamber in one of the gold mines...

  • @invictus4549
    @invictus4549 Жыл бұрын

    Watching from Jamaica

  • @303chrisv
    @303chrisv Жыл бұрын

    Basically Mcmansion of it's era.

  • @AlainaLee82
    @AlainaLee822 ай бұрын

    Oh my!!!! how shocking that people 500 years ago didn't have the same ideals as we do now.

  • @ageofechochambers9469
    @ageofechochambers946911 ай бұрын

    The conversion of the amounts in georgian or early Victorian ( before 1840s ) times to modern times is wrong. If a annual wage of a servant was £10 ( even less for some) and in modern times its £25,000 ( or more ) this means figures from early 1800s must be multiple by 2,500 . So cost of building the castle would be £50 million plus, and the man's net worth of 600k would be around £1.5 billion which does make sense. FYI I left out the gdp of those times by comparison to now and the price of gold at that time compared to now as it would take too long but they all come to a similar formula.

  • @tashibalampkin8555
    @tashibalampkin8555 Жыл бұрын

    13:55 That hilarious. The wealthy people get compensation, but the enslaved people don't.

  • @aliveandhearty7321

    @aliveandhearty7321

    Жыл бұрын

    To add to the "hilarity" of it all, the compensation was funded by bank loans that were finally paid off only some 10 years ago about 180 years after slavery was abolished. To add insult to injury west Indians journeyed to England after the second World War to help rebuild the country. They worked and paid taxes which partly helped the government to pay off its emancipation Bank loan. What a laugh ... us buying our freedom twice!! And then being told to forget it and move on

  • @phantomgrl109
    @phantomgrl109 Жыл бұрын

    32:13 "Pennant Castle, built from Plantation Profits and the toil of their quarry labour's. Life was hard for these workers and those throughout Britain". I find this whole summary an insult to the 750 enslaved who toiled in the Jamaican sun and was deprived of all human rights including the ability to strike. Workers get paid. Absolute History, are you referring to the 750 enslaved who were cataloged like chattel as "plantation profits?"

  • @Pou1gie1

    @Pou1gie1

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, comparing slavery to being a poor British person is really a way for them to downplay slavery and make themselves feel better about it.

  • @cindatelis
    @cindatelis Жыл бұрын

    15:07 it’s driving me absolutely crazy, does ANYONE know who makes the boots she’s wearing? 🙏🏻

  • @kendallkahl8725
    @kendallkahl8725 Жыл бұрын

    Of all the cultures that are in my ancestry I find my Welsh the most curious right behind my Finnish blood.

  • @jakubkuzminski5670
    @jakubkuzminski5670 Жыл бұрын

    Super film

  • @sherimaldonado1889
    @sherimaldonado1889 Жыл бұрын

    A modern castle, I'd live in it😁

  • @qualityking1068
    @qualityking1068 Жыл бұрын

    slaves/indent labour/ land grabs/ that how empires grow

  • @kaarlimakela3413
    @kaarlimakela3413 Жыл бұрын

    Just for balance ... have a jumpin' Jamaican Reggae band come play 🎶 🎵 in that crazy mausoleum!

  • @benediktmorak4409
    @benediktmorak4409 Жыл бұрын

    wonder though what happened to the sugar cane plantation in Jamaica?

  • @tomorrowhowever7488

    @tomorrowhowever7488

    Жыл бұрын

    Search engines exist. The history of Jamaica and Haiti are well documented.

  • @benediktmorak4409

    @benediktmorak4409

    Жыл бұрын

    @@tomorrowhowever7488 get me a link.because i was searching and did not find anything about that sugarcane plantation.

  • @benediktmorak4409
    @benediktmorak4409 Жыл бұрын

    what a magnificent castle. and or maybe though? most of those buildings were built with blood, sweat and tears. though how much -poorer - would the landscape be, and not only here, if those castles were not built? Think maybe of Neuschwanstein in Germany. Burg Eilts, also in Germany. Hochosterwitz in Carinthia, the Austrian province. Or Schönbrunn in Austria. Also Peterhof, in Russia. The Dresden zwinger, a - palace - for keeping the hunting dogs. Still, it is good to know HOW this places came into existence. Because on the local -tourguide - we seldom or never , find this information. Suppose this is not a -scheduled Monument-? Otherwise - British Heritage - would not have allowed to put all those cables and wiring and modern lights for the visitors to be put up?

  • @Celisar1

    @Celisar1

    Жыл бұрын

    If I had to choose between fewer and less impressive buildings and a better, happier life for other human beings I would chose the latter in a heartbeat!

  • @deborahcaldwell9775
    @deborahcaldwell9775 Жыл бұрын

    “An Almighty Fake” How fascinating

  • @lauramjstewart
    @lauramjstewart Жыл бұрын

    Hmmm....I have an English grandmother, and a native Canadian grandmother. The difference in the cultures is that in native culture, there were no poor or homeless. When the men hunted, fished and trapped game, the meat was shared amongst the tribe. The elderly, sick, disabled, etc. were cared for. Everyone was clothed, fed and housed. Each member of the tribe did what they could to contribute and in turn, were cared for. Such a shocking comparison to how harsh the wealthy Brits were to the people, their fellow Brits....I prefer the native way....gone, destroyed, but not forgotten.

  • @TrapperAaron
    @TrapperAaron Жыл бұрын

    I mean that's amazing venetian plaster work. Don't downplay it.

  • @ThunderStickGuy
    @ThunderStickGuy Жыл бұрын

    Seems beautiful to me, and not ugly.

  • @BlueAlien1313
    @BlueAlien1313 Жыл бұрын

    Where is my reparations Britain. The Welsh are so interesting to me. The Language, the food, their history. All of it is fascinating. Make a movie already

  • @linneab8317
    @linneab8317 Жыл бұрын

    Plantation owners profited on slavery and on emancipation. Though enslaved people were to receive training, it reparations were rarely paid out.

  • @Serai3
    @Serai3 Жыл бұрын

    "Nobody ever made a million dollars. You can only steal a million dollars." -- Fran Leibowitz

  • @lisapop5219

    @lisapop5219

    Жыл бұрын

    Literally makes no sense

  • @Serai3

    @Serai3

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lisapop5219 Think real hard. I know you can do it.

  • @lisapop5219

    @lisapop5219

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Serai3 except you can. It depends on what time span you are looking at 😅

  • @Jerseyboondocks

    @Jerseyboondocks

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Serai3 of course people can make $1000000 in their lifetime. Smh.. and not by stealing it. You told someone else to think real hard now..but I'm asking you to think extra hard. Let's say a small business owner makes $100,000 a year profit. In 10 years that's $1000000 that he earned. Ding ding! And he worked hard for it...or she

  • @Serai3

    @Serai3

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Jerseyboondocks Keep proving my point, little boy.

  • @AlyxGlide
    @AlyxGlide Жыл бұрын

    Lotta money in slavery

  • @lisalking2476
    @lisalking2476Ай бұрын

    Alot of them squander there inheritance 😮

  • @TheZenGarden_
    @TheZenGarden_ Жыл бұрын

    Micah 5:15

  • @Lostinamomentillnevergetback
    @Lostinamomentillnevergetback Жыл бұрын

    When the word reparation gets thrown around…it’s examples like this as to why Britain is built off the backs of exploitative individuals. Of their own, but most of all the most vulnerable of others

  • @s1nb4d59
    @s1nb4d59 Жыл бұрын

    Wheres alice loxton? alice roberts? susan lipscomb and other women i see as the best in history narration.

  • @lisapop5219
    @lisapop5219 Жыл бұрын

    What is a guinea?

  • @nannabostrom5313

    @nannabostrom5313

    Жыл бұрын

    It was a gold coin worth 20 shillings. Equal to about one pound in todays money.

  • @aliveandhearty7321
    @aliveandhearty7321 Жыл бұрын

    Yes wounds take a long time to heal ... a fact ignored by some British politicians who when faced with the question of reparation to the descendants of enslaved people in the Caribbean, respond that it all happened a long time ago and people should just move on

  • @deethebee80
    @deethebee80 Жыл бұрын

    I’m not sure they’ve got the financial comparisons quite right…. Nobody today with £50m in total assets and income could commission and build a great house like that using the best craftsmen in a 10 year project !

  • @nicolawebb6025

    @nicolawebb6025

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes because today you would have to pay the workers properly unlike when this was built

  • @patrickpierce1635
    @patrickpierce1635 Жыл бұрын

    Interesting their last name was penance, I know its not spelled that way but it seems appropriate. I'm not sure that they DID do any penance for trading slaves though...

  • @miriammaciulis5488
    @miriammaciulis5488 Жыл бұрын

    Somehow I never feel them being remorseful when they talk about slaves and or India?!

  • @Tmanaz480

    @Tmanaz480

    Жыл бұрын

    Same over here in the US.

  • @andreathomas2099
    @andreathomas20997 ай бұрын

    Thus when Africans tell you your crimes its ignored........

  • @veiledrecalcitrance4314
    @veiledrecalcitrance4314 Жыл бұрын

    That was a man with little foresight, I mean, he was clearly going to die at some point, and clearly be found out that his castle was all a sham, why not buy an actual castle and redo it the way he wanted instead of 10 years to build a fake? Can you imagine the upkeep on something like a fake castle manor house? I’d hate to be the owner today. That house has to be a money pit, and for what, to keep up the facade? What odd thinking behind this whole thing

  • @Celisar1
    @Celisar1 Жыл бұрын

    Throughout history most rich people, if not all, have become rich on the back of others causing them suffering and often an early death. Therefore we should never admire nobility or royalty. Only in modern days there are exceptions from that rule like actors and artists who become rich by the admiration and appreciation of others.

  • @marvwatkins7029
    @marvwatkins7029 Жыл бұрын

    'Enslaved people': PC for slaves.

  • @Patriot1789
    @Patriot1789 Жыл бұрын

    One star for this family because they, at least, list their slaves with names and just as the English government reimbursed slave owners for their “property losses” when slavery was banned, some American Southerner planters were reimbursed as well ($300 per slave), while in both cases the majority of slaves themselves got nothing or next to nothing. In the US they were supposed to get two mules and 40 acres according to an order by Gen. Sherman. In fact, most got nothing.

  • @user-ey4rc5tu4t
    @user-ey4rc5tu4t Жыл бұрын

    Wasn’t the prelude to this about how this dude personally owned over 700 slaves? Cut to around 10:39, you gushingly say, “It was all worth it!”

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    @elijahpatel5062 Жыл бұрын

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    @freddiehunter3472

    Жыл бұрын

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    @danielmurray4933

    Жыл бұрын

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    @masongreen1694

    Жыл бұрын

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    @molliebailey9937

    Жыл бұрын

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    @veriwahyuni432

    Жыл бұрын

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  • @KaylaSteen
    @KaylaSteen Жыл бұрын

    MY PEOPLE STILL SUFFER

  • @donnaeturner
    @donnaeturner Жыл бұрын

    How many slaves did the Ottoman Empire have?

  • @purplecleo
    @purplecleo Жыл бұрын

    Its so unpleasant to look on such a beautiful place and to know it was built on the backs and bodies of enslaved people. And then eventually of course at the expense of the livelihood of welsh quarry workers. Who knows how many people starved and died or were beaten and lived their lives enslaved. The number 764 probably represents many many more babies, people who died enslaved....we owe so much of the western world's wealth to enslaved people.

  • @davidpayant8684
    @davidpayant8684 Жыл бұрын

    The thesis of this show is that all is right in Britain. The working class that was divided has now healed it’s divisions and all is well. Wow! Strikes all over, the Tories passing anti union laws. It seems the real division, I.e. between the rich and everyone else is worse than ever. What happened to all that money. Does this family still own huge tracts of land. What is the Trust? Is that the heirs of the estate or the National trust? How were the slaves treated? Whippings? What about the 400 dead slate workers? Very poor, very biased documentary. Dave 🐝🐝

  • @pdmacguire
    @pdmacguire Жыл бұрын

    It is wrong to judge people for owning slaves. We have household appliances in every home which weren't available to anyone in the past.

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    @danieljohnson1863 Жыл бұрын

    *Making money is an action. Keeping money is a behavior, but "Growing money is wisdom" I heard this from someone* 💯,,,,.... ___

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    @m.g.540

    Жыл бұрын

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    @desoterica7453

    Жыл бұрын

    And keep people enslaved with your peddling!

  • @bobSeigar
    @bobSeigar3 ай бұрын

    As a Historian, this 'Documentary' made me vomit with all the anachronistic language, redefining of terms and wildly baseless assertations.

  • @sunzeneise
    @sunzeneise Жыл бұрын

    To bad it was poorly narrated.

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    @rolandtrauer3268 Жыл бұрын

    Crap show

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    @katjagolden893 Жыл бұрын

    I told my kids if I ever won the lottery - millions of $, £ or €, I would build a new Victorian House with an elevator, safe room plus a secret hidden room. Houses today have no personality yet people who a millionaires have plain homes, no spectacular carpentry. Sure the homes furnishings are beautiful but take them out and you have a plain home. * elevator-lift 🛗 bc I am now paralyzed from an F4 tornado. I laid on top of my boys who were 3 & 6 at the time (2006) I saved them but I was critically injured. I was on Extreme Makeover Home Ed - Hawkins Family (we were Europes most fav episode ever,) Oprah & The Doctors. I am the former Amy Hawkins but now have my maiden name Golden back

  • @earlpottinger671

    @earlpottinger671

    Жыл бұрын

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    @katjagolden893

    Жыл бұрын

    @@earlpottinger671 - wow! That’s sounds fascinating. I will have to look that up! Thx! * think it would suck me up in my wheelchair? I think I would laugh the whole time. I do that when I’m scared but intrigued by something.

  • @earlpottinger671

    @earlpottinger671

    Жыл бұрын

    @@katjagolden893 Go to KZread and put "escape to the chateau elevator" in the search field. It was the first video on my browser. There should be other videos available too.

  • @katjagolden893

    @katjagolden893

    Жыл бұрын

    @@earlpottinger671 - thank you . I am definitely going to do that right now. Hope you had a relaxing weekend and a safe week!

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