Slate The Great Strike of 1900-1903 at the Penrhyn Quarry was the longest labour dispute in British history, and left a legacy of lasting bitterness. Its origins lay in earlier instances of industrial unrest relating to the refusal of Lord Penrhyn and his agent to recognise the North Wales Quarrymen's Union. In 2018 local Plaid Cymru councillors accused the Trust of failing to fully recognise the contribution of slate workers to the castle’s history. The 120th anniversary of the strike saw the opening of a commemorative trail, Slate and Strikes in Bethesda. The BBC reported that some inhabitants of the town still declined to visit Penrhyn Castle and resentment against the Douglas-Pennants remained into the 21st-century. Art collection Penrhyn Castle houses one of the finest art collections in Wales, with works by Canaletto, Richard Wilson, Carl Haag, Perino del Vaga, and Bonifazio Veronese. The collection formerly included a Rembrandt, Catrina Hooghsaet. In 2007 the painting was put up for sale. The Dutch Culture Ministry tried to buy the painting for Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum in 2007, but could not meet the £40m asking price. The painting was subsequently sold to an overseas collector after the lifting of an export ban. In 2016 it was placed on loan to the National Museum Wales for a period of three years. The collection was almost entirely the work of Edward Douglas-Pennant, who began collecting paintings in the middle of the 19th century; the collection was catalogued by his granddaughter, Alice Douglas-Pennant. His interests were predominantly Dutch landscapes, Spanish pictures and Italian Sacra conversazione. During World War II a large number of pictures from the National Gallery were stored at the castle to avoid the Blitz. Ownership of the art collection at Penrhyn remained with the Douglas-Pennant family after the castle passed into the ownership of the Trust. Elements have passed directly to the Trust over the following seventy years as the family have ceded ownership in lieu of inheritance tax. Ten paintings were transferred in this way in 2008. In 2016 some forty further works were accepted by the Welsh Government and now form part of the permanent collection. Architecture and description Overview and architectural style Penrhyn is among the most admired of the numerous mock castles built in the United Kingdom in the 19th century; Christopher Hussey called it, "the outstanding instance of Norman revival." The castle is a picturesque composition that stretches over