Portmeirion was designed and laid out by the celebrated architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1978) following his purchase of the estate, then called Aber Ia, in 1926. The village evolved over several decades and was still being added to in the 1970s.

The Campanile was designed and built in 1928 and, unusually for the Portmeirion buildings, the executed tower exactly conformed to its detailed plans; these were shown in the 1931 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Some sort of bell tower had formed a focus for the projected village already in the earliest plans and models. As Williams Ellis noted: `The need for the Campanile was obvious enough - it was imperative that I should open my performance with a dramatic gesture of some sort.' The tower was provided with a chiming clock from a demolished London brewery. A plaque within the tower carries the following dedication: `This tower, built in 1928 by Clough Williams-Ellis, architect and publican, embodies stones from the 12th century castle of Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of North Wales, that stood on an eminence 150 yards to the west. It was finally razed c1869 by Sir William Fothergill Cook, inventor of the Electric Telegraph ``lest the ruins should become known and attract visitors to the place.'' This nineteenth century affront to the twelfth century is thus piously redressed in the twentieth century'.

Source: Cadw listed building description.
RCAHMW, December 2007.