Penmaenmawr: In the Footsteps of Rudolf Steiner

Penmaenmawr (1923) was ‘peak Rudolf Steiner’ (1861–1925). Steiner delivered his most extensive account of Anthroposophy in Britain (13 lectures) at the first ‘International Summer School’ in the seaside Welsh village of Penmaenmawr (18 August–1 September). There were about 100 delegates (c.80% women); they ranged from seasoned Anthropop devotees to ‘newbies’ and they travelled from UK, Switzerland, USA, and Australia. Yes, there would be a second International Summer School (11 lectures, Torquay, 1924), but Steiner was, by that time, a physically greatly diminished figure and not long for this world. At Penmaenmawr, Steiner lectured in German (as always), and 20 minute grabs of his lectures were serially rendered into English by the remarkable linguist and Anthropop, George Kaufmann (later known as George Adams). In this ninth (and penultimate) visit to Britain, Rudolf Steiner travelled from London to Ilkley (West Yorkshire, in the industrial north of England), where he delivered 13 lectures on Waldorf education, then to Penmaenmawr and the Summer School, and finally to London and the founding there of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain (on 2 September, 1923). Penmaenmawr was the farthest west that Steiner ever ventured to lecture. While there, he made several excursions on foot to the ‘Druid’s Circle’ (known locally as ‘Meini Hirion’, ‘long stones’), a hike of about three and a half hours return. The Penmaenmawr Summer School was the initiative of Daniel Dunlop (1868–1935) with organisation by Eleanor (Nelly) Merry (1873–1956). The Grand Hotel, where Steiner (and many attendees) stayed, and the Drill Hall, where he lectured, are now both demolished. The former ‘seaside resort’ of Penmaenmawr, with its previously splendid beach-side promenade, is now neither quite ‘seaside’ nor ‘resort;’ the village has been decoupled from its beach by a four lane concrete expressway with non-stop non-local traffic, with the beach accessible via a dismal pedestrian underpass.