The "Ladies of Llangollen" were two Irish aristocrats, Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, who were determined to live together. In 1778 they escaped from their disapproving families and fled to north Wales, where they bought a cottage in charming scenery in the hills above Llangollen and lived there, along with their Irish servant Mary Caryll, until their deaths fifty years later. They extended the property, created a garden and a dairy, and collected old stained glass and oak panelling and carvings, which they stuck on every available space. They preferred to appear in public dressed entirely in black, like clergymen.
The story of the Ladies had much appeal in the dawning age of Romanticism Their renown spread far and wide: they were visited by a host of luminaries from Byron and Walter Scott to the Duke of Wellington, and Queen Charlotte persuaded King George III to grant them a government pension to relieve their debts. Whether they had an active lesbian relationship or were only close friends remains a matter of speculation.
Their home, Plas Newydd, is open to the public and is well worth a visit!
