Bespoke Door Handles for the Award-Winning Caernarfon Castle Project
By Charlie Adams, Business Development and Sales Director, Ash Door Furniture
Some projects are about supplying door hardware. Others ask the hardware to become part of the architecture.
Our work at Caernarfon Castle was firmly in the second category.
ASH Door Furniture manufactured bespoke bronze-patina pull handles for the historic castle in North Wales as part of work associated with its King's Gate visitor improvements.
Since completion, the wider King's Gate project has gone on to receive significant recognition for architecture, accessibility and its sensitive treatment of one of Britain's most important historic sites.
For us, it is a good example of what bespoke architectural hardware should do: perform its job without competing with the building around it.
Door Hardware for a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Caernarfon Castle is not an environment where an off-the-shelf architectural detail can simply be dropped into place.
The castle is a Grade I listed Scheduled Monument and forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the castles and town walls of King Edward in Gwynedd.
The King's Gate project set out to improve the visitor experience and, importantly, make more of the castle accessible to people who previously could not reach its upper levels.
Contemporary interventions therefore had to work alongside medieval stonework without pretending to be historic themselves.
That principle extended all the way down to details such as the door furniture.
The ASH Handle
For the project, we manufactured a bespoke version of our ASH145 pull handle.
The handles were finished in Bronze Patina, creating a surface that sits naturally alongside the material palette of the castle while remaining clearly contemporary.
The standard ASH145 design was adapted with an additional curve at the lower end, producing a double-ski profile.
The handles were then mounted onto bespoke plates recessed into the door structure.
It is a relatively small architectural component within a very large historic site, but that is precisely why the detailing matters.
On a project like this, a handle cannot look like something selected from a catalogue at the end of the specification process.
Its geometry, finish, fixing method and relationship with the door all have to belong.
Old and New Should Not Be Afraid of Each Other
One of the most successful things about the King's Gate project is that the new interventions are not trying to imitate the medieval castle.
Timber, glass and metal sit against the existing stone as recognisably modern additions.
That approach allows the history of the building to remain readable.
The door furniture follows the same principle.
The bronze-patina finish provides warmth and character, but the form is deliberately contemporary.
Good heritage specification does not necessarily mean recreating an old handle.
Sometimes the better answer is to design a new one that respects what is already there.
An Award-Winning Project
Since the work was completed, the King's Gate project at Caernarfon Castle has received significant industry recognition.
The project received a 2024 Civic Trust Award, recognising the quality of the intervention and its contribution to the historic site and surrounding community.
It was also Highly Commended in the Selwyn Goldsmith Award for Universal Design, reflecting the project's strong focus on accessibility and inclusive design.
The Manchester Society of Architects subsequently recognised the project with both its Community Built Award and President's Award.
Caernarfon Castle also received a Highly Commended recognition in the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists' Award for Excellence in Architectural Technology.
These are awards for the wider architectural project rather than for ASH Door Furniture individually, but we are proud that hardware manufactured in our Nottingham factory forms part of the completed scheme.
Accessibility Without Compromising the Building
The accessibility aspect of the project is particularly interesting.
Historic buildings present some of the most difficult accessibility challenges in architecture. Major alterations can affect historic fabric, yet leaving spaces inaccessible is increasingly unacceptable.
At King's Gate, the design team introduced new routes, facilities and a glazed lift that allow visitors to access parts of the castle that had previously only been available to fully ambulant visitors.
The result demonstrates that accessibility and conservation do not have to be competing objectives.
The same thinking applies to architectural hardware.
A door handle might be a fraction of the cost of the complete project, but it is one of the parts of the building that visitors physically interact with.
Its dimensions, position, grip, projection, fixing and finish all matter.
Accessibility happens at the scale of the masterplan, but it also happens at the scale of the hand.
Why Bespoke Manufacturing Matters on Heritage Projects
Heritage projects rarely arrive with standard conditions.
Existing openings may be irregular. Fixings may need to avoid historic material. Architects may require a particular radius, projection or fixing arrangement. A finish may need to sit alongside stone, timber or existing metalwork that has been ageing for hundreds of years.
That is where manufacturing rather than simply supplying becomes useful.
Because we manufacture architectural door furniture in Nottingham, the geometry of a pull handle does not necessarily have to stop at the dimensions shown in a catalogue.
Fixing centres can change.
Lengths can change.
Profiles can change.
Mounting details can change.
Finishes can be developed around the architectural context.
The Caernarfon Castle handle is a good example. It started with an established ASH product and was adapted to become something specific to the project.
Small Detail, Significant Project
Nobody visits Caernarfon Castle specifically to look at a door handle.
That is probably the point.
Good architectural hardware should feel as though it was always intended to be there.
Against a project involving medieval masonry, major accessibility interventions, structural work, new visitor facilities and carefully designed contemporary architecture, a pull handle is a very small detail.
But buildings are experienced through those details.
The things people touch are often the parts they remember.
We are proud that a piece manufactured in Nottingham now forms part of a castle that has stood for more than seven centuries — and of a modern intervention that has been recognised for giving more people the opportunity to experience it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What door handles did ASH Door Furniture supply for Caernarfon Castle?
ASH Door Furniture manufactured a bespoke version of the ASH145 pull handle for the Caernarfon Castle project. The design incorporated an additional lower curve and was mounted using bespoke recessed plates.
What finish was used on the Caernarfon Castle handles?
The handles were produced in a Bronze Patina finish, selected to work sympathetically with the materials and character of the historic setting.
Were the Caernarfon Castle handles made in the UK?
Yes. ASH Door Furniture manufactures bespoke architectural door furniture in Nottingham, England.
Has the Caernarfon Castle project won architectural awards?
Yes. The King's Gate project has received a Civic Trust Award and recognition from the Selwyn Goldsmith Awards, Manchester Society of Architects and Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists.
Can bespoke door handles be manufactured for listed and heritage buildings?
Yes. Bespoke manufacture allows dimensions, fixing arrangements, profiles and finishes to be developed around the particular requirements of a heritage project rather than requiring the building to accommodate a standard product.
Does ASH Door Furniture manufacture bespoke pull handles?
Yes. Existing ASH designs can be adapted or entirely bespoke pull handles can be developed to suit project-specific dimensions, fixing centres, materials and finishes.