Conwy Castle

Few medieval fortresses still look as complete from a distance as Conwy. Eight great round towers rise from a rocky ridge above the estuary of the River Conwy in North Wales, linked by high curtain walls of dark stone, and from the castle a ring of town walls with twenty-one towers and three gateways runs right round the old town. Together they make Conwy a remarkably complete medieval walled town, and UNESCO counts the castle among the finest examples of military architecture of the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

The castle was built for Edward I of England during his conquest of Wales. He took the site in 1283, moved the Cistercian abbey that stood there further up the valley, and in its place founded an English garrison town. Work began within days. Under the direction of Master James of St George, the king's master builder from Savoy, the castle went up in just four years, from 1283 to 1287, with the town walls built alongside. The whole project cost around £15,000, an enormous sum at the time. The architecture shows links with castles in Savoy, the master mason's homeland, and Conwy keeps the earliest surviving stone machicolations in Britain as well as a rare suite of royal private chambers.

The castle's history is full of sieges and surprises. In the winter of 1294–95 Edward himself was trapped here by the Welsh rising of Madog ap Llywelyn, supplied only by sea until relief arrived. In 1399 Richard II sheltered within its walls before surrendering to the future Henry IV. On Good Friday 1401, followers of Owain Glyndŵr slipped in disguised as carpenters and held the castle for about three months. In the Civil War it was held for Charles I until 1646, and after the Restoration its iron and lead were stripped and sold, leaving the roofless ruin we see today.

By the late 18th century the ruin had become a favourite subject of painters, J. M. W. Turner among them. Thomas Telford's suspension bridge of 1826, with towers styled to echo the castle's turrets, and Robert Stephenson's tubular railway bridge beside it brought road and rail right to its foot. Since 1986 the castle and walls have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd.

Getting there

Conwy Castle stands in the town of Conwy, on the North Wales coast, about 5 km south of the seaside resort of Llandudno. Conwy has its own railway station on the North Wales Coast Line, and Llandudno Junction across the river is a busier stop on the coastal line between Chester and Holyhead. The nearest airport is Liverpool John Lennon (LPL), about 65 km away in a straight line; Manchester Airport is the other common gateway.