Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
Town Walls, Beaumaris
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 2577 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Beaumaris Unitary authority : Ynys Mon NGR : SH6043376235 Site Type (preferred type first) : MEDIEVAL TOWN DEFENCES Status : Scheduled Monument , Listed Building I
Description : Beaumaris town wall, C15th and centred at SH60487628, almost completely destroyed but greater part of course can be traced with reasonable certainty from existing fragment, living memory or tradition. Survey of 1669 gives good description of its course. Some footings remain at the junction with the Castle and one fragment in the angle formed by Margaret Street and Steeple Lane. A long stretch in the garden of Victoria House, Rating Row is about 6ft thick. Its possible that it never joined the castle at either end. Area of town enclosed is about 20 acres. Repairs were carried out in late 17th and 18th centuries. Stone was provided from time to time and breaches were stopped in 1702 and 1704. The wall was provided with battlements and garderobes and there were passages in it. (RCAHMW, 1937) <2> <3> <4> <5>
Published survey 25" correct. <6>
Condition unchanged. <7>
At SH60367617 a series of trenches were cut across the assumed line of Town Wall in St. Mary's Churchyard where it was destroyed by C19th burials. The town ditch was located and sectioned in three places and found to be 20ft deep. Also noted that Steeple Lane lies along outer edge of it. A C14th bronze gaming piece was the only notable find. <8>
The only surviving section of Beaumaris Town Wall suitable for scheduling. About 20m long, 3m high and 1.75m wide. Part of outer face missing. A Grade I listed building ref 3/40 in Beaumaris. <9>
SH60587600 line of part of town wall. In 1407 a grand of 10 was made for the construction of a ditch, and in 1413-14 some 30 Burgage plots were destroyed as part of its construction. In the first half of the 15th century it is recorded that land was lost or laid waste by sea encroachments, and in 1459-60 a portion of the town wall was wholly broken by the inundation of the sea (Davies 1942, 109). Though much of the northern part of the wall had been destroyed by the mid 18th century (Owen 1775, 22), and only two short lengths of the wall now remain, its line has been reconstructed (RCAHMW 1937, 4). In 1833 the situation is described as, the ancient walls by which the town was defended are, in several parts, still remaining entire; but, on the side towards the sea, a considerable portion was taken down during the summer of 1831, in order to furnish materials for building a new hotel, and for completing other improvements (Lewis 1833). There is some debate as to the route of the original wall at the south-west corner, with the suggestion that the diagonal route shown on Speeds map (Fig. 3) is a later course, taken following the destruction in the 16th century, possibly before rebuilding in the 1530s, or after that which occurred in 1562, and that the original course once continued into where the sea has now encroached. (Berks & Evans, 2010)
