Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
Conwy Castle, Conwy
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 2851 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Conwy Unitary authority : Conwy NGR : SH7838077460 Site Type (preferred type first) : MEDIEVAL CASTLE Status : World Heritage Site , Scheduled Monument , Listed Building I, Cared for by the State
Summary : Built, along with the town wall, between 1286 and 1288, Conwy Castle dominates the town from a position of great strength on an elongated rock overlooking the Conwy estuary. It was originally intended that Conwy become the County town and main English base in north west Wales and, despite this role falling to Caernarfon, it remained the administrative centre and a royal residence until it fell to the Glyndwr revolt in 1401. The castle was partially maintained up until the time of Henry VIII but by the time it was sold for o100 by Charles I in 1627 it was in ruins. It was defended for the King during the Civil War by Archbishop John Williams but eventually surrendered to the Parliamentarians in 1645 after Archbishop Williams changed sides over a dispute with the King's commander. The growth of tourism to north Wales in the 18th and 19th centuries prompted various attempts at repair and in 1877, the castle came into the posession of the Mayor and Council of Conwy.
The castle itself consists of an outer and inner ward separated by a massive cross-wall, in effect two seperate fortifications. The outer ward housed the great hall, kitchens, stables and prison while the inner ward provided private apartments for the King as well as a chapel. Both inner and outer ward could be entered independently via the west and east barbicans. The east barbican is thought to have been used as a garden.
Description : Conway Castle is strongly placed on a rock at the SE corner of the town. Together with the town wall it was erected almost in its entirety between 1283-1288. It is roughly rectangular in plan with a strong curtain wall and eight massive circular towers. The interior is divided by a strong cross-wall into two baileys of unequal size. There are entrances at each end, both protected by fortified terraces. <3>
Conway Castle is being restored by the MPW and is as described in the official guide. (RCAHMW, 1956)
No change. 1:1250 survey revised. <11>
The most complete surviving set of apartments belonging to the medieval English monarchy is found at Conwy castle, established in 1283 by King Edward I (1272-1307) during his second campaign against the Welsh, and built at extraordinary speed between 1283 and 1287 under the direction of the king's master mason, James of Saint George. Though the residential buildings were evidently begun before the curtain walls were finished, there are awkward junctions with the curtain at both ground and first-floor level, involving the partial blocking of openings in the curtain wall by later walls of the apartments and by floors set higher in the main rooms than in the earlier window embrasures opening from them; evidently the planning of the apartments only came at a late stage in the operation.The great/king's chamber and the queen's chamber had independent entrances at the south-east and south-west chambers of the courtyard respectively. In the centre of the suite lay the king's chamber, by which servants could enter the apartment from their own quarters in the adjacent south-east tower and from the kitchens. However, in later periods, particularly the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is clear that the apartments at Conwy were reconfigured as a single sequence running clockwise, from the chapel and hall/great chamber in the north-east corner, through an outer/presence chamber to an inner/privy chamber and finally to a pair of withdrawing rooms in the south-west corner (Ashbee, 2003).
Detailed description of Conwy Castle (Fenton, 1810). Placed in the guardianship of the Ministry of Works, Ancient Monuments Branch in 1953 with a 99 year lease (Inspector, 1957).
“ In June 1953 the Ministry took over the care of the castle and town wall under a ninety-nine years' lease. Preservation work is being carried out simultaneously to the castle and wall. At the castle the courtyard has been excavated to its correct level, revealing a stone pitched path running its whole length, and the foundations of a building on its north side. The missing treads of the stairs in the north-west and south-west and north-east and south-east towers have been re-formed in concrete; the former to roof and the latter to wall-walk level. Work to the north-west tower has been com- pleted and is now in progress on the south-west tower. The well is being excavated, and the ditch to the south of it has been cleared. At the town wall, the Spur Wall running down to the sea, the tower at the north-east corner of the town, the four towers to the west of it, and the wall-walk between them have been treated.” (The Inspector, 1957).
An account of Cambrian Archaeological Association excursion to the castle and town in August 1937 with description and interpretation. (Lloyd Jones 1937).
Conwy Castle, Conwy, GAT (Hughes, 1938).
The craggy rock outcrop chosen as the site of the castle accounts for the contrast between its plan and that of Beaumaris. Direct assault on the castle walls, whether by mining or siege engines, was virtually impossible, and except towards the town the rock itself was washed by the waters of the Conway and its tributary the Gyffin. Anything in the nature of a concentric outer curtain would, therefore, have been superfluous, and the only protection given to the castle over and above the inherent strength of its elevated walls was the provision of timber hoards at battlement level. The symmetry which is so marked a feature of Beaumaris is present at Conway also but here, having necessarily to conform to the limits imposed by the site, it is less immediately obvious. (Taylor, Dodd, 1952).
© Cadw/ICOMOS UK)