Conwy

Conwy Castle

Conwy Castle was built as a part of King Edward's Ring of Iron. The castle was further integrated with the Town Wall of Conwy, making Conwy a strong fortified town with a castle as its ultimate defence. While the castle in Conwy is not as magnificent as that in Caernarfon, Conwy still has its town wall intact, and you can walk on the town wall for free. Also, Conwy has a train station so it is more accessible than Caernarfon.

Conwy Castle was built as a replacement for Deganwy Castle, an old Welsh castle that was destroyed during the war. It was a powerful statement by Edward I to leave the Welsh castle in ruins and build a new English bastion. Edward also encouraged immigrations from England to replace the native Welsh.

The castle is divided into two sections: Outer Ward and Inner Ward. The wards are separated by a cross-wall. The Outer Ward was designed for administrative buildings, it contained the Great Hall, kitchen, storeroom, and prison. The Inner Ward housed the royal apartment and it was meant to be a miniature royal palace. Unfortunately, these rooms are already destroyed, and only the foundations remain.

The Wards are surrounded by a curtain wall with eight great towers. Each great tower has a spiral staircase, and I climbed the towers to reach the top of the battlements. Each tower has an additional watchtower turret, adding to the aesthetic of the castle. The towers are, however, hollow on the inside. I don't know if it was designed to be hollow or if it was the result of damages to the castle.

From the castle, I could also view the Conwy Suspension Bridge, which was designed to have a similar architecture with the castle.

The Walled Town of Conwy

The entire walled town of Conwy was built by Edward I as a part of his campaign in Wales. The town walls still remain largely intact, and have become an identity of this historical town. The walls were designed to form an integrated defence system along with Conwy Castle. The defences have been described as one of the most impressive walled circuits in Europe.

The town walls were meant to encourage English settlers to come to Conwy, and the immigration program in Conwy was more successful than that in Caernarfon. A similar situation seemed to be the case today. I feel that Conwy is livelier than Caernarfon. There are more shops and hotels, and Conwy has a very charming and lively quay. There seemed to be more activities happening in the quay of Conwy than that of Caernarfon. Perhaps it is also linked to the better transport and access that Conwy enjoys.

There are some notable buildings inside the walls of Conwy. The Aberconwy House is a 14th century merchant house, and it is the one of the oldest dateable houses in Wales.

The town centre is quite attractive, and Conwy has a historic hotel: the Castle Hotel. The beautiful architecture of the hotel has somewhat made it a landmark of Conwy.

Perhaps the most interesting house in Conwy is the smallest house in Great Britain. The house is an Elizabethan town house in Conwy Quay. With a size of 1.8 m (wide) x 3 m (height) and only 1.5 m squared of usable floor space, the house was declared unfit for human habitation, which stopped all tenancy activities. It has now been turned into a tourist attraction.