Day Deunaw “two nine” (18) – August 4 – Conwy

by The Travel Guy

We woke up without feeling we had to catch a train or be anywhere by a certain time …. except to make sure we didn’t miss breakfast.  Colin and Monica ask you to indicate the night before what you would like for breakfast the next morning, in terms of hot food.  That way Colin is able to prepare the right amount of bacon, sausages, etc before you get there.  With only 5 rooms its a little different than some of the larger places we stayed on our tour where they would have warming trays full of the different type of food, including haggis and black pudding.  But this must lead to a considerable amount of wastage so the smaller places tend to ask what you’d like and then serve you a plate with all the hot food.  Cereals, juices, sometimes yogurt and often freshly prepared fruit salads, tea & coffee are always available to help yourself.  But today, after a wonderful day yesterday, we’re content to just relax and take it easy.  We continued discussing some of the topics relating to Wales that we talked about with Margaret and Victor.

View of the highest points of the Conwy wall from our room at the B&B

Today we’re going to learn a little bit more about the history of Wales with a walk around the wall that surrounds the city and a visit to the Conwy ( Con-wee) Castle.  The walk to the castle and the walls, like everything in Conwy, is less than 400 m. from our B&B, so no need to figure out public transportation.

View from the highest point in the Conwy wall with the Castle over Deana’s shoulder

 

The crack in one of the towers in the Conwy wall with the culprit (the railway) visible through the hole

Our guide book suggested a walking tour of the walls around the city so we started by walking to the highest point.  This gave us a great view of both the inside and the outside of the walled portion of the city.  There’s been some precipitation throughout the UK after about a month of dry hot weather earlier in the summer, so there are many shades of green as you look across the countryside.  There’s one point in the wall where one of the towers has obviously cracked as the ground has settled.  Then you look around and notice that the railway tunnel passes directly beneath this part of the wall and then you understand why they might have had a problem.  To resist the “official” Christian worship of English-style Anglican Church the Welsh people joined “nonconformist” congregations such as Presbyterians, Methodists and Congregationalism.

Conwy Castle and the train tracks passing under a section of the town wall

 

Deana walking down the Conwy wall towards the harbour

The “Smallest House in Great Britain”

As we walked down to the harbours edge we saw “The smallest house in Great Britian” with a lady dressed in period costume standing in front of the 72” wide and 122” high structure.  We didn’t actually go in the house but it was an interesting novelty.  From there we made our way to the castle itself.

The statue of “Llywelyn the Great” standing in Lancaster Square, just a few metres from our B&B

Conwy Castle is a little bit different from many of the other castles we’ve seen on this trip.  This one, and several others in North Wales were built by the English as protection from the locals.  In the 13th century, two Welsh princes named Llywelyn created a unified and independent Wales which was not to the liking of England.  Finally, in 1282 the English King Edward I’s army killed the last prince, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and began building Conwy Castle.

In all there were at least 20 castles that were either built or rebuilt for King Edward I over a 20 year span. One account we say suggested that there are 5 in North Wales that are particularly good and worthy of a visit.  They are Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech, Beaumaris, Criccieth.  In 1986, the first four were inscribed on the World Heritage List as “a historic site of outstanding universal value”. Touring these 5 castles would be an excellent 2 day trip if you had a rental car ….. we’ll put that on our list for a future adventure!

Looking down into Conwy Castle from the SE tower

 

The interior walls of Conwy Castle from the NE tower

Originally it was started in 1283 and completed fairly quickly, but was remodelled again in the mid 14th century.  Work continued to be done in later centuries and in a few places you can see how the stone inner wall is not directly connected to the stone of the outer wall.  Now it’s possible that when King Edward I originally had his architect design it he made it so that it could be easily remodelled, but I doubt that was part of the master plan.  Some of the fun in poking around these old structures is trying to envision what it looked like in its day and also spotting places where they made changes.

A view of Conwy Castle’s “Great Hall” from the basement. Note the fireplace 10 ft. above Deana’s head and the unique curved shape for this hall

As you stand on the stone floor and look at the tall walls above you, you can often see evidence that you are simply on the ground floor.  From slots in the walls (to secure floor joists) and the fireplaces 15 and 30 feet up the wall you can easily see how the stone walls that remaining are is just the support infrastructure for a multi-floor dwelling.

The one remaining arch of the Great Hall of Conwy Castle

 

Originally Conwy was intended to be the centre of administration for the area but that focus shifted to nearby Caernarfon when it became the shire town.  However, Conwy Castle did play an important role over the years.  King Edward I used it as shelter over Christmas in 1294 and into the next spring, during a Welsh rebellion.  In 1399, Richard II hosted tense negotiations here before he was captured and his tenure as king came to an end, he died a year later.

Deana at the floor level of the Great Hall with the SE tower in the background

 

Something we haven’t seen to this extent in the castles we’ve been to is a series of plaques designed to interest children as they tour the castle.  With their entrance ticket they get a colour by numbers card.  As they progress around the castle they find colourful information boards that teach them something about the castle and the history it represents and then instructs them to fill in the shapes corresponding to certain numbers on their card with a red crayon.  Once they’ve finished all the stations they will have created a red dragon, the symbol for Wales.

One of dozens of interactive displays to provide children with some entertainment while they are learning about history!

 

After touring the castle we made our way to the Castle Hotel which was rumoured to be a good spot to enjoy a pint of the locally brewed ales, with the locals.  The skies also appeared to be threatening some precipitation, so we sought it out for shelter as well.  Shortly after arriving the heavens opened up and so we spent a while watching the people coming into the hotel for refuge.  For dinner we had made reservations at Watson’s Bistro.  We had tried to eat there two nights ago but we couldn’t make a reservation, so we had booked for tonight.  Somehow we ended up with an “early menu” so I’m not sure we got their best, but we enjoyed the Italian restaurant much more.