On the 23rd July 2016 we headed into Conwy after advice from a Welsh friend that I simply must visit. Can't believe I haven't been before amazing place.
We parked up and then had to wait around for ages whilst we waited for the council to attend to fix the faulty parking ticket machine.
Conwy is the classic walled town. Its
circuit of walls, over three quarters of a mile long and guarded by no
less than 22 towers, is one of the finest in the World.
Llywelyn Fawr statue, Lancaster Square
This statue of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn Fawr – “Llywelyn the
Great”) was created by E O Griffith of Liverpool in 1895. It stands on a
fountain by architects Grayson & Ould. The inscription around the
fountain asserts that Llywelyn founded Aberconwy Abbey in 1184, when
Llywelyn was still a child. Cistercian monks laid the abbey’s
foundations in 1172, but it wasn’t until 1186 that the facilities had
reached the standards required for the complex to be officially called
an abbey.
Llywelyn himself may have sown the seed of the idea that he founded
the abbey, or the idea may have stemmed from the word “funder” being
misinterpreted as “founder”, Conwy historian Llew Groom has suggested.
Llywelyn died in 1240 and was buried in the Abbey grounds. Later that
century King Edward I expelled the monks and Llywelyn’s remains were
moved to Maenan, in the Conwy Valley. It is said that Conwy Castle
stands on the spot where Llywelyn was interred. Llywelyn’s stone coffin
is now in the church at Llanrwst, but his remains were lost long ago,
perhaps during the 16th-century dissolution of Britain’s monasteries.
The original church of Aberconwy Abbey survives, with various
alterations, as
St Mary’s Church.
Llywelyn was reputedly born in Dolwyddelan Castle, near Betws-y-Coed,
c.1174. He defeated his own uncle in a battle near Conwy in 1194. He
subsequently expanded his territory, bringing unprecedented unity to
Wales. This earned him the title Prince of Wales. In 1205 he married
Joan, the daughter of King John, but the relationship between the rulers
of Wales and England was tempestuous. John once forced Llywelyn to
surrender land east of the Conwy estuary. Llywelyn got his revenge when
he seized Shrewsbury in 1215 in support of the campaign by disgruntled
English barons to force King John to sign a bill of rights, the Magna
Carta.
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Royal Cambrian Academy of Art
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Constituted in 1881 by Queen Victoria the Royal Cambrian Academy is a
centre for artistic excellence in Wales, it aims to exhibit work by
members of the Academy, to promote up and coming artists of quality, to
mount historical exhibitions and offer a lively venue for education.
In the late 19th century, North Wales was home to the first artists'
colony in Britain. It emerged from the summer sojourns of David Cox to
Betws-y-Coed between 1844 and 1856. By 1881 the Conwy Valley was at the
peak of its fame as a home and resort for large numbers of professional
and amateur artists. The prospect of viewing painters at work attracted
a great many visitors, as a consequence the seaside town of Llandudno
emerged as a centre for the sale of many such pictures.
The seven men who launched the Academy were all devotees of the
artists' colony, most of them originally from the north west of England
from where Betws-y-Coed had become easily accessible by train.
A lovely looking building, but I'm big on art, hence wasn't keen on paying to enter. The family had already walked on anyway and hadn't even missed me!!!
We walked on through an arch and down to the quay on the River Conwy. We have obviously visited on one of the busiest days as there was an event of some sort with stalls, food and rides. I should imagine this is such a much more tranquil spot on an other day.
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| RNLI doing an demonstration of a rescue on the River Conwy. |
We walk on up to the castle, another day we will revisit and have the time to visit and walk the walls around the town.
Conwy castle and the city walls were built from the years 1283-1289
by approximately 1,500 workers at the height of the construction, to
form one of King Edward I (17th June 1239 – 7th July 1307) fortresses
in his ‘Ring of Castles’, used to quell the Welsh uprisings. English
citizens were moved in to the town and the Welsh people were banned from
living there.
It
effectively became a garrison town. King Edward I was actually besieged
in the castle in 1295 by Madog ap Llywelyn, or Prince Madoc, but the
castle was relieved by the English Navy and the castle survived. Conwy
Castle was captured, by the Welsh prince Owain Glyndwr (c. 1349 or 1359 –
c. 1416) using trickery, but his occupation was short lived, and he
fled west, pursued by the English to Harlech Castle. Sometime after the
Welsh uprisings had been controlled, the castle was no longer
garrisoned, and left to deteriorate. In 1642 during the English Civil
War, Conwy Castle was again garrisoned and repaired by Royalist troops.
The parliamentarian army laid siege to the castle in 1646; it
surrendered in August, after three months. The Roundheads proceeded to
destroy the castle, to prevent its reuse by the Royalists, so it became a
derelict ruin. In 1660 after the reformation of King Charles II (29th
May 1630 – 6th February 1685), the castle was returned to the third Lord
Conwy, a building beyond economic repair. The Lord Conwy decided to
salvage what he could from the building and sold the remaining lead and
timber. CADW now maintains the remains of Conwy Castle, and it is one of
the most popular tourist attractions in North Wales.
It is reputed that Conwy Castle is haunted, and the following strange
phenomena have been witnessed and reported by visitors and citizens of
Conwy.
1. A strong smell of incense has been reported on entering the upstairs floored chapel.
2. There have been reputed sightings of a black silhouette watching visitors.
3. People have been overcome with a sense of terror whilst in the towers, and have had to leave the castle.
4. Allegedly, the apparition of a monk has been reported watching people in the castle.
5. The reputed silhouette of a large man in armour and wearing a helmet,
looking out of a window, lit up as if by candlelight, has been reported
from a person walking along the street outside the castle at night.
6. Tourists have reputedly claimed to have seen apparitions in period dress whilst gazing up at the castle from the street.
We stopped in the
Fishermans Chip Shop on Castle Street. These have to be the best chips I have ever tasted, you just have to visit if you are in the area.
Across the road is the
Aberconwy House. This is the only medieval merchant's house in Conwy to have survived the
turbulent history of the walled town over nearly six centuries.
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| Aberconwy House |
We walk back through to the Quay and past The Smallest House In Great Britain.
The
Smallest House in Great Britain, also known as the
Quay House. The house, which has a floor area of 3.05 by 1.8 metres (10.0 by 5.9 ft)and a height of 3.1 metres (10 feet 2 inches)
to the eaves, was used as a residence from the 16th century until 1900;
as its name indicates, it is reputed to be Britain's smallest house.
The house was lived in until 1900, when the tenant was a 6-foot-3-inch (1.91 m) fisherman named Robert Jones.
The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully and he was
eventually forced to move out when the council declared the house unfit
for human habitation. The house is still owned by his descendants. In
June 2006, there was a 50% loss of tourists to the house because of
nearby roadworks.
This house is painted red and it stands near the
Conwy Castle
walls. It is open from spring to autumn. Admission is £1.00 for adults
or 50p for children and there is information about the house inside. A
Welsh lady in traditional clothing stands outside when the house is open
and will tell you about the history of the house. The upstairs is so
minute that there is room only for a bed and a bedside cabinet. Visitors
are unable to go upstairs to the first floor, due to structural
instability, but can view it from the step ladder.
We walk back to the car, but what a gem of a town. Worthy of another visit soon I hope.
