Europe can justly be called a country of castles, and the entire Middle Ages - "the era of castles", because in 500 years more than 15,000 of them were built there, including the Middle East. They guarded the caravan roads in Palestine, were the centers of the Reconquista in Spain, protected the inhabitants of coastal cities in France and England from pirates, but in Scotland and Wales they were very often indicative of the might of the royal power, for they were built not by the lords, but by the king in order to to consolidate their power in the conquered lands of the freedom-loving Welsh and Scots.
Conwy Castle: view of the western barbican, castle entrance, and gate towers (bottom left).
This is how the royal castle of Conwy, which has survived to our time, appeared, built by order of King Edward I after he conquered Wales in 1277 and turned it into another possession of the British crown. Moreover, to keep the locals in check, Edward built not one, but as many as eight castles - a kind of "iron ring" for the conquered Welsh, five of which defended the cities built with them. It was erected in 1283 - 1289, and already in the winter of 1294 - 1295. he withstood the siege of the rebel Madog Llewellyn, served as a temporary refuge for Richard II in 1399, until in 1401 the Welsh still took him, and then they took it not by force, but by cunning!
Estuary of the Conwy River. The tower over the railroad tracks was added to the castle later.
Subsequently, the castle was gradually destroyed, and all the iron and lead from it were removed and sold. In the era of romanticism, its ruins were chosen by painters, including the famous Turner, but since the end of the 19th century it has become a tourist attraction. Thus, in 2010, 186,897 tourists visited it; however, it now requires constant maintenance and repairs, which costs about £ 30,000 a year.
View of Conwy Castle in 1905.
However, foreign tourists visit Conwy Castle much less often than local tourists who prefer attractions in Bath, London, Leeds and Edinburgh. Nor is it on the list of tourist attractions for bus tours in England from Russia, so the more reason we have to "visit" and get acquainted with "the best example of military architecture of the late XIII and early XIV centuries in Europe", which is classified by UNESCO as a valuable object of historical world heritage.
View of the castle in 1905: you see the first suspension bridge in England, followed by a railway pipe bridge over the Conwy River, built in 1826 and 1848, respectively.
Then, in 1958, a stone arched road bridge was built next to these two bridges (on the right).
And this is how the castle looks from this bridge.
You should begin your acquaintance with the castle and fortifications of the city of Conwy by studying the plan of the eighteenth century, since this is the earliest surviving plan. However, it is known that by that time from the moment of its foundation, it practically did not change, so that we, thus, can see a typical medieval town with a castle.
Conwy town and castle plan of the 18th century.
Both at the time of its foundation and later, the city of Conwy was an irregular pentagon surrounded by a wall, which contained 20 semi-towers in the shape of the letter "U" and two round watchtowers. There were three gates in the wall: Upper, Lower, Mill "auxiliary", overlooking the beach. At the same time, the Lower and Mill Gates passed between two such semi-towers, and the Upper ones also had an advanced barbican. On both sides, the city walls were surrounded by a dry moat, on one side the Conwy River, while on the east side there was a large pond (for some reason not shown on the plan), formed by a dam that stood on the river near the Mill Gate, where a water mill was located.
Model of the castle and the city of Conwy. View of the city and the castle from the north-east. The eastern barbican is clearly visible (in the Middle Ages there was a vegetable garden and trees grew), the so-called "water gates" leading to the castle from the river, as well as the city pier.
At the time of its foundation, and later, there were only four streets in the city: Upper Gate Street - the longest, running along the western fortress wall, Main Street, which ran from Lower Gate to the market square, Rosemary Street, which runs to the market square from the Upper Gate, Zamkovaya street and one market square, located in the city center in the immediate vicinity of the Church of the Virgin Mary.
Church of the Virgin Mary in Conwy.
The city wall had battlements with loopholes and was designed in such a way that each of its sections from one half-tower to another was a separate defense zone, where its own stone staircase (there were 20 of them in total) without railings led. It was possible to walk around the entire city along the wall only in peacetime, since the passages between the towers were wooden bridges that could be easily removed, and the towers themselves were much higher than the wall itself. Thus, the section from one tower to another could easily be isolated from one another, and in the same way, each tower was a separate fortification, which could only be climbed by a special ladder! The total length of the city wall is three quarters of a mile.
Modern view of the wall and the wall tower from the side of the Mill Gate.
View of the Mill Gate (in the distance) and a section of the city wall.
Conwy castle model. View of the castle from the east, the dam, the water mill, the Mill Gate and the Castle Street, which runs along the city wall overlooking the sea. By the way, pay attention to the whiteness of the walls - they were then specially whitewashed with chalk and lime "for beauty", so that in the Middle Ages the white-stone castle with the royal standards flying over it on the towers really looked very elegant.
Mill gates - modern look.
Another view of the Mill Gate from the side of the city wall.
To build the city and castle, King Edward hired the greatest architect in Europe, the master Jacob of Saint-Georges in Savoy. He planned the castle so that its massive walls would become part of the city's fortifications. Well, the choice of the construction site was obvious: a high rock ridge on a promontory protruding into the river, which only needed to be leveled to turn it into an ideal foundation for the castle. The ruined Deganwy Castle once stood here, so the convenience of this choice was obvious.
This is how castles were built in the XII century. Thumbnail from the manuscript. Martin Bodmer Foundation, Coulomb.
The builders were recruited from all over England in the number of 1,500, and within four years, working from March to October, they erected both the fortress and the castle. Edward's accountants, who did not separate the costs of the city walls from the costs of building the castle, estimated their total cost at about £ 15,000 - a huge amount at that time, and today it is 193 million euros! Interestingly, after the completion of the construction of the castle's castellans by the royal charter of 1284, he was also appointed mayor of the new city of Conwy, thus combining both military and civilian power, and had under his command a garrison of 30 soldiers, including 15 crossbowmen, and also a carpenter, chaplain, blacksmith, engineer and bricklayer for the maintenance of the castle.
Conwy Castle plan.
Already in 1321, he complained to the king that there was not enough money to maintain the castle: the roofs were leaking, and the wooden structures were rotten. The famous Black Prince ordered repairs to be carried out in the castle in 1343, and Sir John Weston, his chamberlain, carried them out: he put new arches in the Great Hall and in other parts of the castle. But after the death of the Black Prince, Conwy was again neglected, and Charles I sold it to Edward Conwy in 1627 for only £ 100, but he did not repair it in the end. Most of the gray stone for the construction was mined locally, since the castle was erected on a 15-meter high rock foundation, but some of the higher quality stone was brought from other places.
The entrance to the castle was carried out along a special stepped ramp, which has not survived to this day. But on the other hand, a double gate tower has survived, in which a side entrance is arranged for visitors.
Conwy Castle has the shape of a rectangular stone wall with eight round towers with loopholes. The castle towers are multi-storey, their height is about 20 m. Four towers have additional watchtowers. The inner courtyard is divided into two parts by a high and massive transverse wall. All towers of the castle have several floors. They are about 70 feet (20 m) high and 30 feet in diameter (about 10 m), and the walls are 15 feet (about 4 m) thick. The technology of building walls and towers is typical of that time: they were formed by two walls, between which broken stone mixed with lime was poured, and all the floors - floors and ceilings - rested on thick wooden beams, for which holes were made in the walls.
Remains of the ramp at the entrance to the western barbican. Once there was a drawbridge between them.
Passing along this bridge and further through the gate with mashiculi (by the way, the oldest in England), visitors to the castle find themselves in the courtyard of the western barbican, from where through the gate in the wall between the two towers they enter the first courtyard.
Gate from the western barbican to the outer courtyard.
This courtyard contained the main hall and a huge kitchen adjacent to the Kitchen Tower. There used to be a covered passage between the kitchen and the main hall, so as not to carry food in the rain and snow, but they still brought them to the feasting already cooled down.
View of the western side of the castle from the sea.
One of the watchtowers.
View of the watchtower from below. Today, the castle towers do not have roofs, but stone spiral staircases still lead to watchtowers in the thickness of the walls.
In the prison tower located here, there was a special cell called "dettors chambre" ("ward of debtors"). Well, besides the kitchen, there was a bakery and numerous storerooms. Here, in the courtyard, there was a covered well drilled into a rock 91 feet (28 m) deep.
Well.
Further there was an inner courtyard, separated from the outer one not only by a wall, but also by a moat, which was also carved into the rock, with a drawbridge. However, the moat is now filled up. There were also premises for the king and his family and a tower with a chapel.
View of the royal chambers and the tower with the storeroom.
The stained glass windows in the tower chapel have been restored.
On the eastern side of the courtyard, a barbican with a vegetable garden and orchard was also arranged. A small pier was also built here, allowing visitors to enter the castle directly from a ship docked at it.
Note the doors in the walls near the very base of the towers. Why were they needed? But why: these are the entrances to the toilets, which in this castle were arranged at the base of the walls, and not on the walls themselves, as was often done at that time. Firstly, the brown streaks did not really harmonize with the snow-white color of the walls, and secondly, they were built there not only because of this, but also because the castle stood on a steep rocky foundation (today it is overgrown with grass, and before there was a bare stone!), and there was no need to be afraid of the enemy's rams. That is why the "booths" were at the bottom, the passages in them went into the thickness of the walls, and the drain holes were at their base, and were very small.
This photo clearly shows the exits from the toilet stalls, which have not survived to us.
View of the Prison Tower, the King's Tower and the Great Hall.
On the right is the entrance to the large hall.
Gate to the courtyard.
The waterfront of the town of Conwy is now always crowded, even when the weather does not indulge in the sun!
Aerial view of the city and the castle.
And the last thing to remember when going to Conwy Castle. Admission price for adults is £ 6.75, family ticket - two adults and many children under 16 years old - £ 20.25. Well, on December 24 - 26 and January 1, the castle does not work.
