Conwy Castle

Conwy Castle (Castell Conwy) stands in the town of Conwy, North Wales. Edward I ordered its construction between 1283 and 1287 as part of his campaign to conquer Wales. It was one element of a larger scheme to build a fortified town, and the castle and town walls together cost about £15,000—an enormous expense for the era. Over the centuries, the fortress saw repeated military action. It survived a siege by Madog ap Llywelyn during the winter of 1294–95, gave shelter to Richard II in 1399, and was occupied for several months in 1401 by supporters of Owain Glyndŵr.

When the English Civil War broke out in 1642, royalist forces held Conwy Castle until they surrendered to Parliament in 1646. Afterward, Parliament deliberately damaged the castle to prevent its future use in rebellion. In 1665, the remaining iron and lead were stripped and sold, leaving the structure in ruins. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, painters flocked to Conwy Castle, and visitor numbers rose. Restoration work began in the latter half of the 19th century. Today, the ruined castle is managed by Cadw as a tourist attraction; since 2024, it has been known only by its Welsh name.

UNESCO ranks Conwy Castle among “the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe” and lists it as a World Heritage Site. The rectangular fortress was built from local and imported stone, set on a coastal ridge that once overlooked a key crossing of the River Conwy. It has an Inner and an Outer Ward, eight large towers, two barbicans, and a postern gate leading down to the river for sea-borne resupply. The castle contains the oldest surviving stone machicolations in Britain, and historian Jeremy Ashbee calls its medieval royal private chambers “the best preserved suite” in England and Wales. Like other Edwardian castles in North Wales, its design closely resembles contemporary architecture in the Savoy, likely because the main architect, James of Saint George, came from that region.

Before the English built Conwy, the site held Aberconwy Abbey, a Cistercian monastery favored by Welsh princes, and one of their palaces, or llys. The oldest surviving structure is part of the town walls at the southern end of the east side: a wall and tower from a llys belonging to Llywelyn the Great and his grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. Built on a rocky outcrop with an apsidal tower, this native Welsh construction dates from the early 13th century and stands out from the rest of the walls because of its four window openings. The location also controlled a vital crossing of the River Conwy, a role long filled by Deganwy Castle. English kings and Welsh princes had fought over the region since the 1070s, and conflict flared again in the 13th century, leading Edward I to invade North Wales for the second time in 1282.

Edward marched in with a large army, advancing north from Carmarthen and west from Montgomery and Chester. He captured Aberconwy in March 1283 and decided to make it the center of a new county. He moved the abbey eight miles up the Conwy valley to Maenan, founding Maenan Abbey, and built a new English castle and walled town on the monastery’s former site. Deganwy Castle was abandoned and never rebuilt. Placing the English town and walls on such a prominent native Welsh site was a deliberate symbolic act of English power.

Work on cutting the castle’s ditch began within days of Edward’s decision. Sir John Bonvillars managed the project, with master mason James of St. George overseeing it. The first phase, from 1283 to 1284, focused on the outer curtain walls and towers. The second phase, from 1284 to 1286, added the interior buildings, while work on the town walls also started. The castle was finished by 1287. Huge numbers of laborers were recruited from across England; each summer they gathered at Chester and then walked into Wales. Edward’s accountants did not separate the costs of the town walls from the castle, but the combined total was about £15,000.

By a royal charter of 1284, the castle’s constable was also the mayor of Conwy (the Mayor still holds the title of Constable of the Castle ex-officio). The garrison consisted of 30 soldiers, including 15 crossbowmen, plus a carpenter, chaplain, blacksmith, engineer, and stonemason. The first constable was Sir William de Cicon, who had previously been constable of Rhuddlan Castle. In 1294, Madog ap Llywelyn rebelled. Edward was besieged at Conwy from December to January 1295, supplied only by sea, until relief forces arrived in February. Chronicler Walter of Guisborough wrote that Edward, under austere conditions, refused to drink his own private wine and instead shared it with the garrison. For years afterward, the castle served as the main residence for visiting dignitaries, and in 1301 it hosted Edward’s son, the future Edward II.