North Wales 2023: Conwy

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Anabel at Conwy Castle / Castell Conwy

On the middle day of our North Wales trip we visited Conwy, a place dominated by its enormous castle – as intended by its creator to keep the newly conquered Welsh in order. Built between 1283 and 1287 by Edward I (also known as Hammer of the Scots) at a cost of £15,000, it is one of several he created, the other major ones being Beaumaris, Harlech and Caernarfon – we visited the last one later in the week. Apparently, Edward only stayed here once. Trapped by a Welsh rebellion in 1294, he spent a miserable Christmas with just one barrel of wine in the castle cellar for comfort. Do I feel sorry for him? Not one bit! Nasty piece of work.

Thanks to restored spiral staircases in the castle’s eight towers you can climb them all, so our visit was quite a workout. Great views of the town too, and the 1826 Thomas Telford chain suspension bridge.

Conwy Castle
Conwy
River Conwy
So many towers!
Looking out!
So many levels!
Suspension bridge from Conwy Castle
Complete layout
Looking out!

A series of artworks enlivened some of the spaces, all dated 2012. Below are The Guard constructed from Welsh oak beams by John Merrill; Llewelyn’s Coronet by Rubin Enyon representing the burning spirit of the Welsh people; and The King’s Head by Gideon Peterson, a drawing in space to capture the ghostly presence of Edward I. (Boo!)

The Guard by John Merrill
Llewelyn’s Coronet by Rubin Eynon
The King’s Head by Gideon Petersen

After enjoying lunch in a nearby café we crossed on to Telford’s bridge to get a view of the castle from there.

Happy smile!
Looking along the suspension bridge to the castle
Plas Mawr gatehouse

After lunch we visited Plas Mawr, which means Great Hall, the finest surviving Elizabethan town house in Britain. Between 1576 and 1585 Robert Wynn, who had bought the house for £200, turned it into a celebration of himself. His initials can be found all over the vividly painted ornamental plasterwork, along with those of the monarch, ER.

Entering via the gatehouse on High Street you only get a hint of the grandeur within, as the house rises via a series of terraces. There are 17 rooms in all to explore, and a view back to the castle from the top.

Over the centuries Plas Mawr has been in continuous use, not just as a home but later as a courthouse, a school and an art gallery. Recent restoration by Cadw, the Welsh heritage body, has recreated the Elizabethan garden and returned the interior to its original glory as a house.

Courtyard
The hall
Decorated fireplace in hall
Dresser in hall
Kitchen
Fireplace
Plasterwork
Brewhouse
Upper courtyard
Garden
Dining room
A servant’s bedroom
Beamed roof
Plasterwork
A servant’s bedroom
Bedchamber
Elizabethan costume
The great chamber
Fireplace in great chamber
Ceiling in great chamber
View of the Conwy Castle

A few other things we spotted around Conwy included a fountain with a statue to Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, a colourfully topped post box, and the smallest house in Great Britain. And of course, a final view of the castle.

Street scene
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth
Postbox with topper
Market place topper
Smallest house in GB
Final view of the castle

This was another lovely day out. Conwy has moved into my favourite castles category and I have never seen anything quite like Plas Mawr. The next day, we found the weather had deserted us so we decided to do a short walk in Llanwrst.

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  2. I loved Conway – great youth hostel with views over the town and the suspension bridge is a wonder! As usual we did not have time for a thorough investigation of the castle – the pressures of walking the coast – But I’d love to revisit some time.

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  7. Gosh Anabel – what a great day out … and lovely to see and read up about … I agree they both sound stunning – and I’d love to visit Plas Mawr … cheers Hilary

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  8. Conwy seems amazingly well preserved – a little time capsule! I loved that carved dresser in the hall of Plas Mawr. Beautiful animals and birds all over it! I wonder if there’s a link between Mawr in Welsh and Mór in Gaelic, both meaning “great”. Celtic connections, no doubt.

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  11. Glad to see inside it at last. Very impressive. That was one castle I really wanted to visit but as usual the other car passengers had other ideas. In fairness to them we did see a lot of different places across the UK, we shared fuel and accommodation costs, and had a good laugh together…. but I was the only one interested in doing other tourist style things, apart from hills and rock climbing. The film Braveheart bent history a lot when it came to Edward I as I’d read facts about him before the film came out. Good entertainment but a lot of strange things happened in that film I had to laugh about. Bob. BSS.

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    • Possibly you could have sold it to them on the grounds of all that climbing! It’s certainly one of the most impressive castles I’ve visited. Films do play fast and loose with history, I agree. I’ve just read a book that softens my view of Edward I a bit. Apparently he was a devoted husband.

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  13. You had a much better day than we did but we climbed all those spiral staircases anyway. It was a bit tricky at times. We enjoyed our day at Conwy too but didn’t go to Plas Mawr. I have an idea it wasn’t open the day we were there.

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  17. Conwy looks super interesting! I love that castle and the restorations of it and of the Elizabethan house. And that smallest house of GB looks like the perfect size for Mark, Maya, and me! Do you think someone lives in it? We are in the market for a new tiny home. 🙂

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  18. Lovely post. We visited Conwy during our stay in Wales in 2001 as well as visit all of the castles of the region. We were duly impressed by the castles. Thanks for bringing back such lovely memories. (Suzanne)

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  21. I’ve visited quite a few Welsh castles though not this one. After damaging my foot climbing those steep turret stairs in Bodiam I stay firmly on the ground floor. Plas Maw looks more interesting. I’m sorry I missed that.

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  24. Another place I’m very familiar with, although even after several visits I’ve still not been to Plas Mawr – I really must go the next time I’m down that way, the ceiling and walls in the Great Hall look amazing. Great views in and around the castle too, it’s such an interesting place and far larger than you would think from the outside. Edward might have been a nasty piece of work but he certainly knew how to build a castle; Conwy is the 8th of his ring of ten and he plundered the ruins of Deganwy Castle across the river for some of the stone to build it. To think he spent so much money building it and only stayed there once.

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  25. This post is amazing. I loved the castle. There seems to be so much to it … he may have been nasty as a king but looks like he was good at building castles. I was really taken by the castle, until you shared the photos of the Elizabethan house … the plasterwork was stunning. I didn’t expect it to be quite so big, just looking at the first image

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    • It’s definitely one of the best castles I’ve been to. Plas Mawr took me by surprise too, because I thought what you saw from the street was it, but it was only the gatehouse. I liked the way they have restored the plasterwork – it’s so easy to assume buildings of the past were all grey because that’s what remains, but many of them would have been very colourfully decorated like this.

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  26. It’s years since we visited Conwy, and I certainly don’t remember seeing Plas Mawr. I think both castle and town have probably developed their tourist offering since we were there, more than 30 years ago.

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