Andso, after my little trip into the modern world (a place I try to avoid) in my last post, back to Edward's Castles. Conwy is, to me, the most beautiful of them, with its drum towers, overlooking the estuary of the River Conwy, and linked to some of the most substantial surviving medieval town walls in Europe.Conwy had a fairly colourful history, giving refuge to Edward I in 1294 when he was almost trapped by a Welsh revolt, witnessing the surrender of Richard II to the supporters of Henry Bolingbroke, and being surprised in 1401 by a Welsh "cunning plan."
It withstood a lengthy siege during the Civil War in 1646, when a number of captured Irish troops serving the Royalists were, in the words of the Roundhead commander "tied back to back and sent home by water". That is, thrown in the harbour to drown. Bitter times which belie the castle's present peaceful setting.
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Had to look it up on Google Earth. You can plainly see the castle with drum towers and the town walls around the little village. Charming now to see, but no doubt, highly useful those hundreds of years back.
Lovely little medieval place, Bekkie. It still has the original street layouts, the church where the garrison were at service when the Welsh captured the castle, and some houses dating back at least to the 16th century. And the finest fish and chip shop for miles!
Castles look so glorious and magnificent... and then I think about living side by side alongside the cattle and chickens.
Proximity to the cattle and chickens depended a bit on social status, I suppose. Conwy was in part intended as a royal residence, and it included a walled garden for Edward Ist's Queen Eleanor, as well as fairly luxurious apartments. But for the masses, the cattle and chickens went with the territory.
So Conwy was quite a civilised castle, at least by 13th century Welsh standards. Harlech, on the other hand, where we'll go next, was rather different...
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