Per soggiogare il Galles, il re Edoardo I d’Inghilterra costruì una catena di castelli colossali. Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech e Beaumaris, progettati dal grande architetto militare Giacomo di San Giorgio, sono il vertice dell’architettura fortificata medievale d’Europa — e ancora oggi dominano le coste del nord del Galles.
At a glance
After his conquest of the Welsh principality of Gwynedd, King Edward I of England raised a ring of mighty castles to hold the country down. Four of them — Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech — together with the fortified towns attached to some, form this World Heritage site. Designed largely by the king’s master builder, James of St George, in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, they are among the finest examples of medieval military architecture in Europe. They were inscribed by UNESCO in 1986.
Key facts
- UNESCO: World Heritage since 1986 (Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd)
- Four castles: Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech
- Built for: Edward I of England, to secure the conquest of Wales
- Master builder: James of St George, the leading military architect of his age
- Caernarfon: distinguished by its banded stone and polygonal towers
- Town walls: Caernarfon and Conwy keep their complete medieval town walls
History
In the 1270s and 1280s Edward I crushed the independent rulers of Gwynedd in two wars. To make the conquest permanent he launched one of the greatest castle-building programmes of the Middle Ages, encircling the heartland of Welsh resistance with fortresses linked to new walled towns settled by English colonists.
The work was directed by Master James of St George, a Savoyard engineer, who gave each castle a distinct design. Caernarfon, with its polygonal towers and banded masonry, deliberately echoed the walls of Constantinople and imperial Rome, a statement of power; it later became associated with the investiture of the Prince of Wales. Beaumaris, begun in 1295, is the most perfect concentric castle, though never finished.
What you see
Caernarfon presents a long curtain of angular towers above the Seiont estuary, its Eagle Tower and King’s Gate among the most ambitious of the age. Conwy rises in eight massive round towers beside its walled town and estuary; Harlech stands on a crag once washed by the sea; Beaumaris shows the textbook concentric plan of walls within walls and a moat.
Each can be walked along wall-walks and into towers, with views over the coasts and mountains of Snowdonia.
Practical information
- Entry: the castles are in the care of Cadw and charge admission
- Touring: the four lie within reach of each other along the north Wales coast
- Time needed: 1–2 hours per castle; a day or two for the group
- Note: wall-walks involve steep stairs and exposed heights
Getting there
The castles line the coast of north-west Wales. Caernarfon is reached by bus from Bangor, which has rail links; Conwy and Harlech have their own stations on coastal lines. By car the A55 connects them. GPS (Caernarfon): 53.1394° N, 4.2769° W.
Nearby
- Snowdonia (Eryri) — the national park of mountains behind the coast
- Conwy — its castle and complete town walls, about 30 km north-east
- Anglesey — the island of Beaumaris Castle, across the Menai Strait
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — “Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd” (ref. 374)
- Cadw — Welsh Government historic environment service
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Caernarfon Castle; Edward I
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