After another late lunch of chips and sandwiches after the Puffin Island Cruise, D and I went to explore the castle while B and E continued exploring the town and went for a drink.
Beaumaris Castle in the care of CADW has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.
The castle was the last to be built in a network of fortresses constructed in Wales on the orders of King Edward I (1272-1307). Building at Beaumaris began in 1295.
Following two wars against Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales (d1282) Edward I had already constructed in 1277 castles at Aberystwyth, Builth, Flint and Rhuddlan and in 1283 Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech. If you would like to see my post a few years ago on Harlech Castle please see here . Conwy Castle we will visit in the next post.
Following a Welsh revolt in 1294/5 Edward I decided to build one last castle on Anglesey with a location next to the Menai Straits in the SE of the island on flat low-lying land.
James of St George (d ~1308) who was King Edward's Master of Works designed Beaumaris as a fortress of near-perfect concentric walls. Outside the two lines of curtain walls and towers there was a water-filled moat which had a dock so the castle could receive supplies from the sea if under siege on land. However, when work on the construction started to cease in the 1320's much was left unfinished due to changing politics and a shortage of money. In the inner ward six towers did not have the upper storeys completed and accommodation was half the size it was planned to be.
Nevertheless, until the mid 17th century the castle was used as a centre of government, sometimes as a fortress during war, and as a prison. The castle suffered deliberate damage after the Civil War and the use of it then declined. In 1925 Sir Richard Bulkeley put the ruins into state care.
The castle was exceedingly quiet and, in fact, D and I had the whole place to ourselves until another couple arrived as we were leaving.
The moat was restored in the 1920's and the original moat was wider and provided the outer line of defence.
Here we can see the dock which once linked to the Straits by a short canal and it would have allowed supplies to be brought to the castle by sea. The wall behind is Gunner's Walk where defenders would have protected the moat and dock.
In 1343 the outer gate was described as "the gate beside the sea". It was defended by a drawbridge and timber gates and crossbow loops can be seen in the walls and tower.
In this photo you can see above the archway the corbelled slots from which stones could be dropped if anyone attacked the gates.
The outer ward with the outer curtain wall on one side and the inner curtain wall on the other. The outer curtain wall was built in 2 phases and contains 12 towers and two gates. There were 300 loops to allow crossbowmen to fire at the enemy.
D did the wall walk and here are some of his photos.
The Northern Gatehouse was the grandest part of the castle but the towers here did not reach the planned 3 storeys.
The inner ward contained with the inner curtain walls.
Again D did the wall walk with stunning views of the castle and surrounding area.
The master mason depicts James of St George and was sculpted by Sebastien Boyesen in 2016.
I would certainly like to visit the castle again and it was only after when reading the guidebook that I realised I had missed the chapel and also the mural passages which are within the thickness of the inner curtain wall. There is a lot to see and next time I would allow more than the hour and a half we spent there.
*D Photos taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera
Rest of photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera
Reference: CADW guide "Discover Beaumaris Castle"
