Photographs Of Caernarfon Castle

Edward I built many castles in North Wales to help subdue the Welsh following his conquest of the principality in 1277 and the defeat of the Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. The other important fortresses of this "iron ring" were Beaumaris, Conwy, and Harlech, but Caernarfon is probably his supreme achievement.

Caernarfon Castle, overlooking the River Seiont and Menai Strait, looks today, much as it would have done when building was finished in 1330. With its massive curtain wall with different coloured bands, and its hexagonal towers, the design is reminiscent of the great Roman city of Constantinople.

Birthplace to the first English Prince of Wales, the tradition continues to this day, with the castle acting as the setting to the Investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales in 1969.

Construction: Begun in 1283 during Llywelyn's unsuccessful uprising, it reached something like its current state in 1323. It was never completed, and even today there are joints visible in several places on the internal walls ready to accept further walls which were never built. Contemporary records note that the castle's construction cost some £22,000 – an enormous sum at the time, equivalent to more than a year's income for the royal treasury. The castle's linear design is sophisticated by comparison with earlier British castles, and the walls are said to have been modelled on those of Constantinople, Edward being a keen Crusader. The castle dominates the Menai Strait, which had been of great strategic importance during Edward's Welsh campaigns.



Caernarfon Castle Trivia

• The castle was used in 1911 for the investiture of the then Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, because of its past associations with the English crown. This set a precedent which was to be repeated in 1969 with the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales.

• The castle also houses the regimental museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and is part of the World Heritage Site "Castles and town walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd".

• A legend states that Edward II of England was born here in 1284, but there is no contemporary evidence.