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Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town,
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, villag ...
and the
administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...
of
Conwy County Borough Conwy County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) is a county borough in Wales. It borders Gwynedd to the west and south, and Denbighshire to the east. Other settlements in the county borough include Abergele, Betws-y-Coed, Colwyn Bay, Con ...
in
North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...
. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy on the east bank. The town formerly lay in
Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the North West Wales, north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County B ...
and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. The community, which also includes Deganwy and Llandudno Junction, had a population of 14,753 at the 2011 census. Although the community of Conwy straddles the River Conwy, for postal purposes the areas on the east bank form part of the
post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...
of Llandudno Junction, with the Conwy post town being confined to west bank of the river. The ward on the west bank of the river had a population of 4,065 at the 2011 census. The resident population of the wider Conwy County Borough was estimated to be 116,200 in an ONS-estimate. The name 'Conwy' derives from the old Welsh words ''cyn'' (chief) and ''gwy'' (water), the river being originally called the 'Cynwy'.


History


Castle and town walls

Conwy Castle and the town walls were built, on the instructions of
Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Duchy of Aquitaine, Aquitaine and D ...
, between 1283 and 1289, as part of his conquest of the principality of Wales. The church standing in Conwy has been marked as the oldest building in Conwy and has stood in the walls of Conwy since the 14th century. However, the oldest structure is part of the town walls, at the southern end of the east side. Here one wall and the tower of a ''llys'' (palace/court house) belonging to Llywelyn the Great and his grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffydd have been incorporated into the wall. Built on a rocky outcrop, it has a prominent apsidal tower. The walls are part of a
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
, Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd. People born within the
town walls A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
of Conwy are nicknamed "Jackdaws", after the jackdaws which live on the walls there. A Jackdaw Society existed until 2011. The population of the town in 1841 was 1,358.


Abbey

Conwy was the original site of Aberconwy Abbey, founded by Llywelyn the Great. Edward and his troops took over the abbey site and moved the monks up the Conwy valley to a new site at Maenan, establishing Maenan Abbey. The
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activitie ...
St Mary & All Saints still retains some parts of the original abbey church in the east and west walls.


Suspension bridge

Conwy has other tourist attractions. Conwy Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford to replace the ferry, was completed in 1826 and spans the River Conwy next to the castle. Telford designed the bridge's supporting towers to match the castle's turrets. The bridge is now open to pedestrians only and, together with the toll-keeper's house, is in the care of the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
.


Railway bridge

The
Conwy Railway Bridge The Conwy Railway Bridge carries the North Wales coast railway line across the River Conwy between Llandudno Junction and the town of Conwy. The wrought iron tubular bridge, which is now Grade I listed, was built in the 19th century. It is ...
, a tubular bridge, was built for the Chester and Holyhead Railway by Robert Stephenson. The first tube was completed in 1848, the second in 1849. The bridge is still in use on the North Wales Coast Line, along with the
station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...
, which is located within the town walls. In addition to a modern bridge serving the town, the
A55 road The A55, also known as the North Wales Expressway ( cy, Gwibffordd Gogledd Cymru) is a major road in Wales and England, connecting Cheshire and north Wales. The vast majority of its length from Chester to Holyhead is a dual carriageway pri ...
passes under the river in a tunnel, Britain's first immersed tube tunnel, which was built between 1986 and 1991. The old mountain road to Dwygyfylchi and Penmaenmawr runs through the Sychnant Pass, at the foot of
Conwy Mountain Mynydd y Dref (Welsh : ''"Mountain of the Town"'') or Conwy Mountain is a hilly area to the west of the town of Conwy, in North Wales. To the north it overlooks the sea of Conwy Bay, and to the south lie the foothills of the Carneddau range of ...
.


Aberconwy House

The National Trust owns Aberconwy House, which is Conwy's only surviving 14th-century merchant's house, one of the first buildings built inside the walls of Conwy.


Plas Mawr

Plas Mawr is an
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personif ...
house built in 1576 by the Wynn family, which has been extensively refurbished to its 16th-century appearance and is now in the care of
Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...
and open to the public.


Smallest house in Great Britain

The house named in the
Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as the Smallest House in Great Britain, with dimensions of 3.05 × 1.8 metres, can be found on the quay. It was in continuous occupation from the 16th century (and was even inhabited by a family at one point) until 1900 when the owner (a fisherman – Robert Jones) was forced to move out on the grounds of hygiene. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully. The house is still owned by his descendants today, and visitors can look around it for a small charge.


Vardre Hall

Vardre Hall is a 19th-century
Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ire ...
listed building directly opposite to Conwy Castle. It was erected by
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...
MP William Edward FitzMaurice in the mid 1850s. In 1869 the building was sold to solicitor William Jones. The building was used as a solicitor's office until 1972, when it was bought out and became The Towers Restaurant. After lying empty for a number of years Vardre Hall changed hands again, and in 1999 was refurbished as a shop.


Medieval watchtower

Across the estuary is Bodysgallen Hall, which incorporates a medieval tower that was possibly built as a watch tower for Conwy Castle.


Notable locations

Conwy Morfa Morfa Conwy is a spit formed originally of marshy sand, north of the western end of the modern A55 entrance to Conwy in Conwy county borough, north-west Wales. A widely used corruption of the place name is ''Conwy Morfa'', likely to have c ...
, a marshy spit of land on the west side of the estuary, was probably the location where golf was first played on Welsh soil. It was also the place where Hugh Iorys Hughes developed, and later built, the floating Mulberry Harbour, used in
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
in World War II. Conwy Hospital closed in 2003 and has since been demolished. Conwy railway station opened in 1848.


Lifeboat

A lifeboat station was established by the RNLI in 1966 and currently operates the D-class inshore lifeboat, the ''May-Bob'', (D–765).


Governance

A Conwy electoral ward exists for elections to
Conwy County Borough Council Conwy County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) is the local authority for Conwy County Borough, one of the principal areas of Wales. History Conwy County Borough was created in 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1 ...
. The ward extends west of the River Conwy only with a total population of 4,065. The other county wards within the Conwy community are Deganwy, Marl and Pensarn. Conwy also has a
town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second t ...
, based at Conwy Guildhall, comprising 17 town councillors elected from the five community wards of Aberconwy, Castle, Deganwy, Marl and Pensarn.


Administrative history

Conwy was an ancient borough. Unlike most such boroughs, it was not reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and so the old borough corporation continued to exist and run the town. By 1876 the borough corporation was seen as an archaic and unaccountable impediment to the proper management of the town. The town's residents organised a petition to convert the town into a
municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in ...
with an elected corporation to take responsibility for public health and local government. A royal charter incorporating the town as a municipal borough was issued in December 1876, and the new borough corporation took over the running of the town from March 1877. The municipal borough boundary included land on both sides of the river, covering the parish of Conwy (or Conway) and parts of the parishes of Gyffin and Dwygyfylchi on the west bank, and part of the parish of Eglwys Rhos on the east bank. The urban parishes within the borough boundary were reorganised in 1894 to comprise Conwy and Gyffin on the west bank and Llanrhos on the east bank. In 1972 the borough council voted to change the spelling of the town's name from "Conway" to "Conwy". The change was agreed by the Secretary of State for Wales and took effect on 1 August 1972. The municipal borough was abolished in 1974, with the area becoming part of the Aberconwy district in the new county of Gwynedd. A
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, villag ...
called Conwy was established at the same time covering the area of the former borough. Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw Aberconwy abolished and the town transferred to the new
Conwy County Borough Conwy County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) is a county borough in Wales. It borders Gwynedd to the west and south, and Denbighshire to the east. Other settlements in the county borough include Abergele, Betws-y-Coed, Colwyn Bay, Con ...
, named after the town but covering a much larger area.


Gallery

Images showing changes over time File:Conway Castle from the e(ast) 1795.jpg, Conwy castle before the bridge was built, 1795 File:Conway Town and Castle.(Plan).jpeg, Conway Town and Castle, 1800 File:Conway Castle - from the wood opposite.jpeg, 'Conway Castle: from the wood opposite', 1823 File:Conway Castle N. Wales.jpeg, Conwy Castle, 1838 File:Conway Bridge (Carnarvonshire, North Wales).jpeg, Conway Bridge and Castle ca 1840 File:Conway Bridge and Castle, North Wales.jpeg, The river bank at Conwy with the castle and bridge in the background ca 1850 File:The Town Of Conway - Its Church, Plas Mawr, Wall, Tower, &c, as seen from the battlement of the castle.jpeg, Conway c.1850 File:Conway Bridge & Castle.jpeg, 'Conway Bridge & Castle' ca 1850 File:Conwymap1947.png, Map of Conwy from 1947 File:Conwy Castle - bridge view.jpg, Conwy Castle - bridge view 2007 File:Conwy bridges.jpg, Conwy bridges in 2012 File:Mock Tudor in Conwy.jpg, Mock Tudor in Conwy- taken on January 14 2022


References


External links


A Vision of Britain Through Time

British Listed Buildings

Conwy River Festival

Conwy Town Tourism Association



Geograph

International Database and Gallery of Structures

Office for National Statistics




{{authority control Fortified settlements Towns in Conwy County Borough