Caernarfon town walls
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Caernarfon's town walls are a
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
defensive structure around the town of
Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...
in
North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
. The walls were constructed between 1283 and 1292 after the foundation of Caernarfon by
Edward I 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 Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
, alongside the adjacent
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
. The walls are long and include eight towers and two medieval
gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...
s. The project was completed using large numbers of labourers brought in from England; the cost of building the walls came to around £3,500, a large sum for the period. The walls were significantly damaged during the rebellion of
Madog ap Llywelyn Madog ap Llywelyn (died after 1312) was the leader of the Welsh revolt of 1294–95 against English rule in Wales and proclaimed "Prince of Wales". The revolt was surpassed in longevity only by the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr in the 15th century. Ma ...
in 1294, and had to be repaired at considerable expense. Political changes in the 16th century reduced the need to maintain such defences around the town. Today the walls form part of the
UNESCO world heritage 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 h ...
site administered by
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 s ...
. Archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham describe the defences as "a remarkably intact walled circuit".


History


13th century

Before the English construction of the town of
Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...
, the area had been occupied first by the
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, who built the fort of ''
Segontium Segontium ( owl, Cair Segeint) is a Roman fort on the outskirts of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, North Wales. The fort, which survived until the end of the Roman occupation of Britain, was garrisoned by Roman auxiliaries from present-day Belgium and Ge ...
'', and later by both the
Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
and the Welsh princes.Taylor, pp. 5–7. As a result of this long history, depicted in the Welsh saga of ''
Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...
'', the site was both culturally and politically significant to the medieval Welsh. The English kings and Welsh princes had vied for control of North Wales since the 1070s and the conflict had been renewed during the 13th century, leading to
Edward I 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 Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
intervening in North Wales for the second time during his reign in 1282. Edward invaded with a huge army, pushing north from
Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...
and westwards from Montgomery and
Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
. By summer 1283 Edward had secured Caernarfon and the surrounding area. The king decided that the location would become the centre of a new
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
and the capital of the
principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...
of North Wales, with a new castle and walled town forming the administrative centre. Edward's plan was a
colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...
enterprise and placing the new town and walls on the Caernarfon site was in part a symbolic act to demonstrate English power; the walls also symbolised the town's status as the capital of North Wales. Traditionally Caernarfon's design and defences have been thought to have been inspired by the growth of the
bastide Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony, Aquitaine, England and Wales during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the f ...
s. The bastides were new planned towns created in both
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and English-held
Gascony Gascony (; french: Gascogne ; oc, Gasconha ; eu, Gaskoinia) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part o ...
during the period, characterised by grids of straight streets, often defended by combinations of castles and town walls. More recent research, however, has shown that English town design played a more significant role in shaping Caernarfon and other Edwardian town plans. In the case of Caernarfon, the town plan and walls were adapted to fit around the site of the former Norman castle on the site, which lay just outside the new town and was used a market place. The walls of Caernarfon were built at the same time as the castle, under the overall supervision of Master
James of Saint George Master James of Saint George (–1309; French: , Old French: Mestre Jaks, Latin: Magister Jacobus de Sancto Georgio) was a master of works/architect from Savoy, described by historian Marc Morris as "one of the greatest architects of the European ...
, Edward's chief architect in North Wales. Between 1283 and 1284, Richard the Engineer acted as James' deputy on the site; later, between 1295 and 1308, Walter of Hereford performed a similar role, and may have also been responsible for earlier work on the walls as well. Huge amounts of labourers were mobilised from across England for the task, massed at Chester and then brought into Wales for each summer building season. Work on the walls progressed quickly, albeit in uneven bursts: local houses were demolished to make way for the fortifications and the stone walls and gates were probably finished by 1292. The cost of building the town walls was around £3,500, a large sum for the period.
Otto de Grandson Otto de Grandson (c. 1238–1328), sometimes numbered Otto I to distinguish him from later members of his family with the same name, was the most prominent of the Savoyard knights in the service of King Edward I of England, to whom he was the cl ...
, a favourite of Edward I, was appointed as
constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
of Caernarfon and
justiciar Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term ''justiciarius'' or ''justitiarius'' ("man of justice", i.e. judge). During the Middle Ages in England, the Chief Justiciar (later known simply as the Justiciar) was roughly equivalent ...
of North Wales, with responsibility for security in the region. In 1294, however,
Madog ap Llywelyn Madog ap Llywelyn (died after 1312) was the leader of the Welsh revolt of 1294–95 against English rule in Wales and proclaimed "Prince of Wales". The revolt was surpassed in longevity only by the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr in the 15th century. Ma ...
revolted against English rule and undertook a wide campaign across North Wales, attacking the town of Caernarfon. Despite the walls, the town was overrun, the walls badly damaged, and the castle—still largely unfinished —was easily taken and set on fire.Taylor, p. 13. Edward responded with military force the next year: he retook Caernarfon and ordered the town walls to be fully repaired by November 1295, at a cost of around £1,195.


14th to 18th centuries

The new town of Caernarfon was populated by English settlers, particularly from nearby
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
and
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, and the town walls were in part designed to encourage immigrants and royal officials to settle there in safety. The town of Caernarfon did not prove a successful settlement, however; by 1298 it had only 59
burgage Burgage is a medieval land term used in Great Britain and Ireland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town ("borough" or "burgh") rental property (to use modern terms), owned by a king or lord. The property ("burgage tenement ...
tenements—properties paying rent to the king—making it far less prosperous than either neighbouring
Conwy Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy on ...
or
Beaumaris Beaumaris ( ; cy, Biwmares ) is a town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, of which it is the former county town of Anglesey. It is located at the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from ...
, and the situation did not improve during the 14th century. In 1400 Welsh prince
Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wa ...
rose in rebellion against English rule, but despite attempts to take Caernarfon in 1403 and 1404, the town's defences held out.Ashbee, p. 12; Taylor, p. 16 The ascension of the
Tudor dynasty The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...
to the English throne resulted in a change in the way Wales was administered. The Tudors were Welsh in origin, and their rule lessened hostilities between the Welsh and English, reducing the need to maintain Caernarfon's castle and walls and easing the restrictions on Welsh access to the town—the Welsh were finally allowed to live inside Caernarfon in 1507. Around 1800, Caernarfon's local corporation undertook a programme of modernisation work, inserting several new gateways in the town walls; other changes were also made to the walls during the period, with some towers being converted for use as administrative buildings and the gatehouses altered to accommodate more modern offices. During the 19th century the town of Caernarfon grew considerably, prompted by the
slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
trade and the construction of the Chester to
Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
railway line. As a result of this population pressure, by the 20th century housing had encroached along the inside and outside of the town walls, so that in many places the walls had vanished from view. During the 20th century the walls were gradually acquired by the state and these houses demolished.
World Heritage Site Management Plan: Part 1
'',
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 s ...
, p. 20.
Today Caernarfon's walls are managed by the Welsh heritage organisation
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 s ...
as a tourist attraction, although only a small part of the wall-walk is open to the public. The walls require ongoing maintenance; in the financial year between 2002 and 2003, for example, maintaining the historic fabric of the walls and the castle cost £4,500 (£5,710 in 2010 terms). The walls were declared part of a
UNESCO world heritage 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 h ...
site in 1986 and hold
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
status. They are considered by archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham to be "a remarkably intact walled circuit".


Architecture

The Caernarfon town walls today present an unbroken, long circuit around the town, enclosing , and are unusually well preserved. They are mostly built from the same
carboniferous limestone Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. These rocks formed between 363 and ...
used at the castle. The eight towers along the wall are mostly "gap-backed", lacking walls on the inside of the towers, and originally included removable wooden bridges to allow sections of the walls to be sealed off from attackers. The two original entrances to the town were through the West and East Gates. The West Gate faced onto the harbour, and was also known as the Golden Gate ( cy, Porth-yr-Aur); in the medieval period, this name would have evoked images of imperial Roman and Arthurian power, as it was the name of the primary gateway in the city of
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. It was originally defended by a
portcullis A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...
, but was modified with additional
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
features in the 19th century. The East Gate formed the landward entrance to the town, originally overlooking the river Cadnant—the river is now
culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...
ed over. The
gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...
contained offices for most of the period since its construction in the 13th century, first housing the royal
exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reven ...
, then Caernarfon's
town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
and finally the
guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...
. The offices were finally removed in the 1960s. Little of the original gatehouse remains, due to 18th and 19th century building work, although the base of the towers remains medieval. Newer entrances to the town, made by creating additional gateways in the walls, include Northgate, Greengate and the entrance to Market Street. In the north-west corner of the walls is the 14th-century
chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
of
Saint Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
, built into the defences and using the only fully circular tower in the walls as a
vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
. Further along the west side of the walls, several of the towers have been converted for various uses. One forms part of the County Offices, having been incorporated into the former County
Gaol A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...
in the 19th century; another has been used by the Royal Welsh Yacht Club since the 19th century, and a third has been converted into a holiday home by the
Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headqua ...
.Taylor, p. 43;
World Heritage Site Management Plan: Part 1
'',
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 s ...
, pp. 20–1.


See also

*
List of town walls in England and Wales This list of town walls in England and Wales describes the fortified walls built and maintained around these towns and cities from the 1st century AD onwards. The first town walls were built by the Romans, following their conquest of Britain ...
*
Chester city walls Chester city walls consist of a defensive structure built to protect the city of Chester in Cheshire, England. Their construction was started by the Romans when they established the fortress of Deva Victrix between 70 and 80  E It originat ...
*
Conwy town walls Conwy's town walls are a medieval defensive structure around the town of Conwy in Wales. The walls were constructed between 1283 and 1287 after the foundation of Conwy by Edward I, and were designed to form an integrated system of defence along ...
*
York city walls York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England. They are known variously as York City Wa ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

*Ashbee, Jeremy A. (2007)
Conwy Castle.
' Cardiff: Cadw. . *Brown, R. Allen. (1962)
English Castles.
' London: Batsford. . *Creighton, Oliver Hamilton and Robert Higham. (2005)
Medieval Town Walls: an Archaeology and Social History of Urban Defence.
' Stroud, UK: Tempus. . *Given-Wilson, Chris. (1996)
The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages.
' London: Routledge. . *Lilley, Keith D. (2010) "The Landscapes of Edward's New Towns: Their Planning and Design," in Williams and Kenyon (eds) (2010). *Lott, Graham. (2010) "The Building Stones of the Edwardian Castles," in Williams and Kenyon (eds) (2010). *Prestwich, Michael. (2010) "Edward I and Wales," in Williams and Kenyon (eds) (2010). * Taylor, Arnold. (2008)
Caernarfon Castle and Town Walls.
' Cardiff: Cadw. . *Thompson, M. W. (1991)
The Rise of the Castle.
' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . *Wheatley, Abigail. (2010) "Caernarfon Castle and its Mythology," in Williams and Kenyon (eds) (2010). *Williams, Diane M. and John R. Kenyon. (eds) (2010)
The Impact of the Edwardian Castles in Wales.
' Oxford: Oxbow Books. .


External links

*
Cadw
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204162528/http://cadw.wales.gov.uk/historicenvironment/protection/worldheritage/cstlsedward1/?lang=en , date=2012-02-04 site describing the town walls and their approach to protecting the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
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 h ...
Buildings and structures completed in 1292 City walls in the United Kingdom Grade I listed walls Grade I listed buildings in Gwynedd History of Gwynedd Caernarfon Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd