Conwy Castle

Conwy Castle, like its fellow Welsh castles of Beaumaris and Caernarfon are World Heritage sites and looked after by Cadw. Built between 1283 and 1287 under the orders of Edward I as part of his conquest of Wales it’s an impressive medieval fortress that absolutely dominates the skyline and is very well preserved for its age, including the most intact set of medieval royal apartments in Wales.

The entrance fee is £11.70 for an adult or free with Cadw or English Heritage membership. From the visitor centre you can explore the castle at leisure in whatever order you like. One of the best things to do is take in the views.

One of the most curious aspects of the castle to bear in mind is that originally its walls would have been white, something quite hard to process when you see it today. It would have been covered with a lime render which worked as a way of waterproofing the building but also as an intimidating show of power.

You can climb all the castle’s towers to get spectacular views of the landscape but also the castle itself. I have to confess that I only climbed about half of the towers myself – so many spiral staircases are hard on the knees!

I took a somewhat meandering approach to my tour here, climbing some towers but then walking around others. There isn’t a particular set route to follow and my slight criticism of the site would be that there are hardly any signs describing the significance of each area. The guide book you can buy in the shop does do a good job of doing that but I’m not one for wandering around with guidebook in hand.

There were some interesting sculptures in place, as I’ve found to be the case in a lot of Welsh castles. The guard here is constructed from Welsh oak beams and carved with the same flourishes that would have been present in the rooms in the castle.

There was also this mound of armour and weapons that is supposed to represent the burning spirit of the Welsh people as the sculpture rises up from the darkness of the dungeon. Your mileage may vary as to whether this actually came to mind as you looked at it.

The castle is a really impressive place to explore and clearly a must see on any visit to Conwy.