Walking the Walls of Conwy

One drawback to being self-employed is that, if you're not careful, a Saturday or Sunday can be pretty much the same as a Monday or a Tuesday, or any other day of the week. So last weekend I took a break and walked the walls around Conwy.

Walking the Walls!

The walls were built for King Edward I at the same time as Conwy Castle. They took four years to complete and were finished in 1287. They're are about 1.3 km long and can be walked almost in their entirety, although you have to be fairly fit and not mind heights!

Great views!

There are twenty-one towers, placed at regular intervals, as well as three twin-towered gateways. It is not possible to walk on top of the walls for a complete circuit. Think of the route as a giant U, with the top part being the quayside. The route is also in two sections, the other break being by the railway station. At these points you can follow the route at ground-level - which is not quite as hair-raising! The highest point, the Watchtower, is about fifty foot from the ground, with only a single railing between you and a painful encounter with the pavement. So if you are planning on walking the walls, I would recommend sensible shoes, dry weather and a very firm grip!

View of the walkway from the Watch Tower

View of the Castle from the Watch Tower

More steps!

The purpose of the walls was to protect the town, mainly from the Welsh - only the English invaders lived on the inside! In theory, the walls were so strong they could not be breached and anyone managing to scale the walls would immediately be isolated on that section - the only route across each tower was by easily removed wooden planking. However, in one section three narrow windows have been set into the wall, to allow light into a collection of buildings once known as Llywelyn's Hall, which pre-dates both the castle and the wall.

The windows which were once part of
Llywelyn's Hall (outside view)

The hall took its name from Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, who may have held court here. It's not known whether the walls were built against the hall, or if it was knocked down and rebuilt.  In 1315 the hall, which was built of timber, was dismantled and moved to Caernarfon Castle, where it was used as a storeroom - and still referred to as Llywelyn's Hall!

The Mill Gate was where the King's Wardrobe was located. Contrary to what the name suggests, the wardrobe was the department through which war and works were administered. These curious protuberances are actually communal toilets! The King had them built for his Wardrobe staff at a cost of £15 - about £45,000 in today's money.

Yep, medieval loos

In 1827 a new coastal road was built and a new gateway created  through one of the towers, and in 1847 an entire section of the wall was demolished to make way for a railway line, although it was then rebuilt with a huge archway and imitation battlements.

The 'new' railway arch

A tunnel for the same railway passes almost directly beneath one of the towers on the opposite side of the town. When it was built it caused partial subsidence and a large crack to appear in the masonry. 

The crack caused by the
building of a railway tunnel

Beside the quayside, the wall extends into the river in a kind of spur. It was probably originally designed as a breakwater. There was once a tower at the very end, although it disappeared into the river centuries ago. 

The spur wall
(there was once a tower at the very end)

It is free to walk Conwy Walls, although Conwy Castle, under the care of Cadw, is also well worth a visit. There are also plenty of coffee shops in Conwy, although after all that walking you may need more than a slice of cake!

Carrot cake from Anna's

Never miss a post! See that little box in the left-hand column, near the top, that says 'Follow by Email'? If you add your email address, you'll receive my latest blog post almost as soon as I've written it.

Related posts:

A Grave Obsession (about  St Mary's and All Saints Church, Conwy) 

Beyond the Bridge

One of the best things about research trips is that there is very often a coffee shop involved somewhere. Writers need coffee; it's a proven fact. Even better, when the research trip actually involves going to a coffee shop or, in this case, the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont Tea Room in Llanrwst.

Take a look at the photograph below. Do you recognise the view? It's one of the most famous in Wales. This photo was taken last week (January) but if you were to see Tu Hwnt i'r Bont in the summer, the house would be covered - and I mean covered - in lush green Virginia creeper. In the autumn it looks even more fabulous, because the creeper turns a beautiful scarlet.

Tu Hwnt i’r Bont in Llanrwst

As soon as I saw Tu Hwnt i’r Bont I knew I'd have to write a story about it and eventually I used it as the location for Kat's coffee shop and bookstore in Something Wicked. In my story the cottage is surrounded by woodland, and the bridge and river are much further away (and quite different in appearance). If you do get a chance to visit Tu Hwnt i’r Bont, you will recognise at once that the interior is not remotely like the one described in my book. The great thing about being a writer is that you can take bits and pieces from life, rather like a magpie, and weave them into your own original story.

Tu Hwnt i’r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) is a lot older than the bridge beside it. The house was originally built in 1480 before being turned into a courthouse. Over the years the house fell into disrepair before being acquired by the National Trust and leased out. It was turned into tearooms fifty years ago.

Tu Hwnt i’r Bont

Llanrwst takes its name from the 6th-century Saint Grwst the Confessor. As well as Tu Hwnt i’r Bont, there are the alms-houses and the Parish Church of St Grwst, which holds the empty stone sarcophagus of Llywelyn the Great (I've mentioned that before, here). The famous stone bridge, Y Bont Fawr (the Great Bridge), with its three huge arches, is said to have been designed by Indigo Jones, and was built in 1636 by Sir John Wynn, who lived in the nearby Gwydir Castle (also definitely worth a visit).

Gwydir Castle in Llanrwst

Something Wicked

 Katrina Davenport has opened a coffee shop and bookstore in the notorious Raven’s Cottage, once the home of a 17th century witch known as Magik Meg. The locals have told Kat stories, of how the cottage is haunted by the witch and her demon lover, but Kat doesn’t believe in witches, or ghosts, or anything that goes bump in the dead of night. Every strange thing that happened since she moved in must have a perfectly logical explanation.

Unfortunately it doesn’t really matter what Kat believes, because something wicked has returned to Raven’s Cottage.

And this time it’s come for Kat.

To read an extract, click here:

Something Wicked: Behind the Scenes

More:

Tu Hwnt i’r Bont (website)

Related Posts:

Something Wicked

Let It Snow
A Grave Obsession
Things That Go Bump

A Grave Obsession

It's weird the kind of thing that can inspire a blog post. Last week I found myself in Conwy*, a beautiful historic town close to where I live. Unfortunately, much of Conwy doesn't seem to open before 10.00 am, including the coffee shops, which is why I found myself walking around the churchyard.

To anyone who doesn't know me, this might sound slightly peculiar - but I've always loved churchyards. There is the general spookiness of them, for which I blame watching too much Scooby Doo in my formative years. They are also packed with history and very inspiring to a creative type; I think all but one of my books has a scene set in a graveyard.

The Church of St Mary's and All Saints is located in the centre of Conwy, entirely surrounded by 18th century houses. It has become my habit to take short cuts through the churchyard to avoid the tourists and traffic on the streets. Considering the location, the churchyard is incredibly peaceful and I sometimes wonder if the tourists even realise it's there.

This church was originally founded in the 12th Century as the church of the Cistercian Abbey of Aberconwy, and was the burial place of many of the princes of Gwynedd, including Llywelyn the Great. After King Edward I conquered Wales and built Conwy Castle, the abbey was forced to move to Maenan in the Conwy Valley - and they took  Llywelyn's remains with them. (Llywelyn's body was later moved again to the Gwydir Chapel in Llanrwst, where the empty stone sarcophagus can still be seen, but that's a whole other blog post.)

As you can see from the photo above, the majority of the gravestones in this churchyard are made from slate which, due to the close proximity of the quarries in Snowdonia, was in huge supply in the 19th century, making this grave (below) stand out in particular.

In 1798 William Wordsworth wrote a poem, We Are Seven, about a conversation with a child in a churchyard. Because the child says: 'And two of us at Conway dwell' this grave is traditionally considered the location of the conversation (although Wordsworth himself said the conversation took place at Goodrich Castle in Herefordshire). Souvenir hunters therefore continuously broke off pieces of the tombstone so an iron cage was constructed in the early 20th century to protect what was left.

Another interesting memorial in this churchyard is that of Hugh Griffith, a ship’s carpenter who went missing at sea and was presumed dead. When he turned up, alive and well, the inscription on the tombstone was changed to a Biblical quotation about being brought up from the depths.

And I suppose this is the real reason I find graveyards so fascinating. I'm a writer and a reader, and I love hearing stories. In a graveyard every memorial tells the story of someone's life, often heart-breaking, which might otherwise never have been told.

* The Welsh spell it 'Conwy', the English spell it 'Conway', but it's all the same place!

Related Posts:

A Visit to Llanwrst (or, The Missing Prince)

Walking the Walls of Conwy