BEAUMARIS
CASTLE & OLD TOWN
Medieval Fortress Gem on Anglesey
Angelsey is now perhaps best known as where Prince William and Kate lived while the prince was in his helicopter rescue days, but this sprit of land at the north end of Wales has been the province of royals for centuries. Beaumaris Castle was the last and the largest of Edward I’s “Iron Ring” of fortresses meant to control the unruly Welsh princes. Not as visually dramatic as Conwy, as iconic as Harlech or historically important as Caernarvon (see Caernarfon
Castle), the castle at Beaumaris is the most elegant in design, sometime described as the most technically perfect example of medieval castle design.
Edward “Longshanks” I’s master mason, James of St. George took the lessons of his other stoneworks and the flat plain of its seaside location at the edge of a tidal marsh to build a symmetrical form of fortress with concentric walls within walls, surrounded by a broad moat supplied directly from the sea. An attacking force would face 15 separate major obstacles and four lines of fortifications to breach the inner bailey quarters.
Begun in 1295, with construction ended by 1330 under Edward III as the Scots and France were more a problem than Wales after the beheading of Roger Mortimer (see King
Edward and Mortimer's Hole). Beaumaris Castle was never fully completed and its current form is essentially as it was left in the 14th Century. It had survived a siege in the revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr around 1400, but was so “utterly decayed” by the time of the English Civil War, and so costly to repair, it played little part in the struggle and surrendered after the royal capitulation to the Parliamentary forces. Swans swim now in the reflective waters of the castle moat with the mountains of Snowdonia rising across the tidal bay, giving the castle a formidable peacefulness.
Beaumaris, which means “Beautiful Marsh” in French, the language of the Plantagenet Kings, is at the south-east tip of the island of Anglesey, only separated from the north Wales mainland by the ford between bays of the Irish Sea, the Menai Straight, virtually a wide river crossed by two bridges, where the A55 autoroute crosses and the old Menai Bridge to Bangor. The castle was built in the place of a former village of Llanfaes and the later town of Beaumaris grew around the castle.
Beaumaris Courthouse
After
a visit to the castle, what else is there to do in Beaumaris?
Across the street from the castle visitors
center and souvenir shop, the old town Beaumaris Courthouse offers
a look into justice in the 1600s, with bewigged justices and bailiffs
still
watching over the wood bench of petition. Unusual at the Beaumaris
court is the juror box placement higher than the judges, not a political
statement
but a quirk of design. Nearby, a Museum of Childhood Memories once
attracted visitors, but is now unfortunately closed.
Beaumaris Gaol
The
Beaumaris Gaol offers another look into old time justice, with
heavy barred cells
on three floors of the thick walled prison. The Beaumaris
jail had its own chapel as well as whipping rooms for the unruly. The
Beaumaris Gaol, built in 1829, last used as a police station in the 1950s
and now a museum is the only English jail with a remaining prisoner operated
water wheel treadmill. In shifts, two prisoners at a time would walk
the treadmill like a modern stairmaster to operate the pump system supplying
the jail’s water from a cistern above the cell.
The George and Dragon Pub
A block from the
Beaumaris Gaol is one of Wales oldest coaching inns, The George and Dragon
first opened in 1410, no longer a hotel but just a pub, with the branch
lath and plaster wall construction of the late middle ages still visible
through a plexiglas covered whole in the wall to prove its claim. Enjoy
a pint where soldiers of the king once relaxed over a few Welsh rebel
jokes after tossing prisoners into leg irons.
Visiting Beaumaris Castle
The castle is open year around, 9:30 am to 5pm from March to June and September-October, 9:30am to 6pm July and August, and 10am to 4 pm November through February (11am to 4pm on Sundays in winter). Admission for adults is £5.25, students and seniors £3.90, with a family ticket available for £15.75.
Where to Stay
Where to
stay in Beaumaris. The Best Western Bulkeley Hotel is
a Georgian historic hotel from 1832 within steps of the fishing and boating pier
with tours
to Puffin Island. The owners have a rather whimsical bent as you’ll
find smoking goat heads and other curiosities among the deep cushioned
couches. Beaumaris
Castle is valid an Explorer Pass from Cadw Welsh Tourism. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Cadw Beaumaris
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SEE ALSO:
PORTMEIRION "Prisoner" VILLAGE AND GARDEN
HARLECH CASTLE - SNOWDONIA COAST
RUTHIN CASTLE HOTEL - GHOSTS & PRINCES OF WALES
