Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Exploring Conwy
Your first stop should be a walk to the apex of the almost-complete
town walls,
to
gain some perspective over Conwy's near-perfect grid of streets.
The Conwy estuary is crossed by three bridges that all lead to Conwy. The hand-
some
Conwy Suspension Bridge
was built in 1826 by Thomas Telford, whom
Romantic poet Robert Southey nicknamed the “Colossus of Roads” (on account of
his feat of building the A5 road). It's closed to vehicular traffic now, but you can walk
across it and marvel at how it served as the main entrance to the town for so long.
Adjacent is Robert Stephenson's
Tubular Railroad Bridge,
built in 1848, and the
only one of its kind still surviving. Completing the trio is the modern arched road
bridge, completed in 1958.
St. Mary's,
the parish church, stands inside the walls on the site of a 12th-century
Cistercian abbey. It's the only structure in town to pre-date the medieval grid. The
churchyard contains a marked but overgrown grave associated with William Word-
sworth's poem,
We Are Seven.
Aberconwy House
HISTORIC SITE The town's only medieval house still stand-
ing (and the oldest in Conwy), was completed sometime during the 14th century in
the half-timbered English style—although it owes its survival to the stone construc-
tion of the first story. Rooms are dressed according to the house's various guises over
6 centuries: as a working base for a Tudor merchant placed strategically close to the
quay; as the sometime home of an 18th-century sea captain; and as a temperance (i.e.
alcohol-free) hotel in the 1890s.
Castle St.
&
01492/592246.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk. Admission £3.40 adults, £1.70 children 5-16,
£8.50 family ticket. Apr-Oct Wed-Mon (July-Aug daily) 11am-5pm.
Conwy Castle
CASTLE The entire town centers on Conwy Castle: Edward
I had this masterpiece of medieval architecture built after he conquered the last
native Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. More than any other fortress built for
Edward, Conwy Castle provides
insight into the clever military archi-
tecture of the king's master mason,
James of St. George. Separated from
the town by a massive ditch, with one
entrance through two gates followed
by the protection of Outer and Inner
Wards, the castle would have been
practically impossible to assault head-
on—in fact, it was only ever taken by
ruse or negotiation in its 700-year his-
tory. The wall-walk above the East Barbican is the place to head for the best view of
Conwy's 19th-century bridges. Allow an hour to visit.
Castle St.
&
01492/592358.
www.cadw.wales.gov.uk. Admission £4.80 adults; £4.30 seniors, students,
and children 5-15; £14 family ticket. Apr-June and Sept-Oct daily 9:30am-5pm; July-Aug daily
9:30am-6pm; Nov-Mar Mon-Sat 9:30am-4pm, Sun 11am-4pm.
Plas Mawr
HISTORIC SITE From its modest entrance, you get no sense of
the scale of this immaculately preserved Elizabethan townhouse. The mansion and
courtyard garden were built in the 1580s for Robert Wynn, a Tudor nobleman who
fathered seven children in his seventies while simultaneously serving as the Member
19
Conwy's Combined Ticket
The best-value way to see Conwy's two
premier sights is with a combined
ticket for the
Castle
and
Plas Mawr.
It
costs £6.85 for adults; £5.85 for
seniors, students, and children 5 to 15;
and £20 for a family ticket.
