Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Wales and today it's deservedly a World Heritage site. With swans gliding on its water-
filled moat, it's definitely got the wow factor. This is what every sandcastle maker un-
knowingly aspires to. The four successive lines of fortifications and concentric 'walls
within walls' make it the most technically perfect castle in Great Britain, even though it
was never fully completed.
The overall effect may seem more fairy tale than horror story, but the massive gates
with their murder holes (used to pour boiling oil on invaders), hint at its dark past. The
walk along the top of part of the inner wall gives super views of the castle layout and the
breathtaking scenery that surrounds it. Look out for the old latrines (only marginally less
unpleasant than the murder holes for those walking below) and the arrow slits in the wall
for picking off those unwelcome visitors.
Beaumaris Courthouse
& Gaol
(combined ticket adult/child £7.50/6; 10.30am-5pm Sat-Thu Easter-Sep, Sat & Sun Oct)
The grim business
of crime and punishment is brought into stark relief by a visit to this twin set of civic
buildings on opposite sides of the town. Start as the prisoners did, at the courthouse; dat-
ing from 1614, it's the oldest in Wales. Built at the tail end of the Georgian period, the jail
(1829) is an altogether more eerie environment. It contains the last-surviving treadwheel
in Britain; this punishment for hard-labour prisoners is a forbidding witness to the harsh-
ness of Victorian law and order.
Admission includes excellent audio guides that really bring both places to life. The
courthouse is opposite the castle, and the jail is on Steeple Lane behind the parish church.
HISTORIC BUILDINGS
CHURCH
Penmon Priory
(Cadw;
www.cadw.wales.gov.uk
; Penmon; parking £2.50; 10am-4pm; )
Penmon, 4 miles north of
Beaumaris at the eastern extremity of the island, is Anglesey at its most numinous. An
early Celtic monastery was established here in the 6th century by St Seiriol; the basin of
the holy well, tucked behind the current church, is thought to date from that time.
Vikings looted and burned the original church in AD 971. The current simple stone
church has elements from shortly after that time, including two 10th-century Celtic
crosses, a font from around the turn of the millennia, and some wonderful decorated
Romanesque arches from around 1160.
In the 13th century an Augustinian Priory took over the site, which survived until 1536
when it was dissolved. After this the buildings fell into ruins, with the exception of the
