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Top Attractions in Caernarfon

Caernarfon town walls

Caernarfon's town walls are a medieval defensive structure around the town of Caernarfon in North Wales. The walls were constructed between 1283 and 1292 after the foundation of Caernarfon by Edward I, alongside the adjacent castle. The walls are 734 m long and include eight towers and two medieval gatehouses. The project was completed using large numbers of labourers brought in from England; the cost of building the walls came to around £3,500, a large sum for the period. The walls were significantly damaged during the rebellion of Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294, and had to be repaired at considerable expense. Political changes in the 16th century reduced the need to maintain such defences around the town. Today the walls form part of the UNESCO world heritage site administered by Cadw. Historians Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham describe the defences as "a remarkably intact walled circuit".

Nant Gwynant

Nant Gwynant is a valley in north Wales. The A498 road descends 600 feet into the valley in about two miles from Pen-y-Gwryd; it follows the Nant Cynnyd, the Afon Glaslyn and alongside Llyn Gwynant, then beside the Nant Gwynant river to Llyn Dinas and passing below Dinas Emrys to Beddgelert. The road continues through the Aberglaslyn Pass to Porthmadog. The upper section of Nant Gwynant, from the site of the Roman fort and marching camp situated at the junction with the modern A4086 Caernarfon to Capel Curig road, follows the valley of Nant Cynnyd to a viewpoint overlooking the Cwm Dyli hydro-electric power station, which was built over 100 years ago by the North Wales Power and Traction Company to supply electricity to the Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway that failed before it was completed. The power station however still uses the waters of Llyn Llydaw to generate electricity for the National Grid . A mile further and the road passes Hafod Lwyfog, the summer homestead built in the 1540s, the birthplace of Sir John Williams, goldsmith to King James I, who in 1610 presented the Church of St Mary in Beddgelert with a fine chalice. In 1938, the then owner, Clough Williams-Ellis presented part of the Hafod Lwyfog land to the National Trust in anticipation of the establishment of the Snowdonia National Park. A campsite now operates at the head of Llyn Gwynant, and the balance of the farm is managed as a conservation estate by descendants of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. Between the two lakes is Hafod-y-Llan with the Watkin Path climbing above Afon Cwm Llan to the summit of Snowdon. The path starts in South Snowdon Quarry, which was later the intended destination of that never completed narrow gauge railway from Porthmadog. The path, which was ceremonially opened in 1892 by William Ewart Gladstone the then Prime Minister, was specially constructed for Sir Edward Watkin, railway entrepreneur and Victorian pioneer of the Channel Tunnel for the benefit of guests at The Chalet, his summer retirement home in the woods. Another National Trust property in the valley is Craflwyn. It stands below the hill of Dinas Emrys to which according to tradition, in retreat with his adviser Myrddin Emrys, came an unhappy Vortigern, the Romano-British King who first encountered the Anglo Saxon immigrants.

Caernarfon Mithraeum

The Caernarfon Mithraeum is a Roman Temple to the Roman god Mithras . The temple was located 137 meters north-east of the Roman castra of Segontium on the outskirts of modern Caernarfon in Gwynedd, Wales. The remains were discovered by accident on 2 April 1958 and excavated by the National Museum of Wales in August of the following year under the direction of George Boon. The site was found to be already damaged by a sewer trench which cut across the anteroom and had removed part of the southeast corner, but the majority of the temple could be excavated. The excavators noted the site was quite marshy and this suggested that a stream had once flowed close to the temple at the bottom of the shallow valley. Unfortunately the marshy conditions caused the mechanical excavator to frequently fall into the excavation, causing further damage.

Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd

The Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site located in Gwynedd, Wales. It includes the castles of Beaumaris and Harlech and the castles and town walls of Caernarfon and Conwy. UNESCO considers the sites to be the "finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe". The fortifications were built by Edward I after his invasion of North Wales in 1282. Edward defeated the local Welsh princes in a major campaign and set about permanently colonising the area. He created new fortified towns, protected by castles, in which English immigrants could settle and administer the territories. The project was hugely expensive and stretched royal resources to the limit. Fresh Welsh revolts followed in 1294 under the leadership of Madog ap Llywelyn. Conwy and Harlech were kept supplied by sea and held out against the attack, but Caernarfon, still only partially completed, was stormed. In the aftermath, Edward reinvigorated the building programme and ordered the commencement of work at Beaumaris. Edwards wars in Scotland began to consume royal funding, however, and work soon slowed once again. Building work on all the fortifications had ceased by 1330, without Caernarfon and Beaumaris having been fully completed. The fortifications played an important part in the conflicts in North Wales over the coming centuries. They were involved in the Glyndŵr Rising of the early 15th century and the Wars of the Roses in the late 15th century. Despite declining in military significance following the succession of the Tudor dynasty to the throne in 1485, they were pressed back into service during the English Civil War in the 17th century. In the aftermath of the conflict, Parliament ordered the slighting, or deliberate destruction, of parts of Conwy and Harlech, but the threat of a pro-Royalist invasion from Scotland ensured that Caernarfon and Beaumaris remained intact. By the end of the 17th century, however, the castles were ruinous. They became popular with visiting artists during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and visitor numbers increased as access to the region improved during the Victorian period. The British state invested heavily in the castles and town walls during the 20th century, restoring many of their medieval features. In 1986 the sites were collectively declared to be a World Heritage Site, as outstanding examples of fortifications and military architecture built in the 13th century, and are now operated as tourist attractions by the Welsh heritage agency Cadw. For much of the 20th century, the castles and walls were considered primarily from a military perspective. Their use of concentric defences, barbicans and substantial gatehouses led D. J. Cathcart King to describe them as the "zenith of English castle-building", and Sidney Toy to assess them as "some of the most powerful castles of any age or country". In the late 20th and 21st centuries, historians such as Michael Prestwich and Abigail Wheatley also highlighted the sites roles as palaces and symbols of royal power. The location of castles such as Caernarfon and Conwy were chosen for their political significance as well as military functions, being built on top of sites belonging to the Welsh princes. The castles incorporated luxury apartments and gardens, with the intention of supporting large royal courts in splendour. Caernarfons castle and town walls incorporated expensive stonework, probably intended to evoke images of Arthurian or Roman imperial power in order to bolster Edwards personal prestige. The precise role of the royal architect James of St George in the construction projects, and the influence of his native kingdom of Savoy on the designs, also continues to be debated by academics.

Llanfaglan

Llanfaglan is a parish in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It lay in the medieval cwmwd of Is Gwyrfai. Llanfaglan is a medieval parish bordering with the parish of Llanbeblig, Caernarfon, on the shore of the Menai Strait and Traeth y Foryd. The church in Llanfaglan, St Baglan's (Grid reference SH 455 606) stands alone in the middle of a field and is now owned by the Friends of Friendless Churches. In 2005, it was discovered that the church and the older part of the cemetery were part of a pentagonal enclosure. The period of this enclosure is not known as it is the only one of this type know of in Europe up to now. A 5th or 6th Century gravestone inscribed with Fili Lovernii Anatemori, has been reused as a lintel over the door. This was the gravestone of Anatemarios, mab Loverniws. Although the Christian church probably dates from the 13th century, additions date from the 17th century as do the internal fittings. The church remains consecrated and is still in occasional use. The church is usually open during the European heritage Open Door weekends in September, where a local historian is on hand to provide visitors with the history of the church, in either Welsh or English.

Waunfawr railway station

Waunfawr is a station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway, which was built in 1877 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking to carry dressed slate to Dinas Junction on the London and North Western Railway. Passenger services ceased on 26 September 1936 and the station was reopened on 7 August 2000 following the reconstruction of the railway from Dinas to Waunfawr. The train services are operated by the Festiniog Railway Company. "Waunfawr" is Welsh for "Big Heath". In 2000, in order to remodel the layout of the station, the old building was carefully taken down. Although carefully deconstructed by the WH Heritage Group, the numbered and stored stone was inadvertently used as fill for the embankments by the contractor. A rebuild is planned in NWNG style but altered internally to suit 21st century requirements, when funds become available. Following reconstruction, the section from Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu was formally reopened by HRH the Prince of Wales on 30 July 2003. Prince Charles travelled from Waunfawr to Rhyd Ddu by special train. The station flower and shrub beds were laid out and are maintained by the local community enterprise charity, Antur Waunfawr. The Snowdonia Park Hotel adjoins the station and was built originally as the station master's house. Entrance to and exit from the station platform is by way of the hotel car park. The station footbridge links with a car park and a caravan park. Snowdonia Sherpa Bus services call at the station.

Penllyn

Penllyn railway station is the northern terminus of the Llanberis Lake Railway , located near Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales. Most of the LLR was laid around 1970 on part of the trackbed of the closed and lifted Padarn Railway. The line opened between Gilfach Ddu and Cei Llydan on 28 May 1971, being extended northwards to Penllyn in 1972, changing Cei Llydan from a terminus to a through station. For thirty years Gilfach Ddu was the new line's southern terminus, situated a short distance south of the site of the Padarn Railway's former workmen's station, also named Gilfach Ddu. In 2003 a wholly new extension was opened south westwards, with Llanberis station as the line's new southern terminus. With this extension Gilfach Ddu changed from a terminus to a through station. Penllyn is situated a short distance south of the site of the former Padarn Railway Pen-y-Llyn workmen's station. The line and station primarily serve tourists and railway enthusiasts. The station has one platform.

Cei Llydan railway station

Cei Llydan railway station is an intermediate station on the Llanberis Lake Railway , located in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales. Most of the LLR was laid around 1970 on part of the trackbed of the closed and lifted Padarn Railway. The line opened between Gilfach Ddu and Cei Llydan on 28 May 1971, being extended northwards to Penllyn in 1972, changing Cei Llydan from a terminus to a through station. For thirty years Gilfach Ddu was the new line's southern terminus, situated a short distance south of the site of the Padarn Railway's former workmen's station, also named Gilfach Ddu. In 2003 a wholly new extension was opened south westwards, with Llanberis station as the line's new southern terminus. With this extension Gilfach Ddu changed from a terminus to a through station. The line and station primarily serve tourists and railway enthusiasts, with Cei Llydan recommended for picnics and viewing the scenery. The station has one platform.
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