Beaumaris Castle

Bank Holiday we drove over to Angelsey to visit Beaumaris, a bustling small town with a castle in its centre. Beaumaris means fair marsh and the castle was built by Edward I as the final castle intended to rule the people of Wales. 

The town itself is a mix of medieval, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian building now gift shops, cafes and bars filled with tourists. A walk along its pier gives great views of the Menai Straits and the mixture of boats sailing by.

Beaumaris Castle is famous as the 'greatest castle never built', a strange claim to fame but true. Edward I and Sir James of St George, his trusted architect, planned a magnificent castle to be the best of all they had built across Wales.

The castle has a symmetry that is almost true with a moat, strong outer walls and six towers in the inner castle. They were never completed to their full height which now gives the impression of a squat castle. The outer walls were built for defence, an abundance of arrow slits along the walkable walls.

Midway through building Beaumaris Edward I had to move his troops to Scotland. He is funds were also needed to be diverted to help the conflicts in the north and as such work on Beaumaris stopped in the 1320s leaving behind a superb but unfinished castle. 

We had a great, if at times challanging, exploration of the castle, including walking the walls and Hubby climbing the spiral stairs to the high levels. I wo der what it would have looked like finished, I can imagine the towers would have stood very tall and imposing.