4 Incredible Castles - The Iron Ring of North Wales

The Iron Ring is a collection of four giant stone castles built by the English King Edward I during his war against Wales in the 13th century. These four castles were Carnarvon, Harlech, Conwy and Balmoros. In this video, I will be giving you a virtual tour of each castle, as well as giving you a brief history of these beautiful fortresses that collectively cost over £100m in today's money to build. Carnarvon Castle is a staggering medieval fortress that towers over the town of Carnarvon in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was built by King Edward I of England and his chief military architect, James of St. George. A Norman-Mott & Bailey castle has stood on the site since the 11th century, but was replaced with the current stone structure in 1283 AD as a result of Edward I's war against the Welsh, who refused to be occupied by the English. The stone walls were built purposefully tall, as the castle served as Edward's administrative centre in North Wales. A Romanesque architectural design to mirror that of defensive structures in Constantinople, this was, perhaps, due to Edward's well-known love of history, or maybe to pay homage to Carnarvon's Roman roots, as it was originally a Roman settlement named Sagontium. The construction of Carnarvon Castle, plus the stone town walls and the quayside, is said to have cost an astonishing £25,000, which would be around £28.7m in today's money, and took 47 years to complete. However, despite its grand appearance, the insides of the castle was never complete, as many inner buildings never were constructed. The castle and town were sacked in 1294 by Madoc Ab Llewelyn during a rebellion against the English, leaving Carnarvon Castle to be looted and gutted by fire. The castle was besieged again by Eoghan Glyndaerh during the Glyndaerh Rebellion between 1400 and 1415. During the Tudor dynasty, relations between England and Wales improved, so the castle wasn't considered as important anymore. However, Carnarvon Castle saw its final bout of warfare during the English Civil War, as it was besieged by the Parliamentarian forces in three separate occasions. But Carnarvon's story is not complete without including the town walls, as they are an essential part of King Edward I's master plan to create a complete fortress town, to be settled in by the English. The circuit of walls, combined with eight towers and two gateways, survives almost complete, extending for almost half a mile, the walls through a security blanket around Edward's new town. The east gate was the main landward entrance to the medieval borough. This is matched, at the opposite end of the high street, by the west gate, also known as the water gate, which could only be approached from the sea in the 13th century. Imagine a 13th century visitor, gazing across the River Conwy, at Conwy castles, gleaming white walls, heraldic banners, painted shutters and shields hanging from the batteners. This was truly a fortress fit for a king, inside and out. King Edward I and his architect, Master James of St George, built both the castle and walls in a barely believable four years between 1283 and 1287 AD. This famous fortress is exceptionally well preserved. The high curtain walls and eight lofty towers rise almost as impressively as when they did when they were built more than 700 years ago. Conwy Castle also has the most complete set of residential rooms inhabited by the medieval monarchy anywhere in England or Wales. Not even the Tower of London comes close. James of St George raised the mighty towers and the curtain wall first, as there was no point in luxury until the castle was first secured, and then he began construction of the suite of royal apartments inside the walls. Despite spending an astronomical £15,000 on Conwy, around £17 million in today's money, Edward I only stayed here once. Trapped by a Welsh rebellion in 1284, he spent a miserable Christmas with just one barrel of wine in the castle's cellar for comfort. His queen, Eleanor of Castile, for whom Master James built a relatively modest first floor chamber, died in 1290 after years abroad. She could have only seen Conwy Castle as a construction site. In 1301, the future Edward II came to the castle to receive homage as Prince of Wales, and stayed for a couple of months. Conwy also hosted tense negotiations between Richard II and his eventual captors in 1399. History tells us that there were only a few times the royal apartments were used for their intended purpose. By the 17th century, the original suite with two entrances, one for the king and one for the queen, had been converted into a single unit. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Conwy Castle was purposefully damaged to the point where it could no longer be defendable, a familiar story at medieval sites across Wales and England, as this meant that royal rooms were never lived in again, and the castle fell into disrepair. Harlech Castle crowns the sheer rocky crag overlooking the dunes far below. However, during the medieval period, the sea would have come crashing right up to the rocks directly below the castle walls. Against fierce competition from Conwy, Caernarfon, and Balmorras, this is probably the most spectacular setting for any of Edward I's castles in Wales. All four are designated as a World Heritage Site. Harlech was completed from ground to battlements in just under seven years under the guidance of gifted architect I've mentioned before, Master James of St George. Its classic walls-within-walls design makes for the most daunting natural defences. Even when it was completely cut off by the rebellion of Madog Abluelam, the castle still held out, thanks to the Way from the Sea. The path of 108 steps rising steeply up the rock face allowed the besieged defenders to be fed and watered by a ship. Its great towers and rugged walls saw one siege after another during some of the most tumultuous and epic times during Welsh history. During the Wars of the Roses, the Lancastrians held a castle which was surrounded by the immense Yorkist army commanded by William Herber of Raglan. The poet Huel Daphine told of the men being shattered by the sound of guns. Under this furious onslaught, the castle succumbed in less than a month. Fifty prisoners were taken. These were the heroic Men of Harlech, of which the infamous Welsh Alternative National Anthem sings about, unless, that is, you believe in the Alternative Theory. In 1404, the castle fell to the charismatic Prince Owen Glendale during the last major rebellion against the English rule. It became the centre of Glyndawr's inspiring vision of an independent Wales. He moved his main residence and court here and summoned his followers from all over the country to attend the Great Parliament. It may well have been Harlech Castle that he was formally crowned Prince of Wales in the presence of envoys from Scotland, France and Spain. But his glory did not last. By 1409, Harlech was besieged by the forces of Harry of Monlith, who later became known as Henry V, Hero of Agincourt and King of England. During the siege, one huge cannon, nicknamed the King's Daughter, burst during the relentless bombardment of the castle walls. Eventually, hungry and exhausted, the garrison fell. Glyndawr escaped, although his wife and daughters were captured. Perhaps these gallant Welsh defenders were the true men of Harlech. Balmorras, on the island of Anglesey, is famous as one of the greatest castles never built. It was the last of the royal strongholds created by Edward I in Wales, and perhaps his masterpiece. It is here that Edward and his architect took full advantage of a blank canvas. The Balmarrys, or Beautiful Marsh, beside the Menai Strait. By now they had already constructed the great castles of Conwy, Carnarvon and Harlech. This was to be their crowning glory, the castle to end all castles. The result was a fortress of immense size and near-perfect symmetry. No fewer than four concentric rings of formidable defences, including a water-filled moat with its very own dock. The outer walls alone bristled with over 300 arrow rooms. But the lack of money and trouble brewing in Scotland meant that building work had petered out by the 1320s. The south gatehouse and the six great towers in the inner ward never reached their intended height. The land-face gate was barely started before building work was abandoned. So the distinctive squat shape of Balmarrys tells of a dream that never quite came true. Still, it takes its rightful place on the global stage as a World Heritage Site. This castle is very special, both for the grand scale of its ambition and the beauty of its proportions. Gloriously incomplete, Balmarrys is perhaps the supreme achievement of the greatest military architect of the age. What Edward I did in Balmarrys was typical of the ruthless way he stamped his authority on the newly conquered territories in Wales, and subsequently rode over centuries of Welsh heritage and history. The island of Anglesey held a special place in Welsh hearts long before Balmarrys was ever thought of. It was celebrated as Mona, Mother of Wales, because of its mild climate and fertile fields. This so-called breadbasket of Wales helped to sustain the nation and support its independence. In the early 13th century, a town called Llanfais, in the south-east corner of Anglesey, grew up under the patronage of Llywelyn the Great. His royal palace was nearby, and it was here that he founded the first of just three Franciscan friaries in Wales. By the 1280s, Llanfais was a busy trading port with other towns in Britain and on the continent, but none of this mattered to King Edward I. It was just a mile from the spot he identified for his new town and castle of Balmarrys, so it had to go. As soon as Edward's troops arrived in 1295, they started to demolish Llanfais. By Edward's death in 1307, only a windmill, a parish church and a friary were still standing. Many of the residents of Llanfais were forcibly resettled in a second new town at Newborough, thirteen miles away. Balmarrys Castle combines the beauty of its perfect symmetry with an overwhelming sense of ruthless power. That, with no doubt, the local Welsh citizens would have constantly been reminded of whenever they saw the castles of North Wales and Anglesey on their horizons.