Conwy

This article is about the town. For other uses, see Conwy (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 53°17′N 3°50′W / 53.28°N 3.83°W / 53.28; -3.83

Conwy
Conwy Castle and the bridges
Conwy  Conwy shown within Conwy
Population	14,208 (2001)
OS grid reference	SH775775
Community	Conwy
Principal area	Conwy
Ceremonial county	Clwyd
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CONWY
Postcode district	LL32/LL31
Dialling code	01492
Police	North Wales
Fire	North Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
EU Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Aberconwy
Welsh Assembly	Aberconwy
List of places: UK • Wales • Conwy

Conwy (formerly known in English as Conway) is a walled market town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales. The town, which faces Deganwy across the River Conwy, formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. Conwy has a population of 14,208 (Including nearby Llandudno Junction and Deganwy). (The town itself has a population of around 4,000).^[1] and is a popular tourist destination on the north Wales coast. It is a place in Wales where the old Welsh tongue can still be heard in widespread, casual usage.

A view of the original walled town, viewed from one of the towers. Conwy Castle is visible to the right, with the suspension bridge barely visible.

Conwy Castle and the town walls were built, on the instruction of Edward I of England, between 1283 and 1289, as part of his conquest of the principality of Wales. Conwy was the original site of Aberconwy Abbey, founded by Llywelyn the Great. Edward and his troops took over the abbey site and moved the monks down the Conwy valley to a new site at Maenan. The parish church still retains some parts of the original abbey church in the east and west walls. English settlers were given incentives to move to the walled garrison town, which for decades the Welsh were forbidden from entering.

Across the estuary is Bodysgallen Hall, which incorporates a mediæval watchtower that was later used as a signal place for Conwy Castle.

Conwy has other tourist attractions that help draw visitors to the town. Conwy Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford to replace the ferry, was completed in 1826 and spans the River Conwy next to the castle. Telford designed the bridge's supporting towers to match the castle's turrets. The bridge is now open to pedestrians only and, together with the toll-keeper's house, is in the care of the National Trust.

The Conwy Railway Bridge, a Tubular bridge, was built for the Chester and Holyhead Railway by Robert Stephenson in 1849. The bridge is still in use on the North Wales Coast Line, along with station, which is located within the town walls. In addition to a modern bridge serving the town, the A55 road passes under the river by a tunnel which was built between 1986 and 1991. The old mountain road to Penmaenmawr runs through the Sychnant Pass, at the foot of Conwy Mountain.

Conwy Town Walls

The National Trust also owns Aberconwy House, which is Conwy's only surviving 14th-century merchant's house, one of the first buildings built inside the walls of Conwy. Another fine house open to the public is Plas Mawr, an Elizabethan house built in 1576 by the Wynn family, has been extensively refurbished to its original 16th-century appearance and is now in the care of Cadw.^[2]

The church standing in Conwy, has been marked as the oldest building in Conwy and has stood in the walls of Conwy since the 14th-century. However, the oldest structure is part of the town walls, at the southern end of the east side. Here one wall and the tower of Llewellyn the Great's Llys [court house] have been incorporated into the wall. Built on a rocky outcrop, with an aspidal tower, it is a classic, native, Welsh build and stands out from the rest of the town walls, due to the presence of 4 window openings. It dates from the early 13th century and is the most complete remnant of any of his Llys.

The house named in the Guinness Book of Records as The Smallest House in Great Britain, with dimensions of 3.05 metres x 1.8 metres, can be found on the quay. It was in continuous occupation from the 16th century (and was even inhabited by a family at one point) until 1900 when the owner a (6 ft fisherman – Robert Jones) was forced to move out on the grounds of hygiene. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully. The house is still owned by his descendants today, and you can go on a tour around it for a small charge.

Britain's smallest house.

Conwy Morfa, a marshy spit of land on the west side of the estuary, was probably the location where golf was first played on Welsh soil. It was also the place where Hugh Iorys Hughes developed, and later built, the floating Mulberry Harbour, used in Operation Overlord in World War II.

A map of Conwy from 1947

References

1. ^ Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Conwy
2. ^ Plas Mawr website

External links

• Conwy at the Open Directory Project
• Conwy and Llandudno Links
• The Sychnant Pass
• BBC North West Wales: Conwy
• Conwy Tunnel at Structurae
• Aerial photograph of Conwy
• North Wales Cruising Club
• Conwy River Festival
• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Conwy and surrounding area
• The official Conwy Town Tourism Association website