Our closest town Caernarfon is now a peaceful seaside tourist destination, with cheery local businesses and a friendly community. However, this hasn’t always been the case. Whilst always being an impressively grand monument on the edge of the beautiful Menai Straits, Caernarfon Castle holds some gruesome history of the battle involving politics and bloodshed in the town.
The town of Caernarfon was a fortress and was built to defend the town against any attackers. The Welsh had remained strong for many years against invaders from the Saxons (who had taken over a great part of England, implementing their foreign culture and modern war techniques). The Welsh had held the territory and kept the land native land free.
King Edward took over the throne of England and aimed to assert England’s dominance over Wales. He finally invaded Caernarfon and claimed the town, beginning building work on Caernarfon Castle in 1283 as part of his ‘Iron Ring’ of castles to take over the whole of the area. Caernarfon was just one of the links – King Edward also built Beaumaris Castle, Conwy Castle, and Harlech Castle around this time.
Caernarfon fast became the capital of North Wales at this time, and now had a huge castle to show its significance. There are many fun days out to be had in Caernarfon, so be sure to make the best of it!
The Revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn
Caernarfon Castle (which has recently been reconstructed from Lego!) and the town were sacked in 1294 by Madog ap Llywelyn to take action against the English powers. This attack was considered carefully with its timing, as King Edward should have been overseas in France. However, terrible storms had come in, delaying the sail of the boats – they were still waiting to leave.
The king and his army headed back to deal with Madog, but it was too late. He had overrun the castle and it was claimed for the next year or so.
This remained the most impressive attempt at taking back North Wales until the famous Owain Glyndwr had his time in 1400.
Owain Glyndwr’s Uprising
At the time, most of Wales was governed by England from their array of castles. However, there were always words of revolt spoken quietly in the Inns and Taverns and top-secret meetings in the houses of Welsh Lords. The Welsh wanted to claim their land back.
Owain Glyndwr was a natural leader, and as part of his uprising, he surrounded Caernarfon with his army, and battle broke out. There was no clear winner of this bloodshed, but it left over 300 Welsh soldiers dead.
Owain’s rebellion eventually failed, and he had to go into hiding 15 years later, but he remains a national hero in preserving the Welsh Culture and language. Today, the Welsh Dragon flag flies high on the castle with the town sitting peacefully.