Welsh Journals

Irrjwlngia Cambmds. NEW SERIES, No. XVII.—JANUARY, 1854. CONWAY CASTLE. As soon as Edward the First had gained a sure position in Caernarvonshire, he commenced the erection of those magnificent castles at Conway, Caernarvon and Beau¬ maris, which have outlived the ruin of despoilers, and which still afford visible evidence of the genius of their architects. The king himself was at Conway for the first time, as we learn from the Welsh Rolls, on the 13th of March, in the 11th year of his reign, and he continued here daily until the 9th of May; nor did he quit Wales on this his third visit until the 28th of August in the same year. It was during his residence at Conway that the sheriff of Rutland received orders to send masons there to com¬ mence the castle. The superior quality of the building stone of this Midland district of England had naturally given employment to a large body of stone masons, and their labours on the Welsh castles will at once account for the excellency of the workmanship. The hall of the castle of Conway was erected by the year 1286; as the Corpus Comitatus shows that, before this time, the sheriff was allowed his expenses for car¬ pentry work incurred in it. But after a few years the original hall, which seems to have stood at the north end of the building, was probably found too small, and the erection of another, called the Hall of Llewelyn, was ARCH. CAMB., NEW SERIES, VOL. V. B