OF the three greatest military works executed by Edward I. in Wales, Caernarvon is undoubtedly the chief; nor, indeed, is there any castle in Britain laid out with greater uniformity of design, or in which the resources of the military engineer are more skilfully set forth. Moreover, it has suffered less than any other of equal magnitude from violence, or natural decay, or the rapacity of local builders. Its towers, walls, and gatehouses, stand as firm and free from injury as when they came from the hand of the mason. Floors and roofs, indeed, have been removed, and the interior lodgings, hall, and chapel, are wanting, but their removal, if it took place, has been effected with so much care that it is uncertain whether they were ever erected, and whether the toothings and roughnesses of the contiguous walls were not left with a view to their addition. In these latest days the Crown, always the owner of the pile, has shown unusual zeal for its conservation. Mr. Salvin, than whom no man could more skilfully restore an ancient castle, was consulted upon its necessary repairs, and Mr. Turner, as deputy-constable, watches over the fabric with no common care.

The castle and town of Caernarvon are placed upon the right or northern bank of the Seiont, a river known to fame by the construction upon its meadow of the Roman Segontium, at no great distance above the castle, which, with the town, stands within the junction of the river with the waters of the Menai Strait, so that two sides of the position are protected, the one by the river, the other by the sea. Segontium, or Caer Seiont, seems to have been succeeded by the Welsh camp of Caer-yn-Arvon, so called from its position upon the shore of Arvon, no longer “dreary Arvon,” but one of the most charming spots in North Wales.

The town, founded, with the castle, by King Edward, is somewhat of a parallelogram in plan. It is contained within a curtain wall, strengthened by ten towers, of which two form the east and west gatehouses, and three cap the principal angles of the enclosure. They are either cylindrical or half cylinders, open at the rear.

The south end of the area is closed by the castle, of which the principal face is thus towards and within the town. The opposite or southern face rests upon the Seiont, as does the western, and did, to some extent, the eastern end. Wilson’s picture, taken in the last century, shows the walls rising almost from the water’s edge, and the cross ditch before the Queen’s Gate still open, but at this time a broad quay intervenes between the castle walls and the river, and of the broad and deep ditch separating the fortress from the town only a part remains. The ditch was, probably, deep enough to admit the tidal waters.

The castle somewhat resembles an hourglass in plan, its outline being governed by the rocky ridge on which it stands, and which lifts it a few feet above the level of the town. It is in length about 100 yards, and in breadth from 30 to 40 yards, the narrowest part being at the centre. Its outline is polygonal, and on each angle is a tower, also polygonal. Of these there are nine, two of which are double, and form gatehouses. There are also two smaller towers, also polygonal, in the centre of two of the curtains. The ground falls rather steeply from the south-east end, but at its lowest is some feet above the water level.

The main or King’s Gatehouse, a very noble structure, is in the centre of the town front, and occupies a re-entering angle of the wall. It is broad and high, with an unusually lofty and ornate archway, in the upper part of which is a statue of Edward II., who completed the castle, and below this the recessed gateway. Two bold half-octagons flank the entrance, the approach to which was by a drawbridge, now superseded by a work in masonry. The portal is broad and high, vaulted and ribbed, with the usual portcullis grooves, rebates, and bar holes for doors, and meurtriÈres in the vault. On either side is a lodge, an unusually spacious chamber. Both of the flanking towers are looped, and in that to the right is a mural gallery, with loops completing the command of the approach. The rear of this right-hand tower is prolonged into a square building forming the prison tower, in one angle of which is a well staircase leading to the upper floor of the gatehouse and its roof. At the foot of this staircase a small portcullised doorway opens westwards upon the kitchen.

From the Prison Tower a narrow building connected the gatehouse with the opposite or Exchequer Tower, and thus divided the castle into an eastern or upper, and a western or lower, ward. A handsome archway pierced this building, and opened from one ward to the other. Building and gatehouse are gone, but the jambs of one side, with two portcullis grooves, show that the portal was strong and was ornate.

Besides the King’s Gate the upper ward was entered by a second or Queen’s Gate, a very remarkable structure, seeing that it is placed at the highest part of the fortress, and that the cill of its entrance is some 25 feet above the present ground, and must have been 12 feet or 14 feet more above the bottom of the now filled-up ditch. How this entrance was approached does not appear, if by a drawbridge the pier on which it fell must have been a very lofty structure, and a sort of viaduct must have led up to it. The portal is vaulted and ribbed, and had a portcullis and gates, but the lateral chambers do not open from it. The rear of the gatehouse seems not to have been completed, but close to it, to the west, is the jamb of a small portcullised gateway, with ornate mouldings. Into what it led is not very apparent.

The towers, though differing widely in details, are all of one general type, and probably designed by one hand. Each has a basement at about the exterior ground level, damp and dark, and only to be reached by a ladder from the floor above. Possibly these basements were not intended to be used. They were not vaulted, and have no sewers. Each tower has a first floor at the court level, and at this level, or a few steps above it, the wall is pierced all round by a mural gallery, looped to the field and connected with divers mural chambers and garderobes. The second floor has windows of a larger opening, as has the third or uppermost. Each floor has a fireplace, usually a mere opening in the wall, and each is reached by a well staircase, which begins at the first-floor level and ends in a tall turret which rises some 20 feet above the roof. From the upper floor a doorway opens out upon the rampart of the curtain. The floor was all of timber. The roof was almost flat, having a very slight pitch to a central ridge, and was covered with lead.

The curtain, everywhere unusually thick and lofty, along the north side was looped in two stages, showing that it gave support to long ranges of buildings, probably barracks, with thick walls and very low-pitched lead-covered roofs. These buildings are wanting, but the towers and curtains are toothed, to give bond to their walls when built.

The most remarkable part of the castle is the arrangement for the defence of the southern or river front. On this face the curtain is of immense thickness, extending from the Queen’s Gate to the Eagle Tower, and including in that distance the Prince’s and the Exchequer Towers, and two others of smaller dimensions. This wall, from the Queen’s Gate to the Prince’s Tower, contains, at a little above the court level, a broad and lofty gallery, which not only pierces the curtain, but is continued through the walls of the towers, with an occasional vaulted chamber or lobby, as a “place d’armes.” This gallery is looped towards the field, and has an occasional window and door towards the court. It descends by steps so as to preserve its level as regards the court, and in its walls are several garderobes.

Above this, of the same length and similarly constructed, is a second gallery, also looped towards the field, but either the inner wall and roof of this gallery have been removed, or, more probably, never completed, for it now remains as an open platform. The thicker and outer wall, however, is perfect, and carries what is still a broad rampart walk, or allure, reached by occasional flights of steps in the wall from the upper gallery. Thus was provided a triple line of loops, and these loops are not, as was often the case, mere air-holes, but are so contrived as to afford ample scope for the effective use of either longbow or arblast. No body of assailants, however brave, unprotected by armour or unsupplied with regular siege appliances, could have withstood such a line of defence, manned, as it would be, with the first archers in Europe, exposing those without, in front and flank, to a shower of clothyard shafts and iron-pointed quarrells.

The curtain, from the Prince’s to the Eagle Tower, though as thick as elsewhere, is solid below, having only the upper gallery; neither does it communicate with the Eagle Tower, which forms a sort of keep or citadel, being in dimensions rather larger than, and in strength fully equal to, any of the others. This tower, also, is of rather superior and certainly more ornate workmanship than the rest. Its mouldings are all of the best Decorated period, and it was evidently intended for the reception of distinguished visitors.

The Well Tower, that next west of the King’s Gate, contains a very remarkable well. The well, with a pipe of 5 feet diameter, descends in the thickness of the wall, in which also is the well chamber, whence the well was worked. The whole, both well and chamber, are in excellent order. Unlike the other towers, the basement of the Well Tower is entered from the court by a steep direct flight of steps. The reason of this is seen in a postern which opens from the floor of the tower in the wall. It is 16 feet above the bottom of the ditch, serving, probably, as an internal communication with the town. The great kitchen does not now exist. It was of large size and rectangular plan, and extended from the Well Tower to the King’s Gatehouse. At one end are seen two curious stone circles, probably intended to carry large iron cauldrons with a space below for a fire. In the side wall, or curtain, are some mural chambers, and a trough with a stone pipe by which water was conveyed from the well-chamber through the wall. There is also the springing-stone of a moulded rib, showing that the kitchen had an open roof. In this wall a straight staircase ascends to the gatehouse, possibly to the cook’s bedchamber.

Opposite to the kitchen a line of foundations shows the position and dimensions of the great hall, 100 feet by 60 feet. It was built against the south curtain, and extended from the Exchequer to the Prince’s Tower, the latter being, probably, at the dais end. From the other end of the hall, a straight staircase led to a postern which opened upon the quay and the river.

Caernarvon is mainly built of limestone. The stones are hammer dressed, and roughly squared, and laid throughout in courses. Ashlar is very freely used, and finely cut. The mouldings employed are characteristic of the Decorated period, and the stone has preserved its surface and arris uninjured.

The absence of the hall and kitchen, the offices and barracks, and of the cross building separating the two wards, gives an incomplete and unfinished appearance to the interior of the castle, but this does not affect its military details and those of its towers, gatehouses, and curtains; these are very perfect and very curious. With the decline of the Decorated period in architecture military defences also began to decline, and the works of Edward III. and his successors, though often palatial in their grandeur, are never of a purely military type, and in this respect are never equal to those of the earlier Edwardian period.

Caernarvon was begun in 1283, immediately upon the execution of David, the last Welsh prince. The first work was that of quarrying the cross ditch, and collecting materials and workmen, the latter being drafted from the English counties. Caernarvon, Conway, Criccaeth, and Harlech, were in progress together, and nothing short of the hope of consolidating his kingdom could have induced so economical a sovereign as Edward to incur expenses which, in one year, for Caernarvon alone, amounted to above £3,000. The king was here for the first time in 1284, in which year, April 25th, Edward of Caernarvon was born, probably in the town. By 1295 so little progress had been made that the Welsh, rising in local insurrection, succeeded in burning the town, and taking what was then executed of the castle. How much was then built, or how much they left standing is unknown, but from that time quicker progress was made, and at Edward’s death the castle was certainly in a forward state. The work was continued and completed by his son. The Eagle Tower was covered in in 1316, and the king’s statue set up over the great gate in 1320, and by 1322 the castle was completed for defensive purposes. The chamberlain of North Wales seems to have resided here, and the Exchequer Tower was so called because here were deposited the financial returns for the northern counties, but it may be doubted whether the grand accommodations designed by the original architect for the visits of the sovereign were ever actually executed.

The castle fell into the hands of Owain Glendwr, and was held alternately by king and parliament during the Great Rebellion.

One of the many valuable papers contributed by the late Mr. Hartshorne to the Journal of the ArchÆological Institute contains an excellent history of this castle; had that gentleman bent himself also to the easier task of its description, this account would have been uncalled for.

The larger of the accompanying illustrations gives a bird’s-eye view of the castle from the north-west. In the front and centre is the King’s Gatehouse, and next, on the spectator’s right, is the Well Tower, and beyond it, the Eagle Tower. On the extreme left is the interior of the Queen’s Gatehouse, placed between the Granary Tower on the left and the Black Tower. Opposite to the King’s Gate is the Exchequer Tower, and between it and the Eagle is the Prince’s Tower. In the lower or right-hand court are seen the foundations of the hall; next on the left of the King’s Gate is the Dungeon Tower.

The smaller illustration shows the allure or rampart-walk of the Eagle Tower. The rear wall, if it ever existed, has been removed. The cut shows the merlon, with its contained loop, the plain flat-sided embrasure, and the figures placed upon the ridge of the coping, one of which gives name to the tower. The small, shoulder-headed doorway opening from the tower upon the rampart is also seen.