Beaumaris, the Greatest Castle Never Built

At Peniel Chapel on 17th October 2024, a large audience of members and guests were present to hear a fascinating talk by Dr Erin Lloyd Jones.

Dr Lloyd Jones is a qualified, internationally acclaimed archaeologist with a particular specialism in late Prehistoric hillforts. Among her many roles she has worked with the National Trust, Bangor University, the Landscape Partnership Scheme Heather and Hillforts project and with Cadw. Now, in between exploring, research and working as the Stakeholder Engagement, Partnerships and Events Manager for Creative Wales, she shares her passion for British heritage, traditions and culture through her fascinating stories and we were delighted to welcome her to Peniel Chapel

Our speaker began with a brief history of the invasion of Edward 1 and the Welsh castles built as symbols of English power and dominance. Edward commissioned and instructed local lords to build these castles and by 1295 castles had been built at Flint, Conwy, Harlech and Caernarfon. The construction of Beaumaris castle began in 1295 and was designed to be the pinnacle of Edwards ambitious programme but it was never completed. Why did this happen?

Edward sited his last castle in North Wales on marshland at Llanfaes. (“Beaumaris” translates from Norman French as “beautiful marsh”). The Welsh population of the town were forcibly removed to Newborough on the other side of Ynys Mon. No Welsh builders or tradespeople were allowed to work on the construction of the castle or live within the town.

Much of our knowledge of the construction and the constructors of the castle comes from the Court Rolls of Edward 1 (the Royal Accounts). Using these records, we can see that initially the castle rose at speed using local stone from Penmon. Builders, carpenters, masons, blacksmiths and many other tradespeople from England and overseas came to work on the construction.

So why was the castle never completed fully? The answer appears to be that the focus of Edward’s military ambitions changed to the subjugation of Scotland. Money started to dry up, the builders walked off the site and the building of the castle stopped (nothing changes…)

Dr Lloyd Jones then drew our attention to current features of the castle: This included the recent statue of Master James of St George, the Master Architect of the castle. Recent projects include replacement of the glass in the windows of the Chapel. Local artists were commissioned to provide stained glass windows. Interpretation boards have been installed and visitors are encouraged to visit the Exhibition Room where they can build their own medieval scaffolding, spiral staircase and arches with keystones. As all the wood in the castle has disappeared visitors can put together their own roof truss. Sounds, including the noise of working blacksmiths can be recreated and heard and visitors can ring metal tubes which create the sound of a harp.

Our speaker then turned her attention to the features which, according to the original plans and visible archaeology, are missing at Beaumaris Castle. These include the top storey and gatehouse. However, many of original features throw up their own conundrums. We looked at slides of “masons marks”. These are found in castles and churches and appear to put a personal mark on the stones. Lots of theories as to their presence were discussed. Newly discovered marks were shown. These became visible after a flood when the flood gates were opened and the moat drained. We were shown a slide of a gargoyle at the end of a latrine! Possibly the builder demonstrating a lavatorial sense of humour!

The audience were fascinated by our speaker’s discussion of the lack of female workers during the construction of the castle. There was no record of such women within the court rolls. However an additional receipt attached to the Court Rolls mentioned payment to Cecillia of Kent and a woman helping her to work on “pilum or pikum for springalds and other engines”. It appears these women helped to build siege engines. Other sources refer to women being part of the workforce building Caernarfon castle and work for Dolwyddelan so it appears that women did work as craftswomen and labourers in building the castles of North Wales.