Wednesday May 7th 2025
Today was our last day in the north of Wales. We started our dya back at the Lon Las Ogwen Rail Trail for a run and then breakfast at Clio’s again. Then we had showers, squeezed in a nap and headed to Conwy in the early afternoon. After parking near the castle we walked to Plas Mawr. This is described on the Cadw site as “the finest surviving Elizabethan townhouse anywhere in Britain”. I’m not sure whether that is true because it’s the only one I’ve visited, but it was pretty impressive. The house has been furnished in the style of the time. The most striking feature is the plasterwork in all the major rooms, festooned with badges and coats of arms. In some of the rooms these have been painted to give a taste of what it might have looked like originally. We used our Cadw explorer pass for entry to this site as well as Conwy Castle later in the day.
Conwy was established by Edward I in 1283 on the site of a Aberconwy Abbey which was moved so that the castle could be built. The abbey was founded by Llywelyn the Great and was the burial site for him and some of his sons. The abbey church was retained as the parish church St Mary and All Saints. Over the years it has been rebuilt several times but the west wall and three lancet windows survived from the time of the abbey. It was just round the corner from Plas Mawr. Actually everything is just round the corner in Conwy.
Our next stop was a quirky house on the quay. The smallest house in Great Britain was built in the 16th century and it’s last occupant in 1900 was a 1.91m tall fisherman who had to hang his legs out the window to stretch out. The floor area is 3.05 x 1.8m. The lady looking after it is lovely and will tell you all about it before you enter. It is tiny inside, but has lots of ingenious fittings.
After strolling along the quay we headed up to Conwy Castle. This was the third of Edward I’s four world heritage listed castles that we visited. The castle and the walls surrounding the town of Conwy were built in only four years. The remains of the residential apartments inside the castle are more extensive than in the other castles which gives you a bit more of an idea of what life would be like.
We had dinner booked for later in the evening and had a bit of time to kill so we decided to drive to Llandudno, a seaside resort north of Conwy. We sat for a while on the promenade, looking out to sea, before wandering along to the pier. I wouldn’t have minded visiting the prehistoric copper mines on the Great Orme but we were well past closing time. The promenade is lined by Victorian-era hotels, some of them needing a little bit of sprucing up.
After our wander we drove back to Conwy for a walk along the town walls before dinner. The town walls run in an unbroken ring for 1.3 km around the old town. Finding the spot to access them was not straightforward. The first lot of stairs we came across were fenced off so we kept looking and eventually found a spot we could go up and walk along for a section of the wall. I didn’t write down where we went up, but all my photos from the top of the wall are taken in the vicinity of Upper Gate so that might be a good place to start a search if you find yourself in Conwy.
Our dinner was at The Jackdaw. They serve a nine course tasting menu featuring Welsh produce, with dishes reflecting aspects of Welsh history and culture. The food was tasty and interesting but not weird. I really enjoyed this dinner and the serving staff were excellent. We did have trouble finding it, you need to look for the small plaque on the wall and the restaurant is upstairs.
Total steps: 24,402
Comments
12 responses to “Wales Day 6: Conwy”
Such gorgeous pictures.
I am fascinated by old toilets. I mean…everyone has to do their business and it’s so interesting how it’s handled in different cultures.
On our tour of the Colosseum, we learned more about the toileting hygiene of ancient Romans than I think I wanted to know. Gross…but oh-so-fascinating.
Haha! I wonder whether my fascination began when I went to the ruins at Corinth with my parents when I was ten years old and saw the Roman stone toilets lined up. I was showing my photos to my parents last night, and after the third photo of medieval toilets, they were like, “not another toilet photo”
Did they have a mock-up of the Roman bum cleaning swabber? They did at the Roman baths we went to later in our Wales trip.
They didn’t…but they gave VERY thorough descriptions. From sharing cleaning “sponges” (and that they stored them UP THEIR SLEEVES), to the fact that wealthy Romans would have slaves sit on the marble toilet seats first to warm them up for their masters. It was so fascinating.
This may be TMI, but I hate a warm toilet seat, but that’s probably because our seats aren’t marble.
All these incredible photos and all I can think of is the toilet. Modern plumbing, sanitation, and water treatment are all daily miracles and I think about them all the time! Isn’t it incredible when you think about it? We can poop and then we don’t have to think about getting, I don’t know, cholera.
I know, right? I could not deal with the smells, the lack of bathing, and all the open drains. Yuck!
I love the photos of this townhouse – aside from the toilet, the rooms look spacious and comfortable and quaint. You raise a good point – the toilet and the drains and what must it have smelled like? I am in the same boat as you, I don’t think I could’ve survived during those smelly times with sewers running through the town. I’ve said it before, but again – Wales was not a place that was on my radar to visit -but this looks like a great place to tour. Thanks for sharing and expanding my world.
The townhouse was amazing. I’m glad we were able to go, it was just on my possible places to visit, not must dos but it should have been on the latter.
I was not aware the towers were hollow. Who knew. Also hat tiny house and that story about the fisherman. HA.
The towers would have originally been broken up into multiple floors with wooden floors but those have log since rotted away.
Oh right… That makes much more sense than my assumption. Duh.