Shawn Bags Caernarfon Castle – Wales

Published by Shawn on

Welcome to Caernarfon Castle in Wales. I’m busy walking around the imposing walls because
1) I have no idea where the entrance is and
2) My grandparents also visited this castle in the 80’s and took two pictures. I’m trying to find the location they took the pictures at.
First success of the day, found the entrance. Built by Edward I starting in 1283 and finished in 1330, Caernafon Castle is one of the largest in the UK. I have loaded up my grandparents pictures on my phone and am wandering around like a lost tourist, which I suppose I am.
This is looking more promising. Heading in the right direction now!
Taken in I believe 1983, my grandfather is the guy at the top of the stairs in the beige jacket.
And me at the same spot, over 40 year later. It would seem that castles don’t change all that much.
I believe the tower pictured here is Eagle Tower. It is unusual for a castle tower as it is 10 sided. Some fun facts, it is 128 feet tall, the walls are 15 feet thick with passages within the walls and there are only 4 floors. It was named after the Eagle statues on the tower, which have mostly eroded away by now. But what is interesting to me, is that I see water behind the castle. I have another picture to recreate that has water in it. Better head that direction.
I head over closer to get a better view of the area. Pretty sure I found the right spot.
Here is a picture of my Grandmother, just outside of the castle in 1983.
And here is my best attempt to recreate that same photo 40 years later.
Now that my goal of recreating the pictures is done, lets go look around this castle. The cool thing about Caernafon is that not only is it huge, but for the most part you are free to walk around and explore all the hidden passages and rooms.
Not surprisingly, the castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Back in 1283 it cost 25,000 Great Britain Pounds to build. Which doesn’t really sound like that much. However it was more than the entire tax collected in the UK in a year. So this was a very expensive castle. For that amount of money, you could have bought 30,000 horses instead.
The castle was built by the English as a show of force over the Welsh people. The Welsh didn’t appreciate being under English rule and attacked the castle on numerous occasions, successfully I might add.
During World Ward Two, the London National Gallery moved many of their priceless items from London to this Castle for safe keeping while London was under German bombardment.
Prince Charles, now the king, was crowned the Prince of Wales at this Castle in 1969.
Did this guy just listen to a Trump speech?
This is crossing over the well tower. Which was a 50 foot deep well where winches where used to raise buckets of water.
As the castle was attacked numerous times, it was equipped with what they called murder holes. These were openings that allowed people defending the castle to pour hot oil down on the intruders below.
Although not completely intact today, the town at the time was also surrounded by a wall to protect it from intruders. Today, they will let just about anybody enter the town, even me!
Almost forgot, traditional summit selfie time!
Categories: TravelWales Travel
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1 Comment

Ted · May 4, 2025 at 7:10 pm

A magnificent structure for sure! Thanks for sharing with interesting tidbits of information and your recreated pictures of my parents’ pictures.

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