[Illustration: CAERNARVON CASTLE.]
As the famous strait widens below the bridges the shores are tamer, and
we come to the famous Caernarvon Castle, the scene of many stirring
military events, as it held the key to the valleys of Snowdon, and
behind it towers that famous peak, the highest mountain in Britain,
whose summit rises to a height of 3590 feet. This great castle also
commanded the south-western entrance to the strait, and near it the
rapid little Sciont River flows into the sea. The ancient Britons had a
fort here, and afterwards it was a Roman fortified camp, which gradually
developed into the city of Segontium. The British name, from which the
present one comes, was Caer-yn-Arvon--"the castle opposite to Mona."
Segontium had the honor of being the birthplace of the Emperor
Constantine, and many Roman remains still exist there. It was in 1284,
however, that Edward I. began building the present castle, and it took
thirty-nine years to complete. The castle plan is an irregular oval,
with one side overlooking the strait. At the end nearest the sea, where
the works come to a blunt point, is the famous Eagle Tower, which has
eagles sculptured on the battlements. There are twelve towers
altogether, and these, with the light-and dark-hued stone in the walls,
give the castle a massive yet graceful aspect as it stands on the low
ground at the mouth of the Sciont. Externally, the castle is in good
preservation, but the inner buildings are partly destroyed, as is also
the Queen's Gate, where Queen Eleanor is said to have entered before the
first English Prince of Wales was born. A corridor, with loopholes
contrived in the thickness of the walls, runs entirely around the
castle, and from this archers could fight an approaching enemy. This
great fortress has been called the "boast of North Wales" from its size
and excellent position. It was last used for defence during the Civil
Wars, having been a military stronghold for nearly four centuries.
Although Charles II. issued a warrant for its demolition, this was to a
great extent disregarded. Prynne, the sturdy Puritan, was confined here
in Charles I.'s time, and the first English Prince of Wales, afterwards
the unfortunate Edward II., is said to have been born in a little dark
room, only twelve by eight feet, in the Eagle Tower: when seventeen
years of age the prince received the homage of the Welsh barons at
Chester. The town of Caernarvon, notwithstanding its famous history and
the possession of the greatest ruin in Wales, now derives its chief
satisfaction from the lucrative but prosaic occupation of trading in
slates.
[Illustration: CONWAY CASTLE, FROM THE ROAD TO LLANRWST.]
At the northern extremity of Caernarvon county, and projecting into the
Irish Sea, is the promontory known as Great Orme's Head, and near it is
the mouth of the Conway River. The railway to Holyhead crosses this
river on a tubular bridge four hundred feet long, and runs almost under
the ruins of Conway Castle, another Welsh stronghold erected by Edward
I. We are told that this despotic king, when he had completed the
conquest of Wales, came to Conway, the shape of the town being something
like a Welsh harp, and he ordered all the native bards to be put to
death. Gray founded upon this his ode, "The Bard," beginning--
"On a rock whose lofty brow
Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood,
Robed in a sable garb of woe.
With haggard eyes the poet stood."
This ode has so impressed the Conway folk that they have been at great
pains to discover the exact spot where the despairing bard plunged into
the river, and several enthusiastic persons have discovered the actual
site. The castle stands upon a high rock, and its builder soon after its
completion was besieged there by the Welsh, but before being starved
into submission was relieved by the timely arrival of a fleet with
provisions. It was in the hall of Conway Castle that Richard II. signed
his abdication. The castle was stormed and taken by Cromwell's troops in
the Civil Wars, and we are told that all the Irish found in the garrison
were tied in couples, back to back, and thrown into the river. The
castle was not dismantled, but the townsfolk in their industrious
quarrying of slates have undermined one of the towers, which, though
kept up by the solidity of the surrounding masonry, is known as the
"Broken Tower." There was none of the "bonus building" of modern times
attempted in these ponderous Welsh castles of the great King Edward. The
ruins are an oblong square, standing on the edge of a steep rock washed
on two sides by the river; the embattled walls, partly covered by ivy,
are twelve to fifteen feet thick, and are flanked by eight huge circular
towers, each forty feet in diameter; the interior is in partial ruin,
but shows traces of its former magnificence; the stately hall is one
hundred and thirty feet long. The same architect designed both
Caernarvon and Conway. A fine suspension-bridge now crosses the river
opposite the castle, its towers being built in harmony with the
architecture of the place, so that the structure looks much like a
drawbridge for the fortress. Although the Conway River was anciently a
celebrated pearl-fishery, slate-making, as at Caernarvon, is now the
chief industry of the town.
[Illustration: FALLS OF THE CONWAY.]
[Illustration: THE SWALLOW FALLS.]
There are many other historic places in Caernarvonshire, and also
splendid bits of rural and coast scenery, while the attractions for the
angler as well as the artist are almost limitless. One of the prettiest
places for sketching, as well as a spot where the fisherman's skill is
often rewarded, is Bettws-y-Coed. This pretty village, which derives its
name from a religious establishment--"Bede-house in the Wood"--that was
formerly there, but long ago disappeared, is a favorite resort for
explorations of the ravines leading down from Mount Snowdon, which
towers among the clouds to the southward. Not far away are the
attractive Falls of the Conway, and from a rock above them is a good
view of the wonderful ravine of Fors Noddyn, through which the river
flows. Around it there is a noble assemblage of hills and headlands.
Here, joining with the Conway, comes through another ravine the pretty
Machno in a succession of sparkling cascades and rapids. Not far away is
the wild and lovely valley of the Lledr, another tributary of the
Conway, which comes tumbling down a romantic fissure cut into the
frowning sides of the mountain. At Dolwyddelan a solitary tower is all
that remains of the castle, once commanding from its bold perch on the
rocks the narrow pass in the valley. It is at present a little village
of slate-quarriers. The Llugwy is yet another attractive tributary of
the Conway, which boasts in its course the Rhavadr-y-Wenol, or the
Swallow Fall. This, after a spell of rainy weather, is considered the
finest cataract in Wales for the breadth and volume of the water that
descends, though not for its height. This entire region is full of
charming scenery, and of possibly what some may love even better, good
trout-fishing. Following the Conway Valley still farther up, and
crossing over the border into Denbigh, we come to the little market-town
of Llanrwst. It contains two attractive churches, the older one
containing many curious monuments and some good carvings, the latter
having been brought from Maenant Abbey. But the chief curiosity of this
little Welsh settlement is the bridge crossing the Conway. It was
constructed by Inigo Jones, and is a three-arched stone bridge, which
has the strange peculiarity that by pushing a particular portion of the
parapet it can be made to vibrate from one end to the other. Gwydyr
House, the seat of Lord Willoughby de Eresby, is in the neighborhood, a
small part of the original mansion built in 1555 remaining. Near Trefriw
lived Taliesin, the father of Welsh poetry, and a monument erected by
that nobleman on the river-bank perpetuates his memory.
[Illustration: LLANRWST BRIDGE.]
The recollection among the Welsh of the life and exploits of the great
chieftain of former times, Madoc, is held very dear in Caernarvonshire,
and is preserved not only in many legends, but also in the thriving and
pleasant little seaport known as Port Madoc, which has grown up out of
the slate-trade. Its wharf is a wilderness of slates, and much of the
land in the neighborhood has been recovered from the sea. The geology as
well as the scenery here is an interesting study. In fact, the whole
Caernarvon coast, which stretches away to the south-west in the long
peninsula that forms Cardigan Bay, is full of pleasant and attractive
locations for student and tourist, and entwined around all are weird
legends of the heroes and doings of the mystical days of the dim past,
when Briton and Roman contended for the mastery of this historic region.