Caernarfon Castle - Architecture

Architecture

Caernarfon Castle's design was partly influenced by a desire to make the structure impressive as a symbol of the new English rule in Wales. This was particularly acute as Caernarfon was made the centre of government in the northern part of the country. The Edwardian castle's layout was mostly dictated by the lay of the land, although the inclusion of the previous castle's motte played a part. It is a narrow enclosure, roughly in the shape of a figure eight. It was divided into two enclosures, upper and lower "wards" in the east and west respectively, with the eastern containing royal accommodation, although this was never completed. The divide was supposed to be established by a range of fortified buildings, however these too were never built.

Studded along the curtain wall are several polygonal towers from which flanking fire could be deployed. There were battlements on the tops of walls and towers, and along the southern face were firing galleries; it was intended to included galleries along the northern face but they were never built. In the opinion of military historian Allen Brown, this combined to make Caernarfon Castle "one of the most formidable concentrations of fire-power to be found in the Middle Ages". Most of the northern towers stand had four-storeys including a basements. The Eagle Tower at the western corner of the castle was the grandest. It has three turrets which were once surmounted by statues of eagles. The tower contained grand lodgings, and was probably built for Sir Otton de Grandson, the first justiciar of Wales. A basement level contained a water gate, through which visitors travelling up the River Seiont could enter the castle. Water was drawn from a well in the eponymous Well Tower.

Caernarfon's appearance differs from that of other Edwardian castles through the use of banded coloured stone in the walls and in its polygonal, rather than round, towers. There has been extensive academic debate over the interpretation of these features. Historian Arnold Taylor argued that the design of the castle was a representation of the Walls of Constantinople. The conscious use of imagery from the Byzantine Roman Empire was therefore an assertion of authority by Edward I, and influenced by the legendary dream of Magnus Maximus, a Roman emperor. In his dream Maximus had seen a fort, "the fairest that man ever saw", within a city at the mouth of a river in a mountainous country and opposite an island. Edward interpreted this to mean Segontium was the city of Maximus' dream and drew on the imperial link when building Caernarfon Castle. Recent work by historian Abigail Wheatley suggests that the design of Caernarfon was indeed an assertion of Edward's authority, but that it drew on imagery from Roman sites in Britain with the intent of creating an allusion of Arthurian legitimacy for the king.

There were two main entrances, one leading from the tow (the King's Gate) and one allowing direct access to the castle without having to proceed through the town (the Queen's Gate). Their form was typical of the time – a passage between two flanking towers. If the King's Gate had been completed, a visitor would have crossed two drawbridges, passed through five doors, under six portcullises, and negotiated a right-angle turn before emerging into the lower enclosure. The route was overlooked by numerous arrow loops and murder holes. A statue of Edward II was erected in a niche overlooking the town, above the entrance to the King's Gate. In the opinion of architectural historian Arnold Taylor, "No building in Britain demonstrates more strikingly the immense strength of medieval fortifications than the great twin-towered gateway to Caernarfon Castle." The Queen's Gate is unusual in that its entrance is above ground level; this was due to the integration of the earlier motte, raising the ground level of the interior. Externally, the gate would have been approached by a stone ramp which is no longer present.

While the curtain wall and its towers survive largely intact, all that remains of the buildings contained within the castle are the foundations. While royal lodgings were in the upper ward, the lower contained buildings such as the kitchens. The kitchens were located immediately west of the King's Gate. On the basis of their insubstantial foundations, Taylor suggests that the kitchens were not strongly built. The other key feature of the castle's domestic side, was the Great Hall. Caernarfon's abutted the south side of the lower ward and was 30.5 metres (100 ft). Though only the foundations survive, in its heyday the Great Hall would have been an impressive building, featuring fine architecture, and used to host royal entertainment. Had Caernarfon been completed as intended, it would have been able to contain a royal household of several hundred people.