Scheduled MonumentsWalesConwy Town Walls
Medieval · Town Wall

Conwy Town Walls

Conwy, Wales
Cadw SAM CN014
Period
Medieval
Site type
Town Wall
Broad class
Defence
Nation
Wales
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Conwy Town Walls is a late medieval defensive fortification surrounding the town of Conwy in Gwynedd, Wales. Constructed between 1283 and 1287 under the direction of Edward I as part of his campaign to consolidate English control in North Wales, the walls were built contemporaneously with Conwy Castle to protect the newly established town and its important harbour. The circuit measures approximately 1,400 metres in length and comprises substantial stone walls up to 30 feet in height, originally pierced by three gates and strengthened by twenty-one towers at regular intervals. The walls represent one of the finest examples of late thirteenth-century military architecture in Britain and remain largely intact, having been continuously maintained and repaired through the medieval period and beyond.

Conwy Town Walls is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN014. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Conwy Town Walls?

Conwy Town Walls is a late medieval defensive fortification surrounding the town of Conwy in Gwynedd, Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CN014.

What period does Conwy Town Walls date from?

Conwy Town Walls dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a town wall. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Conwy Town Walls?

Conwy Town Walls is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is CN014.

What other scheduled monuments are near Conwy Town Walls?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Bryn Castell (5.6 km), Maen Penddu (5.8 km), Cefn Maen Amor stone circle (5.8 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Conwy Town Walls

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Conwy Town Walls's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Conwy Town Walls

Conwy Town Walls stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.

The wider landscape

Around Conwy Town Walls

Bryn Celli DduArchaeological site · ~17.6 miles