page_title: Caernarfon town walls
section_title: 13th century
hierarchical_section_title: Caernarfon town walls / History / 13th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Caernarfon Castle and Town, edited and retouched
context_page_description: Caernarfon's town walls are a medieval defensive structure around the town of Caernarfon in North Wales. The walls were constructed between 1283 and 1292 after the foundation of Caernarfon by Edward I, alongside the adjacent castle. The walls are 734 m long and include eight towers and two medieval gatehouses. The project was completed using large numbers of labourers brought in from England; the cost of building the walls came to around £3,500, a large sum for the period. The walls were significantly damaged during the rebellion of Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294, and had to be repaired at considerable expense. Political changes in the 16th century reduced the need to maintain such defences around the town. Today the walls form part of the UNESCO world heritage site administered by Cadw. Archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham describe the defences as "a remarkably intact walled circuit".
context_section_description: Before the English construction of the town of Caernarfon, the area had been occupied first by the Romans, who built the fort of Segontium, and later by both the Normans and the Welsh princes. As a result of this long history, depicted in the Welsh saga of Mabinogion, the site was both culturally and politically significant to the medieval Welsh. The English kings and Welsh princes had vied for control of North Wales since the 1070s and the conflict had been renewed during the 13th century, leading to Edward I intervening in North Wales for the second time during his reign in 1282.  Edward invaded with a huge army, pushing north from Carmarthen and westwards from Montgomery and Chester. By summer 1283 Edward had secured Caernarfon and the surrounding area.
  The king decided that the location would become the centre of a new county and the capital of the principality of North Wales, with a new castle and walled town forming the administrative centre. Edward's plan was a colonial enterprise and placing the new town and walls on the Caernarfon site was in part a symbolic act to demonstrate English power; the walls also symbolised the town's status as the capital of North Wales.
  Traditionally Caernarfon's design and defences have been thought to have been inspired by the growth of the bastides. The bastides were new planned towns created in both France and English-held Gascony during the period, characterised by grids of straight streets, often defended by combinations of castles and town walls. More recent research, however, has shown that English town design played a more significant role in shaping Caernarfon and other Edwardian town plans. In the case of Caernarfon, the town plan and walls were adapted to fit around the site of the former Norman castle on the site, which lay just outside the new town and was used a market place.
  The walls of Caernarfon were built at the same time as the castle, under the overall supervision of Master James of Saint George, Edward's chief architect in North Wales. Between 1283 and 1284, Richard the Engineer acted as James' deputy on the site; later, between 1295 and 1308, Walter of Hereford performed a similar role, and may have also been responsible for earlier work on the walls as well. Huge amounts of labourers were mobilised from across England for the task, massed at Chester and then brought into Wales for each summer building season. Work on the walls progressed quickly, albeit in uneven bursts: local houses were demolished to make way for the fortifications and the stone walls and gates were probably finished by 1292. The cost of building the town walls was around £3,500, a large sum for the period.
  Otto de Grandson, a favourite of Edward I, was appointed as constable of Caernarfon and justiciar of North Wales, with responsibility for security in the region. In 1294, however, Madog ap Llywelyn revolted against English rule and undertook a wide campaign across North Wales, attacking the town of Caernarfon. Despite the walls, the town was overrun, the walls badly damaged, and the castle—still largely unfinished —was easily taken and set on fire. Edward responded with military force the next year: he retook Caernarfon and ordered the town walls to be fully repaired by November 1295, at a cost of around £1,195.
caption: Model replica showing the town walls shortly after their completion in the 13th century, as seen from the west
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