Harlech Castle, West Coast of Wales - A beautiful ruin by the sea with reams of history

We visited Harlech castle yesterday (14th of Feb - who said romance is dead) - day 3 of our holiday in Wales. The castle is perched high on a hillside above the west coast, in Gwynedd, Wales. Although a ruin, it is safe to enter, is maintained, and has a visitor shop, cafe, parking, etc.

It was built in the 1280s by Edward the 1st during his invasion of Wales. It has played quite an interesting part throughout history. It was won back by the Welsh led by Owain Glyndŵr in 1404, before falling back into English hands in 1409. It played its part during the War of the Roses in the mid-1400s. I was also very surprised to hear that it played its part in the English Civil War in the 1640s, noting that its about as far away from England as you can get in Wales !

The pic above is taken from the Castle walls which you can get up on, and is taken looking south down the coast. The interesting thing is that when the castle was built, it was right on the coast and the sea came all the way up to the road that you can see at the bottom.

The castle has a really nice inner courtyard surrounding by considerable walls (easily 3-4m thick). Although it is fairly ruined, you can still get inside a number of rooms, and up stairways, into towers and up on the walls. There really was a lot to see and explore.

There was also a further outer defensive wall at one point, although that has been reduced to ground level in many places - possibly with the stone taken by locals in years gone by for building, when good stone for building would have been very difficult to obtain in this area.

The town of Harlech has grown up right beside the castle, which is not surprising. In the olden days it would have offered protection, and would have also been a source of income for suppliers. Latterly it is a big tourist attraction, noting that this stretch of the coast is quite touristy in general - lots of water sports like wind surfing and wake boarding, and you also have access to the welsh mountains for climbing and walking.

It really is a very impressive structure, and is massive in size - back in its day it must have been completely formidable and daunting, especially if you job was to capture it !

The central tower area is still largely intact, where all the key rooms and accommodation would have been, and you can explore those areas, mostly at ground level, as the upper floors are all gone. Although you can climb up the spiral tower stairs to the tops.

Although the car par was full when we got there, the castle is so large that it did not seem overly busy inside. The cafe was also excellent - we stopped for tea/coffee and the cakes were amazing !

Believe it or not, but in the picture above you can see some of the old stone cannon balls , which is really impressive. I guess in the older days of cannon use, metal cannon balls would have been hard to come by, and hence stones would have been used instead. They would have also been pretty effective at inflicting damage on attackers assaulting the walls if thrown down from the tops of the walls.

As can be seen above, the majority of the internal floors are all gone - but it still makes for great viewing, as you can see how the internals would have been built up and supported by the main stone structure. The design and workmanship is really incredible considering its nearly 800 years old.

There is lots of room up on the walls, but I was a bit shocked at how low the sides are - would be quite easy to topple over from a considerable height - so you really need to look after younger children if up on the walls.

We were also lucky to be presented with a beautiful rainbow while there - it was a typical February day, windy, rainy with sunshine also at the same time. We were able to see the full bow looking northwards up the coast.

Although we have visited North Wales many times (my wife is from the area), it was the first time we had visited the castle, and it was well worth the trip. Also, our daughter really loved it - she really likes history, especially that of British Kings and Queens, and there was lots of that for her here. There she is wandering along the walls in the pic above.

In the pic above you can also see the ditch beyond the walls on the landward side, an additional part of the defenses. Laying siege to the castle must have been like an impossible task.

The tower above was about the most complete, and you can climb up to the top. Its around 4-5 large storeys high, and contains the usual spiral staircase to take you all the way to the top.

The pics above and below show some of the views from the top of that tower.

There certainly was a lot to explore and see, with the pics below showing some of the other views and parts of the castle. It was really worth the visit, and I'd recommend it to anyone in the area.