It is said that the rock occupied by the castle originally extended some way eastward into the estuary, and was, therefore, a point of danger on that side. To remove this, the rock was quarried away and a passage opened, which is now the main channel of the river, and is spanned by the road and railway-bridges of Telford and Stephenson.
It will be observed that Conway is not, like Gloucester and Chester, posted on the English side of the river, as if intended for defence only; like Chepstow, it is placed beyond the stream, and intended as a tête-du-pont to cover the passage of troops across the water.
In plan, the castle is somewhat of a parallelogram, 100 yards east and west, and with a breadth ranging from 35 yards to 40 yards. The northern front is straight, the southern zigzag, following the irregularities of the rock. Its general level is several feet above the nearer parts of the town. There are eight towers, one at each of the four angles, and two, intermediate, upon each of the long faces. There is no gatehouse, a very unusual omission in an Edwardian castle, but one the cause of which is here very obvious. The towers are cylindrical, about 40 feet in diameter, but somewhat flattened and irregular on their interior faces, to enable the rampart walk or allure to be carried on without traversing their interior chambers. To allow of this, bold corbels, or sometimes a projecting shelf of masonry are applied to the internal or rearward face of the tower at the proper level. By this means there is secured an uninterrupted walk all round the place, communicating with, but not traversing each tower.
The area is divided by a very thick cross curtain into two wards. The outer or western is 60 yards long, and contains the great hall, the chapel, the kitchen, and the water-tank; the eastern or inner ward, 40 yards long, contains the smaller hall and the state apartments. At each end the castle is covered by a small platform, at the level of the courts within, and supported by retaining walls of considerable height, crowned by two light parapets, each with three small half-round bastions flanking the curtains. Each of these platforms protects and covers an entrance. The main entrance is at the west end and from the town, and is a very curious piece of engineering skill. A causeway of masonry, a viaduct, about 14 feet broad and parapeted on each side, ascended with a very steep slope to a point 13 feet from the gate of the barbican, where it stopped abruptly, and is still seen rising out of the ditch, and about 20 feet high. The barbican is a narrow rectangular space, contained between two walls, ending below in two small round turrets which flank the outer gate, and above is another gate opening on the end of the platform under the north-western main tower. A very ponderous drawbridge, working on trunnions 14 inches in diameter, dropped from the outer gate upon the pier already mentioned. The pier was 4 feet lower than the cill of the bridge, so as to preserve the steepness of the approach. The bridge was balanced by a short and heavy tailpiece or counterpoise which worked in a quadrant-shaped pit below it. The gateway had a portcullis and doors, and within it a staircase in the side wall led to the battlements over the gate. The upper gateway was closed by a stout door only, but was protected by the adjacent bastion of the platform, which has a loop towards it. The entrance thus completed was broad enough to admit two horsemen abreast, and the steepness gave the defenders a great advantage over the enemy. The barbican of Conway may conveniently be illustrated by a reference to that of Brampton Brian, which contains the same arrangements, though on a larger scale. The woodcut shows the tower flanking the drawbridge, the outer and inner gates, and between them the mural staircase leading up to the ramparts.
The platform, to one end of which the barbican gives entrance, is about 35 yards long by 10 yards broad, and looked down upon a formidable ditch. In its centre, between two of the main towers, was a short lofty curtain, and in it the main gateway. Above, a row of bold corbels, projecting above 5 feet, included a line of machicolations, and gave great breadth to the rampart of the curtain and great vantage to the defenders. The gateway is acutely pointed, but quite plain, with flat sides. Within, the portal is vaulted and portcullised, and has a broad space in front of the grate, possibly for some kind of additional frame. Above the portal was a portcullis chamber, also in the substance of the wall, and the place where the grate was suspended is still seen. This chamber was reached by a steep narrow stair from the rampart of the curtain,—a very rare arrangement. Entering the gate on the right is a staircase up to the ramparts, looking like a makeshift, and possibly not original. Beyond, also on the right, is the great hall. This, though a spacious, could never have been a handsome chamber, for it is built on a curve, or rather on an irregular polygon, to suit the southern curtain which forms one side of it. It is about 105 feet long by 30 feet broad, and its floor is at the court level. Below was a cellar of about half the breadth of the hall, the rock here cropping up and blocking one side. To this the entrance was by a pit or trap, in which was a doorway opening into a passage by a second doorway in the cellar. This is lighted by loops in the curtain, and at its east end is continued, through a partition, below the chapel. The hall is said originally to have been of smaller size, and to have been enlarged. If this be so, it must have been at the chapel end.
The hall is lighted by four small square-headed windows towards the field, and two larger ones towards the court. The latter are pointed and were of two lights, with quatrefoiled heads, and a quatrefoil in the head. The door is in the same side near its east end. There are three fireplaces, all under hoods, with flanking piers and brackets to receive the thrust of the flat arch. The hall was crossed by seven large chamfered stone ribs of two members, placed very irregularly. Two are standing, one having been lately rebuilt; the other is at the upper end of the hall, and marks its division from the chapel. A plain corbel below the springing of this rib shows the partition to have been of timber, no doubt a carved brattice. The roof was open, and there were timber principals between the stone ribs. It is difficult at first to believe that this long irregular space, with its three unsymmetrical fireplaces, could have been all one room, and at first it appears as though the west end, to the second rib with one of the fireplaces and three windows, might have been bratticed off as a withdrawing-room; but it is evident this was not so. Such a room would have no separate door and no garderobe. The dais of the hall was evidently at the other end, and the withdrawing-room was the first floor of the dungeon tower, which stands at the back of the great fireplace, and is entered by a small door in the jamb of one of the hall windows. This and the floor above were readily accessible from the dais.
CONWAY CASTLE.
The chapel, bratticed off at the east end of the hall, had also an open roof, with one stone rib. It has two windows to the south and one to the field, and at its east end is a larger, three-light window, with a round head, and a piscina in the south jamb. The tracery is broken away. The great kitchen has been pulled down. It was built against the north curtain, opposite to the hall door. There remains of it a water-trough occupying the seat of a window, and lined with cement. Near the kitchen was a large tank quarried in the rock, lined and cemented, for the storage of water; a culvert brought into it water from the roofs, and leaden pipes have been traced from an exterior spring at some distance. It has been opened to a considerable depth, 14 feet or 15 feet, but was certainly not a well, though possibly one was intended.