Historic Cities · Wales
Caernarfon through the ages
Caernarfon is a royal town, community and port, in Gwynedd, Wales. The community has a population of 9,852. It lies along the A4871 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the island of Anglesey. Bangor is 9 miles (14 km) to the north-east, Porthmadog is 20 miles (32 km) southeast and Holyhead is 29 miles (47 km) northwest, via the Britannia Bridge.
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Caernarfon in AD 120
Roman Segontium
This is Segontium at the height of Roman consolidation in north Wales: an auxiliary fort planted above the mouth of the Afon Seiont, watching the Menai channel and the island of Môn (Anglesey). The walk follows the fort ramparts into the adjacent vicus, past workshops, granaries and the sunken Mithraeum to landing places where ships beach on the tidal shore, with the peaks of Eryri behind.
Low turf and timber ramparts crown a compact Roman fort above the Seiont, with new lengths of dressed stone beginning to edge older earthworks. Timber shops and lean-to stalls line muddy vicus streets; beached coastal traders and small cargo boats crowd the riverbank. Colours favour weathered oak, iron-grey stone, ochres of stored grain and the greens and slate blues of the distant Eryri under changeable coastal light.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Afon Seiont Mouth → Menai Strait Channel → Road to Deva → Porta Praetoria → Via Principalis → Porta Decumana → Horrea (Granaries) → Vicus Meridionalis → Timber Workshops → Mithraeum (Temple of Mithras) → …
Step inside — 12 interiors
Gatehouse Guardroom · Auxiliary Barrack Dormitory · Granary Main Store · Granary Drying Loft · Vicus Baker's Hearth · Carpenter's Timber Workshop · Sunken Mithraeum Hall · Stone Funerary Chamber · Riverside Storehouse · Boatwright's Bending Shed · Fort Caldarium · Commandant's Main Hall
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Segontium.
Caernarfon in 1330
Edward I's Caernarfon
This is the new English borough planted beside Edward I’s monumental castle and enclosed by stout town walls completed in the late 13th century. The walk shows the castle’s banded polygonal towers, the King's Gate and Eagle Tower, the tight grid of burgage plots within the walls, and the quay and small harbour on the Menai Strait beneath the garrison's watch.
By 1330 Caernarfon reads as stone: pale grey masonry quarried locally and from Anglesey, thick curtain walls and octagonal or polygonal towers with alternating bands and narrow arrow slits. The castle’s southern façade and the Eagle Tower loom above a compact English borough of timber-framed houses, narrow rectilinear streets and market stalls, while the Menai quay hosts small cargo boats and coasters against a brisk coastal light.
The walk — 20 streets, squares and views
Menai Strait Approach → Seiont Quay → Segontium (Roman Fort) → South Town Wall → King's Gate → Eagle Tower → Castle South Façade → Market Place → High Street → Burgess's Hall → …
Step inside — 12 interiors
Riverside Storehouse · Portcullis Guardroom · Upper Guard Chamber · Roof Walk · Great Hall · Merchant Hall · Guild Chamber · Parish Nave · Merchant Ship's Hold · Hall of Butchers · Clothworker's Workshop · Garrison Watch Room
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Caernarfon Castle.
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