| Conwy | |
|---|---|
 Conwy Castle and the three bridges over theRiver Conwy | |
  Conwy Location withinConwy | |
| Population | 14,723 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | SH775775 |
| Community |
|
| Principal area | |
| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CONWY |
| Postcode district | LL31, LL32 |
| Dialling code | 01492 |
| Police | North Wales |
| Fire | North Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
53°17′N3°50′W / 53.28°N 3.83°W /53.28; -3.83  Map of the community | |
Conwy (/ˈkɒnwi/,Welsh:[ˈkɔnʊɨ]ⓘ), previously known in English asConway, is awalled market town,community and theadministrative centre ofConwy County Borough inNorth Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of theRiver Conwy, facingDeganwy on the east bank. The town formerly lay inGwynedd and prior to that inCaernarfonshire. The community, which also includes Deganwy andLlandudno Junction, had a population of 14,753 at the 2011 census.[1]
Postal addresses do not follow the community boundaries. On the east bank of the river, Deganwy forms part of the Conwypost town, but Llandudno Junction is a separate post town. Theward on the west bank of the river had a population of 4,065 at the 2011 census.[2]
The resident population of the wider Conwy County Borough was estimated to be 116,200 in an ONS-estimate.[3]
The name 'Conwy' derives from the old Welsh wordscyn (chief) andgwy (water), the river being originally called the 'Cynwy'.[4][5][6][7]
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Conwy Castle andthe town walls were built, on the instructions ofEdward I of England, between 1283 and 1289, as part of his conquest of theprincipality of Wales.[8] The church standing in Conwy has been marked as the oldest building in Conwy and has stood in the walls of Conwy since the 14th century. However, the oldest structure is part of the town walls, at the southern end of the east side. Here one wall and the tower of allys (palace/court house) belonging toLlywelyn the Great and his grandsonLlywelyn ap Gruffydd have been incorporated into the wall. Built on a rocky outcrop, it has a prominentapsidal tower.[9]
The walls are part of aWorld Heritage Site,Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd.[10]
People born within thetown walls of Conwy are nicknamed "Jackdaws", after the jackdaws which live on the walls there. A Jackdaw Society existed until 2011.[11][12]
The population of the town in 1841 was 1,358.[13]
Conwy was the original site ofAberconwy Abbey, founded byLlywelyn the Great. Edward and his troops took over the abbey site and moved the monks up the Conwy valley to a new site at Maenan, establishingMaenan Abbey.[14] Theparish churchSt Mary & All Saints still retains some parts of the original abbey church in the east and west walls.[15]
Conwy has other tourist attractions.Conwy Suspension Bridge, designed byThomas Telford to replace the ferry, was completed in 1826 and spans the River Conwy next to the castle.[16] Telford designed the bridge's supporting towers to match the castle's turrets. The bridge is now open to pedestrians only and, together with the toll-keeper's house, is in the care of theNational Trust.[17]
TheConwy Railway Bridge, atubular bridge, was built for theChester and Holyhead Railway byRobert Stephenson. The first tube was completed in 1848, the second in 1849.[18] The bridge is still in use on theNorth Wales Coast Line, along with thestation, which is located within the town walls. In addition to a modern bridge serving the town, theA55 road passes under the river in a tunnel, Britain's first immersed tube tunnel, which was built between 1986 and 1991.[19] The old mountain road toDwygyfylchi andPenmaenmawr runs through theSychnant Pass, at the foot ofConwy Mountain.[20]
The National Trust ownsAberconwy House, which is Conwy's only surviving 14th-century merchant's house, one of the first buildings built inside the walls of Conwy.[21]
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Plas Mawr is anElizabethan house built in 1576 by the Wynn family, which has been extensively refurbished to its 16th-century appearance and is now in the care ofCadw and open to the public.[22]
The house named in theGuinness Book of Records as theSmallest House in Great Britain, with dimensions of 3.05 × 1.8 metres, can be found on the quay. It was in continuous occupation from the 16th century (and was even inhabited by a family at one point) until 1900 when the owner (a 6-foot (1.8 m) fisherman – Robert Jones) was forced to move out on the grounds of hygiene. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully. The house is still owned by his descendants today, and visitors can look around it for a small charge.[23]
Vardre Hall is a 19th-centuryGrade II listed building directly opposite toConwy Castle. It was erected byConservativeBuckinghamshire MPWilliam Edward FitzMaurice in the mid 1850s. In 1869 the building was sold to solicitor William Jones. The building was used as a solicitor's office until 1972, when it was bought out and became The Towers Restaurant.[24] After lying empty for a number of years Vardre Hall changed hands again, and in 1999 was refurbished as a shop.[25]
Across the estuary isBodysgallen Hall, which incorporates a medieval tower that was possibly built as a watch tower for Conwy Castle.[26]
Conwy Morfa, a marshy spit of land on the west side of the estuary, was probably the location where golf was first played on Welsh soil.[27] It was also the place whereHugh Iorys Hughes developed, and later built, the floatingMulberry Harbour, used inOperation Overlord in World War II.[28]
Conwy Hospital closed in 2003 and has since been demolished.[29]
Conwy railway station opened in 1848.[30] It is located on theNorth Wales Coast Line, betweenCrewe andHolyhead. There are through services westbound toBangor and Holyhead. Eastwards, services travel toChester, viaColwyn Bay,Rhyl, Prestatyn andFlint; after arrival at Chester, most trains go forward to either Crewe,Cardiff orBirmingham International. Services are operated byTransport for Wales.[31]
Bus services in Conwy are operated mostly byArriva Wales, with some by Llew Jones Coaches. Routes link the town with Bangor, Caernarfon and Llandudno.[32]
A lifeboat station was established by theRNLI in 1966 and currently operates theD-class inshore lifeboat, theMay-Bob, (D–765).[33]
There are two tiers of local government covering Conwy, atcommunity (town) andcounty borough level:Conwy Town Council (Cyngor Tref Conwy) andConwy County Borough Council. The town council is based atConwy Guildhall on Rose Hill Street.[34]
Conwy was anancient parish and anancient borough, having been given acharter by Edward I of England in 1284.[35][36] The borough covered a larger area than the parish, also including theDeganwy area in the parish ofEglwys Rhos on the east bank of the river, and parts of the parishes of Gyffin,Llangelynnin, andDwygyfylchi west of the river.[37][38][39]
Unlike most such boroughs, it was not reformed by theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835, and so the old borough corporation continued to exist and run the town. By 1876 the borough corporation was seen as an archaic and unaccountable impediment to the proper management of the town. The town's residents organised a petition to convert the town into amunicipal borough with an elected corporation to take responsibility for public health and local government.[40] A royal charter incorporating the town as a municipal borough was issued in December 1876, and the new borough corporation took over the running of the town from March 1877.[41] Theurban parishes within the borough boundary were reorganised in 1894 to comprise Conwy and Gyffin on the west bank andLlanrhos on the east bank.[42]
In 1972 the borough council voted to change the spelling of the town's name from "Conway" to "Conwy". The change was agreed by theSecretary of State for Wales and took effect on 1 August 1972.[43] The municipal borough was abolished in 1974, with the area becoming part of theAberconwy district in the new county of Gwynedd. Acommunity called Conwy was established at the same time covering the area of the former borough.[44] Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw Aberconwy abolished and the town transferred to the newConwy County Borough, named after the town but covering a much larger area.[45]
Images showing changes over time
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Wheras by resolution of the Council of the Borough of Conway the name of the Borough was changed from "Conway" to "Conwy." And whereas pursuant to the provisions of Section 59 of the Local Government Act 1958, the Secretary of State for Wales has signified his consent to the said change of name, Notice is hereby given that with effect from the first day of August, 1972, the name of the Borough shall be Conwy.
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