Caernarfon Castle

 Dear Gentle Readers

This was our first view of Caernarfon Castle. Instead of the usual circular towers, Caernarfon's towers were polygonal and had different layers of coloured stone. Edward I wanted it to be impressive and indicate his control over the land.

This castle had an elevator which whisked up to the top of the castle. Heaven on our aching feet. This is the view from the top level of the castle.

Edward I constructed this in 1283 but it wasn't fully completed until 47 years later with construction continuing until 1330. However it was never fully finished, as parts of the King's and Queen's Gates were never completed because...Edward ran out of money.

This statue depicts the Chamberlain's hands with money falling through his fingers as Edward's construction costs exceeded his income. Taxes from the locals paid for the construction of his castles.

These tools commemorate the unknown and unnamed labourers who worked furiously to build Edward's castles. They quarried stone, shaped it, hoisted it into position, dug moats plus so much more yet history does not record them.

This is part of the kitchen. Huge copper cauldrons would have sat in these stone fireplaces with fires lit below. The kitchens would often have to feed hundreds of people so these cauldrons were necessary to be able to provide for all the mouths to feed. These are amongst the best preserved medieval cauldron settings in the UK.

This is a larger view of the kitchen with the ovens visible in the wall to the right. You can imagine how busy this kitchen would be when Edward's court was in session.

This is one of many fireplaces that would have warmed the occupants of the castle during the cold winter nights.

This the view from the wall we walked along. You would have to imagine many wooden buildings in the open space below with shops, residences and other services filling it up.

This is the platform that was constructed for the investiture of Prince Charles as The Prince of Wales in 1969. It was one of the largest televised ceremonies in 1969.

In this picture you can see Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II (holding an umbrella) and Prince Charles walking up to the platform, followed by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen Mother.

Here is your erstwhile scribe standing on the very platform where Prince Charles (now King Charles III) was invested as The Prince of Wales.

This is The Prince of Wales Royal Coat of Arms. At the top are the three white ostrich feathers which are the badge of the Prince of Wales and under them is the German "Ich Dien" which means "I serve". The shield depicts the three gold lions of England, the Red Lion of Scotland and the gold Harp of Ireland. Supporting the shield is The Lion of England and The Unicorn of Scotland. Around the shield is the Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry. The motto is "Honi soit qui mal y pense" which means "Shame on him who thinks evil of it." At the bottom is the Royal Motto "Dieu et mon droit" which means "God and my right". This stained glass window would have been installed to celebrate Prince Charles investiture.

We sat in the castle grounds and had coffee and cake then as our parking was about to expire, we left for our hotel.