Conway

Conwy stands on the western bank of its river's estuary, enclosed by walls built with the castle for Edward I after his conquest of Gwynedd. The great towers overlook a crossing and harbour on the north Welsh coast. The English king's new town occupied a site close to an earlier abbey associated with the Welsh princes of Gwynedd and their family.

In 1401 supporters of Owain Glyndŵr seized Conwy Castle by a ruse during his rising against English rule. They held the royal fortress for several months in 1401 before negotiating their surrender. The town later recovered, and the fine surviving Elizabethan house of Plas Mawr, built for Robert Wynn between 1576 and 1585, testifies to the wealth of the town's merchants and gentry.