Does anyone know what the purpose of this tower attached to Conwy Castle was? I’ve searched for hours and come up with nothing. A castle floor plan notes that it was destroyed.
This is speculation, but it may have been intended as a water breaker, so the water in the bay would be more calm.
It may also have been there to give ships a barrier to hide behind.
kingof-potatossays
This kinda looks like a castle designed in AOE 😂
MatCautonsays
Is this picture correct? I have never seen a plan of Conwy castle with a tower and a wall in that location. The only sea wall and tower at Conwy lead from the town wall, not the castle wall. Remnant of this sea wall still exists today.
Anony1066says
I would suggest either (1) it was there to help control the entrance to the harbor, or (2) it was to provide access to the water so the castle could be resupplied from ships.
DEREK66609says
If I has to guess they might have used it to drag a chain across the river to protect the ships inside from attack. This was a common tactic used by most european countries (not sure about other places) and the tower being out there might have been used to attack ships or spot enemies ships trying to get through.
Oh I know this one! OP this is a tower defending the water gate, which allowed the castle to be supplied from the sea when besieged. Conwy, Caernarfon, and Harlech all have this feature they were specifically designed to be resupplied by sea after Edward I’s conquest of Wales. Conwy’s was actually used when Edward was besieged there during the rebellion of Madog ap Llewelyn in 1294-95. There’s a great documentary on amazon called Battle Castle the fourth episode is all about these castles built by James of St. George.
Lost_Geckosays
Just some more speculation to add to what has already been suggested, but when looking at the castle and town fortifications as a whole, it could also be a way to close off the part of land between the town and the beach (there’s a silimar tower advancing into the water on the corner of the wall running alongside the "beach" in the bottom left of the picture) from foot access. Granted, the steep cliffsde looks hard enough to sneak on but it might not have been impossible, not to mention low tide probably made access easier.
If that is correct, I would assume that placing that wall and tower there allowed to include the castle’s access to the water and wooden pier inside that protected zone. Also, its orientation parallel and outside of the main water currents and in possibly shallower waters made construction easier and more durable than if the wall had been built in the same axis as the castle. Here is a scale model view to illustrate what I’m talking about.
It’s all wild speculation though, and doesn’t exclude the other ones in this thread…
Polldark01says
An early attempt to stop besieging forces building a railway line right past the castle.
LinkSkywalker14 says
This is speculation, but it may have been intended as a water breaker, so the water in the bay would be more calm.
It may also have been there to give ships a barrier to hide behind.
kingof-potatos says
This kinda looks like a castle designed in AOE 😂
MatCauton says
Is this picture correct? I have never seen a plan of Conwy castle with a tower and a wall in that location. The only sea wall and tower at Conwy lead from the town wall, not the castle wall. Remnant of this sea wall still exists today.
Anony1066 says
I would suggest either (1) it was there to help control the entrance to the harbor, or (2) it was to provide access to the water so the castle could be resupplied from ships.
DEREK66609 says
If I has to guess they might have used it to drag a chain across the river to protect the ships inside from attack. This was a common tactic used by most european countries (not sure about other places) and the tower being out there might have been used to attack ships or spot enemies ships trying to get through.
YoroiiHatemaki says
maybe it’s a dansker?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dansker
bringbackswordduels says
Oh I know this one! OP this is a tower defending the water gate, which allowed the castle to be supplied from the sea when besieged. Conwy, Caernarfon, and Harlech all have this feature they were specifically designed to be resupplied by sea after Edward I’s conquest of Wales. Conwy’s was actually used when Edward was besieged there during the rebellion of Madog ap Llewelyn in 1294-95. There’s a great documentary on amazon called Battle Castle the fourth episode is all about these castles built by James of St. George.
Lost_Gecko says
Just some more speculation to add to what has already been suggested, but when looking at the castle and town fortifications as a whole, it could also be a way to close off the part of land between the town and the beach (there’s a silimar tower advancing into the water on the corner of the wall running alongside the "beach" in the bottom left of the picture) from foot access. Granted, the steep cliffsde looks hard enough to sneak on but it might not have been impossible, not to mention low tide probably made access easier.
If that is correct, I would assume that placing that wall and tower there allowed to include the castle’s access to the water and wooden pier inside that protected zone. Also, its orientation parallel and outside of the main water currents and in possibly shallower waters made construction easier and more durable than if the wall had been built in the same axis as the castle.
Here is a scale model view to illustrate what I’m talking about.
It’s all wild speculation though, and doesn’t exclude the other ones in this thread…
Polldark01 says
An early attempt to stop besieging forces building a railway line right past the castle.
LoliBliss says
Toilet like in Kwidzyn