GATEHOUSE

The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.

Home

The listings

Other Info

Books

Links

Downloads

Contact

Print Page

Next Record

Previous Record

Back to list

Bangor Town Defences

In the community of Bangor.
In the historic county of Caernarfonshire.
Modern authority of Gwynedd.
Preserved county of Gwynedd.

OS Map Grid Reference: SH5872
Latitude 53.22652° Longitude -4.12736°

Bangor Town Defences has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Edward I is said to have erected some town defences in 1284, but their form and location is not known. (Soulsby ref–Annales Cambriae, 108)

1284. Annus. Visitavit Johannes de Pecham archiepiscopus Cantuariensis diœceses Menevensis, Landauensis, Bangorensis, Asaphensis. Incepit autem visitare ecclesia Menevensis VIo. Idus Julii. Eodem anno reœdificavit rex Eadwardus castrum de Lanpadarnvawr. Et incepit sedificare castrum apud Aberconoe, et fecit munitiones apud Bangor et apud Rayrarvon. (Annales Cambiae)

Comments

'et fecit munitiones' is open to interpretation 'munitiones' can be translated as strongholds or fortresses (as in translations of the Vulgate Bible) but often, in practice, seems to have meant supply. Given the fairly good royal records one would expect some better reference if there was actually any building work and it is more likely this reference is one to Edward leaving a supply dump at Bangor rather than anything else.

Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	Historic Wales	V. O. B.	Geology	LIDAR
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 74, 273
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds), Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Soulsby, Ian, 1983, The Towns of Medieval Wales (Phillimore; Chichester) p. 76-78
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete, particularly for the major royal castles and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Williams (ab Ithel), John, (ed), 1860, Annales Cambriae (444 – 1288) (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts) p. 108 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown.
Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Lidar coverage in the UK is not complete. The button above will give an idea of the area of coverage. Higher resolution lidar images in both DSM and DTM form may be available from Lle A geo-Portal for Wales (click the preview tag to bring up a map and then select format byclicking on the small blue diamond in the top right corner of the map.)

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

This record last updated before 1 February 2016

¤¤¤¤¤