History of Beaumaris

BEAUMARIS

 

Llanfaes in Anglesey, at the northern end of the Menai Strait, was a flourishing port and market centre with a Franciscan friary founded by Llywelyn ab lorwerth in memory of his wife and in a post conquest petition to the burgesses of Llan-faes referred to the charters granted to them by the princes. Import duties were levied on ale and wine on landing at the port and there was a flourishing herring fishery; two fairs were held each year and wool and hides were exported.

In fact, Llanfaes died so that Beaumaris could flourish.

Edward was to visit Anglesey in 1295 after an episode which can be seen, at least in part, as a consequence of the abnormal conditions of the last years of Llywelyn's reign. This was the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn. Madog was a descendant of Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd and one of the four sons of the last ruler of Meirionydd, who had been driven out by Llywelyn in 1256 and had sought refuge in England. In 1278, Madog had appeared before the royal justices to claim his inheritance, but in 1284 it became part of the new county of Merioneth. An inquisition taken in 1308 revealed that Madog and his brother Dafydd had been granted certain lands in Anglesey for their maintenance. Anglesey was one of the centres of the revolt; the church and probably much of the town of Llan-faes were burned and the island devastated. This was followed by an attack on Caernarvon in which the records, the unfinished town walls and part of the castle were destroyed and Roger de Pulesdan, the unpopular and extortionate sherrif of Anglesey was hanged. The hanging was the work of two Anglesey men, Goronwy, the rhingyll of Twrcelyn and Trahaearn ap Bleddyn of the commote of Talybolion. Both Goronwy and Trahaearn were later executed and their lands in Bodewyrd and Dronwy escheated to the crown and they were not the only Anglesey men to die in the rebellion. As the revolt began in Anglesey, so, in a way, it ended there.

On 11th April 1295, Edward crossed from Bangor to Llan-faes, which he made his Headquarters. He stayed there for some weeks, and it was during his stay that he gave his instructions for the establishment of the castle and town of Beaumaris, the decision had been made in November of the previous year. As order was restored, a number of hostages were taken. On 23rd April, nine were taken to Shrewsbury and kept there until 20th August 1296. Another five were taken to Hereford and released on 27th August 1296, and six were moved from Shrewsbury to St. Briavels and freed on August 25th 1296.

Madog himself was captured, probably in Meirionydd at the end of July 1295. His life was spared, but he spent the rest of his life as a prisoner in the Tower of London. He was still there in 1312. Although his revolt had disrupted Edward's planned campaign in France and although the unforseen expenditure its suppression had cost, was to be one of the financial and constitutional crisis in England. The king was not vindictive, and he seems to have realised that something was radically wrong with the royal administration in Wales. There was no corruption of the blood; Madog had held the township of Lledwigan Llan and his brother Dafydd had held Llanllibio but there were no forfeitures. In 1305, Gwenllian, Dafydd's widow, petitioned the Prince of Wales for dower in her late husband's land and Llanllibio was granted in 1312 to Madog's son Maredudd, who was in the king's service despite his father's imprisonment. A further grant of the adjacent town of Cleifiog was made to Mareddud for life in 1327 in recognition of his services to Edward II and Queen Isabella: it was worth £10 a year.

Beaumaris, in fact was built as a direct result of this revolt, and it became a flourishing port dealing in foreign trade.

One medieval manuscript describes Beaumaris as 'a goodly haven and a rode for all ships. Serving a proper town and strong castell'.

Beaumaris was granted its Charter in 1296, although at the time of the presentation, Edward was in Berwick on Tweed. Llan-faes was moved to a new site in south-east Anglesey and granted a new Charter in 1303 as Newborough. During the rising, Edward had to spend Christmas of 1294 at Conway castle. The battle of Maes Moydog.

On 22nd January 1295, the Earl of Warwick approached Conway with relieving forces brought from Rhuddlan. He new from the inevitable spies that the Welsh army were on a hill with woods on each flank - if the Welsh were attacked by a superior force, they planned to melt away into the woods. However, by a nights forced march, Warwick surprised the insurgents at dawn. He sent two forces of cavalry to cut off their escape to the woods, and to hinder it so much that it would prove to be a dangerous manoevre, he then prepared to charge and destroy the centre. The Welsh, seeing what was happening, planted spears in the soil at a 45 degree angle. It was a traditional form of warfare and the shout 'prepare to receive cavalry' would be heard by pikemen on battlefields for centuries to come. On this occasion however, Warwick interspersed his own archers amongst mounted cavalry. The order 'Charge' was normally a walk or slow trot so that the archers would have no difficulty keeping pace.

The Welsh asked for no quarter but fought to the end. In consequence, there was a very bloody battlefield.