BEAUMARIS CASTLE, ANGLESEY

The last of the royal strongholds created by Edward I in Wales, this stunning castle sits at the other end of the Menai Strait from Caernarfon.

An unfinished masterpiece of near-perfect symmetry, architect James St George designed the fortress with four concentric rings of formidable defences including a moat. After King Edward’s great castles of Conwy, Caernarfon and Harlech, Beaumaris, meaning

“beautiful marshes”, was the crowning glory.

All four Welsh castles share UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

Construction work petered out in the 1320s due to lack of funds and trouble brewing in Scotland. The south gatehouse and six great towers in the inner ward never reached their intended height and the Llanfaes gate was barely started.