Historical Builder › Castles › Beaumaris Castle
How Long Did It Take to Build Beaumaris Castle?
Short answer: about 35 years, from 1295 to 1330.
Begun in 1295, worked on for about 35 years, and never finished. Local lore adds a ghost near the chapel.
What the sources say about the building period
Work began in 1295 under James of St George; construction continued for about 35 years; never completed. Wikipedia Secondary source
Stone and crew in numbers
- Country and type
- Wales, castle
- Stone in the walls
- 25,000 to 40,000 m³ Estimate
- For comparison
- about 13 Olympic pools of stone, or 3,250 truckloads
- Average crew
- about 111 workers (model value: the crew that would need exactly this long, working without a break)
Volume basis: inner wall 4.7 m thick, 11 m high; inner ward 59 x 54 m; 12 outer towers. Checked against measurements. Our estimates come from published dimensions and are shown as a range. The result is a simple model, not a measured fact.
Where the stone came from
Mostly local limestone, with sandstone for dressings and schist, gathered within about 16 km of the site, including limestone from Penmon. A tidal dock let boats unload at the south gate. Gatehouse Gazetteer: Beaumaris Castle, Ancient History Sites: Beaumaris Castle Secondary, provisional
Plan
Legend: tradition, not evidence
The spirit of a martyr is said to haunt the corridors near the chapel. Locals reportedly refused to carry out his execution, so the sheriff hired executioners from Chester.
What we know: We found this only in a hiking blog, without the martyr's name or a historical source. Treat it as local lore.
Bald Hiker: Beaumaris Castle Local lore, thin source
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