The castle is a mighty pile; the outward wall has fifteen round towers, besides square towers at the angles.  There is then a void space between the wall and the Castle, which has an area enclosed with a wall, which again has towers, larger than those of the outer wall.  The towers of the inner Castle are, I think, eight.  There is likewise a Chapel entire, built upon an arch as I suppose, and beautifully arched with a stone roof, which is yet unbroken.  The entrance into the Chapel is about eight or nine feet high, and was, I suppose, higher, when there was no rubbish in the area.

This Castle corresponds with all the representations of romancing narratives.  Here is not wanting the private passage, the dark cavity, the deep dungeon, or the lofty tower.  We did not discover the Well.  This is the most compleat view that I have yet had of an old Castle.[1226] It had a moat.

The Towers.

We went to Bangor.

AUGUST 20.

We went by water from Bangor to Caernarvon, where we met Paoli and Sir Thomas Wynne.  Meeting by chance with one Troughton,[1227] an intelligent and loquacious wanderer, Mr. Thrale invited him to dinner.  He attended us to the Castle, an edifice of stupendous magnitude and strength; it has in it all that we observed at Beaumaris, and much greater dimensions:  many of the smaller rooms floored with stone are entire; of the larger rooms, the beams and planks are all left:  this is the state of all buildings left to time.  We mounted the Eagle Tower by one hundred and sixty-nine steps, each of ten inches.  We did not find the Well; nor did I trace the Moat; but moats there were, I believe, to all castles on the plain, which not only hindered access, but prevented mines.  We saw but a very small part of this mighty ruin, and in all these old buildings, the subterraneous works are concealed by the rubbish.

To survey this place would take much time:  I did not think there had been such buildings; it surpassed my ideas.

AUGUST 21.

We were at Church; the service in the town is always English; at the parish Church at a small distance, always Welsh.  The town has by degrees, I suppose, been brought nearer to the sea side.

We received an invitation to Dr. Worthington.  We then went to dinner at Sir Thomas Wynne’s,—­the dinner mean, Sir Thomas civil, his Lady nothing.[1228] Paoli civil.

We supped with Colonel Wynne’s Lady, who lives in one of the towers of the Castle.

I have not been very well.

AUGUST 22.

We went to visit Bodville, the place where Mrs. Thrale was born; and the Churches called Tydweilliog and Llangwinodyl, which she holds by impropriation.

We had an invitation to the house of Mr. Griffiths of Bryn o dol, where we found a small neat new built house, with square rooms:  the walls are of unhewn stone, and therefore thick; for the stones not fitting with exactness, are not strong without great thickness.  He had planted a great deal of young wood in walks.  Fruit trees do not thrive; but having grown a few years, reach some barren stratum and wither.