Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

^rdtaMtojgta tfaratrMsts. FOURTH SERIES.—No. XXII. APRIL, 1875. HARLECH CASTLE. DESCRIPTION. The Castle of Harlech occupies a bold and rugged head¬ land of rock which juts forward upon the coast-line of Merioneth over the broad alluvial plain known as Morfa Harlech, near to its southern and narrower extremity. Six centuries back, when the Traeth was an estuary, and the waves may have washed the foot of the rock, Harlech, as now Criccaith, was probably accessible by water,—a circumstance likely to have governed its founder in his selection of the site. Although scarcely two hundred feet above the sea-level, and connected with a much higher background, the rock of Harlech is nevertheless a very striking object, and by the extreme boldness of its outline, and its almost isolated position, does justice to its very significant appellation. It com¬ mands one of the most remarkable prospects in Britain. Before it is the Bay of Carnarvon with its vast sweep of sandy shore, contained on the right by Snowdon and ite subordinate peaks; whence the high land, after rising into the elevations of Cam Madryn, Cam Bod- fuan, and Yr Eifl, gradually subsides into the Bay of Aberdaron and the Sound and Isle of Bardsey. Car¬ narvon and Conway are fortresses more ornate in charac¬ ter, and of larger area ; but they are not equal to Har¬ lech in natural strength and in grandeur of position ; nor is, in these respects, Beaumaris itself, though placed 4th skr., vol. vi. 8