Part of the ruins of the ancient Bishops Palace, often mistakenly known as the Gogarth Abbey, have recently collapsed onto the beach on the West side of the Great Orme, Llandudno below Llys Helyg Drive.
The land was gifted to the Lord Bishop Anian of Bangor by Edward I in 1284AD. for Crowning his son the first English Prince of Wales at Caernarfon. The Bishop built his Manor House here and became the Lord of the Manor of Gogarth. The quite extensive buildings were burnt down by Owain Glyndwr in the 15th Century and were never restored. The remains are listed as an Ancient Monument and used to be set in many acres of land, overlooking Conwy Bay, most of which has now been eroded away by the sea. Perched on a 100ft high cliff of boulder clay the structure which has fallen was a 25ft high stone wall which had obviously been part of a very substantial building, possibly a tower. Unless some work is done to stop further erosion it will threaten the main part of the monument.
Threat Reduced Update 8/4/05
The immediate threat to the ruins of the Ancient Bishops below Llys Helyg Drive has receded. Developer Beech Homes have withdrawn their plans to build two blocks of luxury flats in the grounds of the Old Abbey Hotel, more recently known as the Railway Convalescent Home. These would have been within yards of the ruins on land which has not been excavated for its archeology in any meaningful way. The threat, however, from the sea eroding the cliffs is still very much a matter for concern. |
