EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE
1791

---

The rest of our journey to CARNARVON afforded nothing remarkable. The mountain scene began sensibly to diminish, and the features of nature to assume their more accustomed lineage. It was dark before we reached the town, which deprived us of an oppurtunity of beholding the approach to it. When we arrived at the Boot Inn, we had the comfortable assurance, that the house was full, and that there was not room for us at any inn in the town. I enquired the cause of all this company, and asked if Carnarvon was in general so filled with strangers. The good woman of the house waddled to the side of the chaise, and told us, that for twelve months she had not had a bed empty. This we found, upon enquiry, to be no subject of wonder, for if we had happened to have been the first in application, the next that came would have found the house full. With some difficulty we procured beds at a very clean house in the town, and paid most extravagantly for them.

In the morning we visited the castle of Carnarvon, which, for elegance of structure, convenience in its mode of architecture, and for the degree of perfection in which it still remains, exceeds any thing of the kind in England or Wales. It was here that Edward the First sent his queen to be delivered, when the Welsh requested of him that a Prince of Wales might be born amongst them. The walls of the chamber, in which Edward the Second was born, are still entire. They are now to be seen in the eagle tower. Even the leaden pipes for serving water, the staircase, and many apartments, are still in a state of preservation. From the top of the eagle tower you command a fine prospect of Carnarvon, the Isle of Anglesea, the Menai, Holyhead, &c. &c. We observed a curious species of copper ore in the court of the castle. It was the property of a private gentleman, and was brought there to be shipped off. It came from the mountains, where it is found in great quantities. I myself found a large piece of rich ore, lying in the road near the Pont-aber-Glaslyn, and looking around me discovered the entrance of a mine, with all the appearance of copper works in the side of the mountain.

---

Edward Daniel Clarke - A tour through the south of England, Wales, and part of Ireland, made during the summer of 1791. London, 1793.

INDEX