C is for Castle

When WWII started in September of 1939, my mother was a student at the Liverpool Blue Coat School for orphans and fatherless children (see previous post for more about the Blue Coat School). 

On September 4, 1939, she and her schoolmates were evacuated en masse from Liverpool to Beaumaris,Wales for their safety. They were among roughly three million English schoolchildren who were evacuated in those first days of the war.

I'll say more about the evacuation and Mom's experience in later posts, but today's post is C for Castle - specifically Beaumaris Castle.

Beaumaris Castle is pretty cool because it was never completed! So it looks like a ruin, but it's not really a ruin - it's just unfinished. It was the last and largest castle built by Edward I (Longshanks). Construction began in 1295, but the king was losing control over Wales and running out of money, so the project was abandoned around 1298. The castle was left in its unfinished state, and so it has remained.

Here is a link to a website about the castle: Beaumaris Castle

My husband and I visited Beaumaris in September 2012 because I wanted to see the place where Mom lived during her evacuation. Beaumaris is a sweet village on the Menai Strait. Its Main Street, lined with shops that were in existence when she was there in 1939 - 1940, leads right to the castle.

Here are some pictures of the castle from our visit in 2012:

View into the town of Beaumaris from the castle wall