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Forum:	Individual Castles
Topic:	Conwy Castle

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T O P I C R E V I E W
Tritoph Looking for information on Conwy Castle and the surrounding settlement. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
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[This message has been edited by Tritoph (edited 03-15-2000).]
duncan The Edwardian programme that built Conwy was gigantic. The first ten castles cost nearly 80,000 between 1277 and 1304 which is over 16 million today. If you round off the numbers the workers come to 150 masons, 400 carpenters, 1000 diggers, and 8000 wood cutters to clear the area. The skilled craftmens were paid much like any worker is today, with a bonus and the pay was docked if absent or tardy. The daily rate was 7 or 8d and the conscriptes was only 5d.
Conwy was tailored to fit the rock site on which it sits. The castle has eight flanking towers with walls that are 15ft thick, 70 ft high and over 30ft in diameter. Five of the castles were built with towns that had fortified walls and turrets. These were to help in createing pockets of passive if not loyal people among the hostile population. Needless to say the hatred was intense.
Conwy took over 1500 men of one skill or another 4 years to build, it's cost today would be well over 4 million.
Hope this helps
Philip Davis Jeff Thomas's excellent castles of Wales web site has several pages on Conwy. see http://www.castlewales.com/home.html
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Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them, Psychiatrists charge the rent, art therapists do the interior design and nurses clean out the garderobes!
http://www.castlesontheweb.com/members/philipdavis/index.html

[This message has been edited by Philip Davis (edited 03-17-2000).]
Philip Davis I can't imagine a modern building project of the size of Conwy that would cost as little as 4 million pounds. There is always some difficulty in transfering medieval prices to modern (cheap things these days, like a transistor radio, could not be brought for any money in medieval times on the other hand beer was produced in vast quantities and was very cheap) but 1500 skilled workers building a four year project must equate to something like the effort to build the millenium dome, (or a least a large hospital) something which certainly cost more than 4 million pounds.
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Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them, Psychiatrists charge the rent, art therapists do the interior design and nurses clean out the garderobes!
http://www.castlesontheweb.com/members/philipdavis/index.html

duncan The prices were from 1980 when the reference work was published. And I think the words "well over" was extremly low to begin with. I do not believe cost appraisal was his best subject. IF you wish I'm able to figure the cost in american dollors for such a project as Conwy.
Very many things are different now from when conwy was built, timber cost was not a facter and neither was stone. Property was cheap when you invaded another country. If you don't count lives that is. When it comes to construction, not many people that write history know or have a working knowledge of building costs. I do not put myself on his level of experence with castles, and was able to over look a flaw in his math.
Tritoph Yes, would you caculate the cost in American money? Thank you. I didn't realize Conwy was so big.
To Philip, I've been to the sight but haven't been to the Conwy pages, and I agree with you, it is an excellent site.
Philip Davis It just isn't possible to translate the cost of medieval buildings, so many thing are different. However you can get so idea of the cost by considering the cost of a four year building project with 1500 skilled men (not counting general labourers) The cheapness of some raw material in medieval times was probably more than compensated by the cost of transport so I think the balance between labour and material costs will not be so different. Therefore a building taking 6000 worker years then would have a similer cost to a building taking 6000 worker years today.
Or you could consider the cost as a percentage of government expenditure. Conwy probably represented over 10% of the governmental expenditure for the years it was being built. England at this time had a population of a few million but was fairly wealthy. Pick a state with a population of a few million and find out what 10% of their governmental expenditure is (it will be in billions of dollars).
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Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them, Psychiatrists charge the rent, art therapists do the interior design and nurses clean out the garderobes!
http://www.castlesontheweb.com/members/philipdavis/index.html

duncan Tritoph, Give me a little time to figure the appraisal as buisness here is hectic. I will email you my findings in a few weeks. You can email me if I can be of further help on something else.
Megan and Ralph
Duncan Castle
[This message has been edited by duncan (edited 03-19-2000).]
Tritoph I understand and thank you again.
Tritoph@aol.com might not work, so try Tritoph@startrekmail.com.