Conwy, Wales 2011

Conwy (formerly known in English as Conway) is a walled market town and community inConwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales. The town, which faces Deganwy across the River Conwy, formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. Conwy has a population of 14,208 (Including nearby Llandudno Junction and Deganwy). (The town itself has a population of around 4,000) and is a popular tourist destination on the north Wales coast. It is a place in Wales where the old Welsh tongue can still be heard in widespread, casual usage.
Conwy Castle and the town walls were built, on the instruction of Edward I of England, between 1283 and 1289, as part of his conquest of theprincipality of Wales. Conwy was the original site of Aberconwy Abbey, founded by Llywelyn the Great. Edward and his troops took over the abbey site and moved the monks down the Conwy valley to a new site at Maenan. Theparish church still retains some parts of the original abbey church in the east and west walls. English settlers were given incentives to move to the walled garrison town, which for decades the Welsh were forbidden from entering.