Historical background
An area given over to defensive sites. Fort Belan was constructed
at the extreme northern point of the area to guard the western
entrance to the Menai Straits. It was originally built in 1776
to repel a possible invasion from Revolutionary America, was
garrisoned during the Napoleonic Wars, and was extended in
1824 and again at a later stage in the nineteenth century.
Caernarfon Airport has its origins in RAF Llandwrog, operational
from 1941 to 1945 when it was the largest airfield in Wales
.
Key historic landscape characteristics
Docks, fort, airfield
This low-lying spit of sand contains a disparate mix of historical
elements. The fort is an oblong structure with salients in
the shorter sides, north and south. The tidal dock forms part
of the later nineteenth-century work.
The airport was laid out with the common triangular pattern
of runways, of which one remains in use. A considerable number
of buildings from the 1940s survive in a semi-derelict state
either within the curtilage of the present airport itself or
in the immediate vicinity (RAF Llandwrog was the largest airfield
in Wales during the war). The former sick quarters and WAAF
site have been heavily re-adapted as a studio and offices by
Sain Records, and a second-hand furniture outlet occupies the
former site No. 1, which is less altered. A small museum is
maintained at the airport.
Back to Caernarfon-Nantlle
Landscape Character Map
