The castle's rocky coastal ridge supplied both a defensive platform and much of the bulk building material. Quarrying helped flatten the site while producing stone for the main structure. Local material did not meet Master James of St George's standard for carved details. Finer sandstone therefore had to be brought in from elsewhere. This distinction between mass masonry and specialist stone shows how even a castle built on a quarry depended on external transport and material selection.
Notable Point · 18:59-19:36
Carving a castle from the coastal ridge
Builders reshaped Conwy's sandstone-and-limestone ridge for bulk masonry but imported finer sandstone for carved details that local material could not provide.