CONWAY

conway, sir william martin (1856- ), english art critic and mountaineer, son of the rev. william conway, afterwards canon of westminster, was born at rochester, and was educated at repton and at trinity college, cambridge. he became interested in early printing and engraving, and in 1880 made a tour of the principal libraries of europe in pursuit of his studies, the result appearing in 1884 as a _history of the woodcutters of the netherlands in the fifteenth century_. his later works on art included _early flemish artists_ (1887); _the literary remains of albrecht durer_ (1889); _the dawn of art in the ancient world_ (1891), dealing with chaldaean, assyrian and egyptian art; _early tuscan artists_ (1902). from 1884 to 1887 he was professor of art at university college, liverpool; and in 1901-1904 he was slade professor of the fine arts at cambridge. he was knighted in 1895. sir martin conway early became a member of the alpine club, of which he was president from 1902 to 1904. in 1892 he beat the climbing record by ascending to a height of 23,000 ft. in the himalayas in the course of an exploring and mountaineering expedition undertaken under the auspices of the royal society, the royal geographical society and the british association. in 1896-1897 he explored the interior of spitsbergen, and in the next year he explored and surveyed the bolivian andes, climbing sorata (21,500 ft.) and illimani (21,200 ft.). he also ascended aconcagua (23,080 ft.) and explored tierra del fuego. at the paris exhibition of 1900 he received the gold medal for mountain surveys, and the founder's medal of the royal geographical society in 1905. his expeditions are described in his _climbing and exploration in the kara-koram himalayas_ (1894), _the alps from end to end_ (1895), _the first crossing of spitsbergen_ (1897), _the bolivian andes_ (1901), &c.; _no man's land, a history of spitsbergen from ... 1596 ..._ was published in 1906. conway (_conwy_, or _aberconwy_), a municipal borough in the arfon parliamentary division of carnarvonshire, n. wales, 14 m. by the london & north-western railway from bangor, and 225 m. n.w. from london. pop. (1901) 4681. the town is enclosed by a high wall, roughly triangular, about 1 m. round, with twenty-one dilapidated round towers, pierced by three principal gateways with two strong towers. the castle in the south-east angle, built in 1284 by edward i., was inhabited, in 1389, by richard ii., who here agreed to abdicate. held for charles i. by archbishop williams, it was taken by general mytton in 1646. dismantled by the new proprietor, earl conway, it remains a ruin. it is oblong, with eight massive towers, and has, within, a hall 130 ft. in length, known as llewelyn's. the parliamentary borough of conway, returning, with five other towns, one member, extends over to the right bank of the stream conwy (conway). in 1885 the mayor of conway was made a constable. llandudno with great and little orme's heads are at some 4 m. distance. two bridges, a tubular for the railway (40 ft. shorter than that of the menai) and a suspension, designed by stephenson (1846-1848) and telford (1822-1826) respectively, cross the stream. st mary's church is gothic; the elizabethan plas mawr is the _locale_ of the royal cambrian academy of art. there are still some fragments of the 1185 cistercian abbey. there are golf links here and at llandudno. the conwy stream, on which a steamboat runs from deganwy (2 m. below conway town) to trefriw, opposite llanrwst, in summer, has some coasting trade in sulphur and slates. it is about 30 m. long, its valley (a haunt of artists) containing the towns last mentioned and bettws y coed. its pearls are mentioned in drayton's _polyolbion_ and spenser's _faerie queene_. pearl fisheries existed at conway for many centuries, dating back to the roman occupation. tacitus, _agricola_, 12, says of britain "gignit et oceanus margarita, sed subfusca ac liventia," as are those found to-day. diganhwy (dyganwy, deganwy) is mentioned in the _mabinogion_ (_geraint and enid_), if the reading is sound; it is certainly mentioned in the _annales cambriae_ (years 812-822) and in the _black book of caerfyrddin_ (carmarthen), xxiii. 1. caer-hyn, 41⁄2 m. from conway, is on the highroad from london to holyhead, and is the _conovium_ of the romans. the site of the camp can still be traced, consisting of a square, strengthened by four parallel walls, extending to a distance from the main work. the camp is on a height, with the conwy in front and a wood on each flank. at the foot of the hill, near the stream, was a roman bath, with walls, pavement and pillars. camden's _britannia_ mentions tiles, with marks of the 10th or antoninus's legion, as being found here, perhaps mistakenly. _gleini nadroedd_ (possibly amulets) and _vitrum_ have been found here. in bwlch y ddwy faen ("two rock ravine"), on the way to aber, are the remains of a roman road and antiquities.