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The Black Death arrived in Wales in early 1349, probably carried from southern England, and by mid-August it was rife, wiping out approximately 25% of the population.
The subsequent social changes following the Black Death were as profound in Wales, as other parts of Britain, with fewer people being available to work the land and influence of the Church suffering due to in part, the decrease in the number of monks.
On August 14th 1979, the longest lasting rainbow in meteorological history, was recorded over on the Gwynedd coast in North Wales, lasting for 3 hours.
On 14th August 1834, the Poor Law Amendment Act was introduced in England and Wales.
The act introduced Poor Law Unions, of which there were 583 in England and Wales by 1839. The unions were made up by combining parishes and each union was responsible for providing a workhouse for the accommodation of those unable to support themselves financially. However, people dreaded being forced to enter the workhouse, as living conditions were often appalling and families separated on entry. .
They were often the subject of protest, such as the workhouse at Carmarthen, which was attacked by the 'Rebecca Rioters' in 1843 as part of their campaign of protests across south-west Wales.
Richard Parks (born 14th August 1977 in Pontypridd) is a former Wales rugby union international, who was forced to retire from playing due to a shoulder injury.
Parks then took up mountain climbing to raise money for charity and notably in 2011, set a new record for the 737 challenge. That is to climb the highest peak in each of 7 continents of the world, as well as the North Pole, the South Pole and Everest.
On 14 August 1884, construction of the dock at Barry Island was authorised, following the passing of.the Barry Dock and Railway Company Act.
Suffering from the restrictions on capacity and the monopoly of the coal transporting market between The Taff Vale Railway and Cardiff Docks, a group of mine owners, led by David Davies, chairman of the Ocean Merthyr company proposed the development of an alternative route running to new docks at Barry. The venture proved to be a success and by 1910, Barry was exporting more coal than its competitor at Cardiff.
However, the subsequent decline in production of South Wales coal, following the First World War, resulted in Barry Docks becoming better known as the centre for the scrapping of British Railways steam locomotives.
Brian Nancurvis (14 August 1937 9 January 2012), who fought under the name Brian Curvis as a professional, was a boxer from Swansea, who was active from 1959 to 1966. He fought as a Welterweight, becoming British welterweight champion in 1960. He retired as undefeated champion and is the only welterweight to have won two Lonsdale Belts outright. The four defeats in his professional career were all to foreign boxers; he was never beaten by a British boxer
Be On The Front Cover Of Eto - The Americymru Focal View International Salon - Two Weeks To Go!
By Ceri Shaw, 2013-08-14
The AFV International Salon is open to all photographers. Our main aim is to develop strong links between creative photographers and established writers and poets. Our digital catalogue will be presented on-line every year.
Read more here...
You have until the end of August to submit your entry AND don't forget that the winner of the current competition will have their image featured on the front cover of the Fall edition of eto our bi-annual anthology of new fiction from Welsh and Welsh American authors.
To read more about eto go here :- Eto Fiction
To read snippets from the forthcoming issue go here:- Issue Two
Meanwhile here is a slide show of some of the submissions which have already been received. .
On this day 1831 Dic Penderyn was hanged on the gallows in St. Mary's S treet, outside Cardiff gaol. His last words are reported to have been "O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd" ( "Oh Lord, here is iniquity") Dic Penderyn was a Welsh labourer and coal miner, who was born, Richard Lewis in Aberavon in 1808. He and his family moved to Merthyr Tydfil in 1819, where he and his father worked in the local mines. Richard was always known as Dic Penderyn after the village of Penderyn near Hirwaun where he lodged.
On June 3, 1831, he was involved in the Merthyr Rising, which was one of many protests throughout industrial Wales at the time against the terrible working conditions in the mines and ironworks, made worse by wage cuts and the layoffs as demand for iron and coal fell away. A mob ransacked the building where court records of debt were being stored and in a bid to restore order, a detachment from one of the Highland Regiments stationed at Brecon, fired into the unarmed crowd, killing 16 people. No soldiers were killed in the affray, but one, a Private Donald Black was stabbed in the leg with a bayonet. Along with his cousin Lewis Lewis, Dic Penderyn was arrested for the attack even though neither man could be identified as carrying it out. Even though it is thought that Dic had had limited involvement in the rising, both he and his cousin were convicted, sentenced to death, however, Lewis Lewis later had his sentence commuted to transportation.
The people of Merthyr Tydfil were convinced that Dic Penderyn was not guilty and raised a petition demanding his release that was signed by over 11,000. However, the Home Secretary Lord Melbourne, well known for his severity, refused to reduce the sentence and Dic Penderyn was duly hanged. Thousands grieved and lined the route as Dic's coffin was taken from Cardiff to Aberavon where he was buried in St Mary's churchyard, Port Talbot.
Dic's death embittered relations between Welsh workers and the authorities and strengthened the Trade Union movement and Chartism in the run up to the Newport Rising. He became a working class hero, a folk hero, who through his death became a symbol for those who tried to fight and resist oppression.
"The man who knew too much" - (Photographs courtesy of Nigel Linsan Colley - www.garethjones.org)
Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones (born in Barry on 13th August 1905) - "unsung hero of Ukraine" a journalist who first publicised the existence of the Great Ukranian Famine of 1932-33 (the Holodomor) to the Western World.
His mother had been tutor to the grandchildren of the Welsh steel industrialist John Hughes, who was the founder of the town of Hughesovka , modern day Donetsk in Ukraine and her stories inspired in Jones a desire to visit the Soviet Union and particularly Ukraine.
In January 1930, he began work as Foreign Affairs Advisor to David Lloyd George, before touring the Soviet Union in the summer of 1931 with H.J. Heinz of the food company dynasty. In 1932, Jones returned to work for Lloyd George and helped the wartime Prime Minister write his War Memoirs .
In 1933, Jones covered the coming into power of the Nazi Party in Germany and later he flew with Hitler to report on his tumultuous acclamation in Frankfurt. he then travelled to Russia and Ukraine, after which he issued his now famous press release, with the heading. 'There is no bread. We are dying'. Going on to report how many houses were full of dead and dying people and how those who were alive, were living on cattle fodder.
This report was unpopular, as many in the media were sympathetic with the Soviet regime and denied the existence of a famine. Jones was subsequently banned from visiting the Soviet Union again and turned his attention to the Far East, to where he toured in late 1934. In Japan, he was captured by bandits and shot dead in mysterious circumstances. There were strong suspicions that Jones had been murdered by the Soviet secret police as a reprisal for the embarrassment he had previously caused the Soviet regime.
In 2006, a trilingual (Welsh/English/Ukrainian) plaque was unveiled in Gareth Jones' memory in the Old College at Aberystwyth University and in 2008, Jones and fellow Holodomor journalist Malcolm Muggeridge were posthumously awarded the Ukranian Order of Merit in reward for their exceptional services to the country and its people.
Howard Marks - author and former drug smuggler , who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler. At his peak, he was supposedly smuggling up to 30 tons of the drug at a time and was connected with the CIA, MI6, IRA and the Mafia. He was finally convicted by the American Drug Enforcement Administration and handed a 25-year sentence, though he was released in April 1995 after serving seven. Marks was nicknamed Mr Nice, after a passport that he acquired belonging to convicted murderer Donald Nice, one of 43 different aliases he is thought to have used.
Noah Ablett, born in 1883 in Porth, Rhondda was a trade unionist and political theorist. He had originally intended to join the ministry but turned his attention to the plight of the poor pay and working conditions of the coal miners in Rhondda. After winning a scholarship to Ruskin College, Oxford in 1907, he was part of the college strike and subsequent movement that saw the creation of the Plebs' League, a Marxist educational group.
On returning to Wales, Ablett became a checkweighman at Mardy Colliery and set up Marxist educational classes. He was also one of the founders of the Unofficial Reform Committee and the main author of 'The Miners' Next Step', which demanded a minimum wage for miners and for control of the mines to be handed to the workers. Between 1921 and 1926 he was an executive member of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain.
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Examines the life and work of the Rev. Robert Williams (1810-1881), a Celtic scholar and antiquary who was born in Conwy, Wales, and spent most of his working life as a rural clergyman and private tutor at Rhydycroesau (formerly Llawnt Ucha), near Oswestry. The book uses his diary and his correspondence with other Celtic scholars to reveal the extent of his Welsh and Cornish studies, and to bring to life the man behind the scholar and cleric.
Buy ''The Llawnt Williams'' here
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The Rev. Robert Williams lived the quiet and uneventful life of a mid nineteenth century cleric and this book which relies heavily on his diaries does much to illustrate the lifestyle. What is significant about Robert Williams however, is that he wrote three books in his time, two of them important contributions to 19th century and contemporary Celtic studies.
Such was his devotion to his scholarly pursuits that he may occasionally have neglected his pastoral duties. We learn that during his time at Rhydycroesau ( where he preached for forty years ):-
"It was said by some that his stock of sermons was limited, and seldom increased; that he went through the series about once a year, and then turning over the batch would begin again. Some of the old folks used to say, on coming out of the church, "Oh, we''ve heard that sermon afore, many a time."
This is not to suggest that he was a poor parish priest and his diaries afford numerous examples of his dedication to his parishioners. Nonetheless it is difficult to avoid the impression that he was overwhelmingly preoccupied with his scholarly pursuits.
His magnum opus was undoubtedly the Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum. Although Roberts has been criticised for allowing himself to be ''misled by Welsh analogy'' in the compilation of this 400 page reference work. It has also been said that his dictionary was ''a great advance toward the preservation of the ancient tongue'' and that it was the most ''painstaking and thorough presentation of Cornish as then known''.
Derek Williams has gifted us with a masterful account of the life of an important and much neglected Celtic scholar. This short book also sheds significant light on the composition of Williams major works and in particular on the Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum. Essential reading for all serious students of Celtic Studies.
Free digital versions of the Rev. Robert Williams works can be found below:-
Enwogion Cymru: A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen
The History and Antiquities of the Town of Aberconwy
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Christ Church at Rhydycroesau. The Rev. Robert Williams Preached Here For Forty Years
Peter Craine [ CC-BY-SA-2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
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Americymru spoke to Welsh writer Richard Rhys Jones about his published work and future plans. Richard is an ex soldier from Colwyn Bay, currently residing in Germany, who has published two horror fiction novels and is currently working on a short story anthology.
Buy Division Of The Damned here
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AmeriCymru: Hi Richard and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. Can you tell us a little about your Welsh background?
Richard: Hi Ceri, well though I live in Germany now, I originally hail from Old Colwyn, Colwyn Bay, on the north Wales coast. My family''s roots sit deep around the region, with my mother''s side coming from Colwyn Bay/Mochdre, and my father''s from Deganwy/Conwy. I lived on a council estate until I was sixteen, then took the Queen''s Shilling and joined the army. I still go back once, twice a year to visit my family, who are all still there. I do miss my home town, and suffer terribly from homesickness, which is ridiculous in a way as I''m forty six and I left north Wales in 1983!
It''s a strange thing though, homesickness. When I did actually leave home, I never gave Colwyn a thought. Yes, I visited now and then but I was young, eager to see other places, meet other people and I didn''t have that empty locker in my heart where you put your memories. Life was exciting, and home was a place taken for granted and visited as a duty.
This all changed with the birth of my children. Danny and Chelsea were born in 1997, and in one swift lesson, I realised what I had given up on when I left Wales. My kids would never go to the schools I went to, they wouldn''t speak English as a first language, nor would they learn Welsh, (to my eternal shame, I am not a Welsh speaker. I''m so glad Welsh is now being promoted as an important part of the Welsh identity). To all intents and purposes, my children would be tourists to my home town and that does twinge a little.
I wrote a piece about my feelings on the matter in one of my more melancholy moments and put it on the net, with a picture of my hometown. The picture is taken from Penmaen Head, an outcrock of rock that overlooks the bay. If you''re interested, you can find it here:
The Boy From The Bay
Don''t get me wrong though, I don''t spend my days morosely pondering on what might have been if I''d stayed in Wales. I have a good circle of friends here, a steady job and my own little family. It''s just that I don''t feel German, I feel like a visitor who will one day still go home to Wales. Whether that will ever happen, I don''t know though.
AmeriCymru: You are currently living in Germany. How did that come about?
Richard: Simply put, I joined the army, was posted to Germany with my regiment, 1st the Queen''s Dragoon Guards, "The Welsh Cavalry", the finest regiment known to man. Once here I met a nice girl, and in January 1992, in a fit of recklessness, I stayed here when my unit left for Britain. I didn''t have a trade, couldn''t "speaka da lingo" and had no contacts to help me. However, in our youth we''re indestructible and I just knew I''d be alright... I know that sounds daft, but I did. Anyway, if things had gone badly, I could always have joined back up again; there was no cloud over my departure, so it wasn''t that much of a gamble.
As it turned out, things went alright. 1999 was the worst year and in January 2000 I asked Tad if there were any jobs going around The Bay area. However, an opening came up in the steelworks that dominate this region, (Salzgitter) and I''ve been there ever since.
AmeriCymru: When did you decide that you wanted to be a writer and what attracted you to horror?
Richard: Writing was something I really came to a bit late in life. I liked writing in school, but it was the lazy schoolboy type of interest; the sort that blasts off like a firework with a burst of ideas but then immediately turns to ashes when the class finished.
Although I read a bit in the military, I didn''t even think about actually writing until I left. I found a job with a crew of ex soldiers working as armed guards for the British army, and suddenly, with lots of time on my hands, I started to think about writing.
I wrote song lyrics, joke ditties for the guys, and I even tried my hand at short stories. However, the idea of writing a full length novel would only ever be a distant castle on the horizon with the writing tools I had at hand, an army typewriter, built around 1954, and the modest library in the camp for research.
This all changed when I was given my first computer, (well, I actually bought it for €50). Suddenly I had no reason not to write a book, I had no excuses; well, apart from the fact that I couldn''t type properly and didn''t have a cohesive plot for a story. However, that didn''t bother me, and with the internet at my fingertips, Microsoft Word guiding my spelling and punctuation, and the fire of inspiration in my blood, I set myself to the task.
I can still remember sitting at my desk for that first time, (which was actually a wooden board on two chairs), and simply going for it, writing the prologue in a flurry of one fingered, type-key hunting, vigour. In that initial burst, those first few months, I was a man possessed and I''ve yet to recapture that same zeal, that same passion as I experienced when I first started writing, "The Division of the Damned".
The first draft was 160,000 words , a massive rambling tome of a book that had everything I''d been interested in since my days as a soldier. The Third Reich, Teutonic Knights, Sumerian mythology, Biblical folklore, werewolves, the Eastern Front and last but not least, vampires. I was forced to cut it down radically, (I think Word has the word count now to be around 117,000) but happily I still managed to keep all the elements in that I wanted, AND hold the story tight.
Why horror or fantasy? Because basically I already had my ideas for the story, concepts that had gathered dust at the back of my consciousness for years, and I just needed a kick start to fire them all into life.
AmeriCymru: Your first novel Division Of The Damned feature s Nazi Vampires in WWII. How did you come by this idea?
The Third Reich is a fascinating story in itself, but a visit to any one of the concentration camps that are dotted around Europe puts it all in a different perspective. The true horror of Nazi Germany hit me when, as a young soldier, I visited Dachau concentration camp, just north of Munich.
It made me wonde r how the Holocaust could have happened, how a land could go from being one of the most cultured societies in the world to a country of uniform wearing automatons; slaves to the Party and executioners of all the inhuman acts it ordered done. I knew it couldn''t be down to the German people being simply evil, something else must have happened. So I started to read about it and the awareness of its fascination gestated in the back of my mind.
Years later now, and I''m working with a colleague who I always thoug ht was Bavarian. However, the more we spoke, the more I realised his accent wasn''t from the south, and so I asked him where he came from.
He told me that his family came to Germany from Romania when the Iron Curtain fell in 1989.
"So you''re Romanian?" I as ked him.
"No, German." he replied, and then went on to explain that the Transylvanian region of Romania is home to a very large population of Germans. The Siebenbürger Sachsen, (Transylvanian Saxons) used to live in Romania among the Romanian population, and yet apart. They went to separate schools, drank in separate pubs, worked in German firms and generally lived as Germans, in a foreign land.
It was like flicking a switch! A German colony living in the traditional land of the Vampire, a more perfect marrying up of elements I could not have wished for and that night, after shift, (I was working the 1400 - 2200 hrs shift) I set about putting down the plot for my book.
AmeriCymru: Your most recent novel The House In Wales features satanic rituals at a remote locat ion in north Wales. Shades of Dennis Wheatley? Care to tell us more?
My publishers at Taylor Street asked a couple of authors if they were willing to write about a haunted house. The reason being the series "American Horror Story" and the film "The Woman in Black" had done so well in the States, and they wanted to see if they could capitalise on that. " American Horror Story", with its bizarre characters and perverse undertones, and "The Woman in Black" with its ghostly ambience and sinister isolation, had turned the haunted house genre around in the public mind, putting it firmly back on the map.
When they ask ed if I was interested in writing a haunted house story I was plodding along with the sequel for "Division". The plot was weak and missing something, the characters seemed tired and it was turning into a chore, so they couldn''t have approached me at a better time.
I knew I simply couldn''t copy those two films; it had to be similar and yet far enough removed so as not to be too familiar. So, cunningly, (well not really, as we''d just returned from a family holiday in my home town), I decided to set in North Wales during World War Two.
The villain of the story is the house keeper, Fiona Trimble, a willowy, seductively attractive lady in her early forties. My problem was how could this slender, graceful woman force her will on the hero of the story, a rough seventeen year old lad from bombed out Liverpool? Surely not by womanly guile alone?
I liked the idea of someone physically frail using a large animal as their muscle, and what better companion than a big dog? However, I wanted to avoid the clichéd Rottweilers, Dobermans or German Sheepdogs, so I decided on an Irish wolfhound.
Irish wolfhounds, as lovable and trustworthy as they are, have always intimidated me by their size. A friend of mine has one, and though he''s friendly, and not particularly large for his breed, he always manages to elicit a tiny shudder of anxiety when he barks, (which he does to every guest before licking them to death). I decided they''d be perfect for the story and gave Trimble one to do her bidding
As I''m no expert on Satanism, though I obviously read quite a lot about it, I decided to concentrate on the characters and let them carry the story rather than let the props take the centre stage. "Division" was packed full of facts woven into a story that moved from Transylvania, Germany, London, Dachau, The Ukraine etc etc.
"House" is set in a village in north Wales, and doesn''t move from there, so I had to focus on the dramatis personae and their emotions a lot more than I did in "Division".
I''m afraid I didn''t think of Mr. Wheatley at all, which in hindsight is unbelievable to me now!
AmeriCymru: What are you reading at the moment? Any recommendations?
Richard: Truth be told, I could sit here and type five thousand titles as recommendations. If a book can take me somewhere else, then I''m sold and with my imagination, it doesn''t take much for a story to whisk me away.
So I''ll go for the last four books I''ve read.
The Martian by Andy Weir. I''ve just finished it. An excellent story, full of facts that slot in nicely to the story. I loved this book and ate it up.
Sliding on Snow Stone by Andy Szpuk. Andy''s father survived the man made famine in the Ukraine in the 30''s, the German invasion during the 40''s and the communists after the war, so he put it down in story form. Brilliantly researched, I loved it.
The Outlaw King by Craig Saunders. First book in a series of three by a very talented Indie author. Craig can write, I haven''t read one bad story by Mr. Saunders yet, and I''ve read most of his work.
Run by Blake Crouch. I picked this up on a freebie and what a find it was!! A riveting story that doesn''t stop right up to the end.
AmeriCymru: What''s next for Richard Rhys Jones? Are you working on anything at the moment?
Richard: I have an anthology of short stories coming out with Paul Rudd, a friend of mine and author of the very well received book, "SHARC".
Called, "The Chronicles of Supernatural Warfare", the idea behind the collection is as the title says, to chronicle the supernatural in warfare.
For example, the first story is, "The Vampires of Sparta". Imagine the 300 Spartans who held the pass at Thermopylae were in fact vampire warriors, fighting against Xerxes, the greatest vampire hunter of all time?
The second story is, "The Wooden Wolf of Troy" and, if you''re of the mind, you can read the first three, "chapters", (it''s more of a novelette actually) here: The Wooden Wolf Of Troy
The stories progress through ancient Greece, to Rome, then World War One and Two and then finally the future, with nine tales in all. They''re much more like "Division" than "House" and if any of your readers are of the mind to download it, I''d bear that aspect in mind.
I''m at the research phase right now for a book set in Las Vegas. The background is the fire at the MGM Grand Hotel. If you can imagine, "The Shining" meets, "The Towering Inferno"? Something along those lines.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Richard: In 1986, as a young soldier, I visited Fort Carson in Colorado and fell in love with the area. America is a magical place, with friendly, warm people who are so much more open than we are in Europe. When I found out about AmeriCymru on Facebook, I was electrified.
The Welsh/American link is something special, and I think sites like this, that promote that relationship, should be applauded and supported to the best of our collective abilities.
I''ll stop blathering on now, but I''d just like to thank you, the reader, for reading to the end, and to Ceri for being so nice and setting this interview up.
Hwyl.
'A Gossiping Guide to Wales' by Mr Askew Roberts, was published in "The Spectator" on 12th August 1871.
It was a record of his travels to places in Wales such as Snowdon, Cader Idris and the Wye Valley and it recommended long weeks of leisurely travel for Victorian tourists, to appreciate the true beauty of Wales .
On August 12th 1896, gold was discovered in a tributary of the Klondike river in Canada. Subsequent large quantities found all along the river, triggered a gold rush, which attracted around 40,000 people from all parts of the world, including Wales, from 1897 until 1898.
The celebrity writer Jack London, whose grandmother, Eleanor Garrat Jones, was Welsh, was among those who joined the rush and the hardships he endured there, which left him malnourished and with constant pain in his legs, were to inspire his short story "To Build a Fire", which many critics regard as his best work.
On 12th August 1399, King Richard II was taken prisoner by Henry Percy at Conwy Castle, during negotiations to give up his crown. He later surrendered to the future King Henry IV at Flint Castle, prior to his death at Pontefract Castle in February 1400.
Ann Griffiths, poet and hymn writer was buried on this day in 1805 aged 29 years.
Ann Griffiths was a Calvinist Methodist hymn writer who lived the majority of her life in Dolanog. She was born in 1776, on a farm called Dolwar Fach and christened in the parish church of Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa.
In 1794, her mother died, and she helped to run the farm with her father and brother John until her father’s death in 1804. In October of the same year she married Thomas Griffiths, who came to live at Dolwar Fach, but ten months later, she died following the death of her baby daughter, Elizabeth.
Ann is buried at Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa church, where, in 1864 a memorial to her was erected by her great nephew.
Ann was brought up as a member of the Anglican church of St Michael’s at Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa, but like many of her family, she was increasingly involved in nonconformist worship. Dolwar Fach, their home, was registered as a religious meeting house and received many visiting preachers and teachers such as John Hughes (who later went on to start the chapel at Pontrobert). Pendref Chapel in Llanfyllin was a link in the chain of events that led to her conversion: in 1795 she heard an open air preacher outside Pendref Chapel when attending the local fair. During the 1790s, all her family became Calvinistic Methodists. Ann’s spiritual experiences were considered remarkable even at a time of powerful religious awakening. She began to write them down in the form of poems, which were later sung as hymns.
St David's College (now the University of Wales, Lampeter) was founded by Thomas Burgess, Bishop of St David's on 12th August 1822.
The college was the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales and was the third oldest in England and Wales after Oxford and Cambridge. It merged with Trinity University College (under its 1822 charter) in 2010, to create the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.
When Thomas Burgess was appointed Bishop of St David's in 1803, he recognised the need for a Welsh college for trainee ministers to receive a higher education. It was Burgess's intention to build the college in Llanddewi Brefi which has a rich history in the Christianity of Wales. However he decided on Lampeter after being given three acres,
where the Norman castle once stood in Lampeter, by the Gloucestershire landowner, John Scandrett Harford.
It remained a centre of clerical training until 1978, but also, the 1896 charter specifically stated that the college could accept anyone, regardless of whether they intended to take Holy Orders or not.
On 12th August 1912, chemists Humphrey Owen Jones and Muriel Gwendolen Edwards were killed on their honeymoon in Switzerland. While climbing in the Alps, their guide slipped and fell on Jones and all three dropped nearly 1,000 feet to their death. The north summit of the Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey was named La Pointe Jones in their honour
Humphrey Owen Jones from Goginan, Cardiganshire was one of the most productive British chemists of his day and published more than 60 papers between 1900 and 1912 and Muriel Gwendolen Edwards was the first woman to be elected a Fellow of the University of Wales.
In 1907, Jones became a keen climber and after receiving some tuition in Snowdonia, he went on to pioneer some of the region's most difficult climbs. He was also part of the first ascent of the Brouillard ridge to the summit of Mont Blanc and member of both the Committee of the Climbers’ Club and the Alpine Club.
Born on 12th August 1905 in Margam
Llewellyn Heycock, Baron Heycock CBE (12 August 1905 – 13 March 1990) - local politician and life peer.
Heycock began his working career as an engine driver with the Great Western Railway, where he became an active trade unionist and a member of the Labour Party. He later became Chairman of the Glamorganshire Education Committee, despite having received little formal education himself.
Born on this day 1869 in Pontnewydd, Monmouthshire
Frederick 'Fred' Charles Parfitt - former Welsh international scrum-half, who also represented Wales at bowls.
On 11th August 2008, a re-survey of Mynydd Graig Goch in the Moel Hebog group of Snowdonia summits determined its height to be 2,000ft 6in rather than the 1998ft previously recorded, therefore, qualifying it as a mountain.
The Normans occupied Glamorgan early after the Norman Conquest and on 11 August 1107, under the instruction of King Henry I, Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury consecrated Urban as the first purely Norman bishop of the church of Glamorgan, which sometime between 1115 and 1119, was re-named the diocese of Llandaff. Before Urban, the bishops were called Bishop of Teilo, although still ministering to Glamorgan and Gwent and were almost certainly based at Llandeilo Abbey.
Urban made great efforts to increase the prestige of Llandaff. He translated the relics of St Dyfrig from Bardsey Island and reburied them at Llandaff. Then in April 1120, he began the reconstruction of the existing small church into a cathedral.
But perhaps his most notable legacy is the compilation of the "Book of Llandaff" a dossier of documents begun in 1119' by which he hoped to increase the lands and properties held by the diocese at the expense of the neighbouring dioceses of Hereford and St Davids. The case was referred to Rome and Urban travelled there in April 1128, where Pope Honorius II (pictured) decided provisionally in his favour awarding substantial swathes of territory in Herefordshire and Deheubarth to the Llandaff diocese. In 1130, the bishop of St Davids appealed the decision and Pope Innocent II reversed the judgement. Urban died in early October 1134 during his final visit to Rome.
Though he lost, Urban's epic legal battle in which he displayed ambition and energy radically changed the nature of the relationship between the papal curia and the church in England and there was to be an increasing number of litigants who appealed to Rome following decisions taken in provincial courts.
Alun Hoddinott CBE - composer of classical music, who, more than anyone, directed classical music's postwar path to full professionalism and creative renewal.
A fitting recognition was the announcement that the new home of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the Wales Millennium Centre is to be named BBC Hoddinott Hall - Neuadd Hoddinott y BBC. Hoddinott was a violinist, child-prodigy and a founding member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales at age 16. Over the course of his career, his vast and versatile catalogue runs to nearly 300 individual works, which include 10 symphonies, 6 operas and over 20 concertos.
Born on this day 1941 in Rhyl
Nerys Hughes - actress, known primarily for her television roles, in "The Liver Birds" and "The District Nurse", for which she won the Television Actress of the Year Award.
Born on this day 1923, from Mold.
Raymond Davies-Hughes - The Welshman who broadcasted propaganda in Welsh for the Germans during World War II.
Hughes was an RAF airman whose plane was shot down over Germany during a bombing raid and when approached in a prisoner-of-war camp, Hughes agreed to broadcast propaganda in Welsh. Joseph Goebbels was the Third Reich's Propaganda Minister and he realised the importance and influence of mass media. He knew that a Welsh speaker could reach a new audience. Hughes worked with the traitor William Joyce, better known as "Lord Haw-Haw", who broadcasted propaganda programmes in English for the Nazis. After the war, Lord Haw-Haw was hanged for treason while Hughes was sentenced to five years hard labour, which was subsequently reduced to two years following an appeal for clemency.
On this day 1952, Dylan Thomas made his first and only TV appearance for the BBC reading his story "The Outing", footage of which has never been recovered.
"The Outing" follows the adventures of a group of old men and a young boy on a charabanc pub crawl to Porthcawl which - due to the effects of alcohol - they never reach.
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On this day 1405, the town of Haverfordwest was burned by a force of Henry VI of France, who were allies at the time of Owain Glyndwr.
A Short History of Haverfordwest; Haverfordwest is the county town of Pembrokeshire, with an approximate population of 13,500, it is a major "road hub", connecting West Wales with the M4 South Wales corridor and it is Pembrokeshire's principal commercial and retail centre, there having been significant retail development recently in the suburb of Withybush.
There are two competing explanations for the name of the town, either "ford used by fat cows" from Old English hæfar =heifer, fat cows, or that during the Tudor Period monarchs called it "Hereford or Hertford in the West".
There is no documentary evidence of a settlement on the site before the 12th century, but archaeological discoveries suggest that the Romans did occupy the area and it seems unlikely that Haverfordwest, with its obvious strategic advantages of a defensive bluff overlooking the lowest fordable point on the Western Cleddau and its accessibility to sea traffic, would not have been settled in some way.
1100 - Haverfordwest Castle is recorded as having been founded by the Norman Gilbert de Chuv.
1107, 1111 and 1151 - The Flemish are said to have arrived in three groups, initially mercenaries in the invading army of William the Conqueror, who were granted lands in the Gower and Pembrokeshire as a reward. The Flemings were reportedly unpopular and are recorded as extinct in Pembrokeshire by 1327 but Flemish mercenaries reappear in 1400 when at the behest of Henry IV they joined an army of 1500 English settlers who marched north from Pembrokeshire to attack the army of Owain Glyndwr at Mynydd Hyddgen.
1213 - 1219 - Haverfordwest was the centre for significant woollen cloth manufacture and received its first marcher charter from William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke, it also obtained the lucrative trading privileges of an English borough.
1220 - Llywelyn ap Iorwerth ( Llywelyn the Great), Prince of Gwynedd threatened the Marshal and burned the town but failed to take the castle.
1284 - King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castile visited the castle for the first time during a royal pilgrimage to St Davids. Eleanor was said to have fallen in love with the castle and purchased it four years later.
1348 - In common with other large towns, Haverfordwest was affected by the Black Death, with large parts of the town abandoned,
1359-67 - Edward, the Black Prince occupied the castle.
1405 - The town was burned by the French allies of Owen Glendower,
1479 - The town was designated a county corporate, in order to support a campaign against piracy in local waters and remained officially "The Town and County of Haverfordwest" until the abolition of the borough in 1974.
1642 - During the English Civil War, the borough supported Parliament, whilst the gentry supported the Royalists. This led to the town changing hands five times during the conflict. 1648 - Oliver Cromwell ordered the castle to be destroyed and threatened to imprison the townsfolk unless it was demolished 1779 - The derelict medieval castle was converted to a prison 1820 - A new prison building was erected within the castle grounds, which today houses the Pembrokeshire Record Office.
1940 Haverfordwest was bombed during WW2. It was unexpected and no warning siren sounded. There were no reported casualties.
Born this day 1946 in The Vale of Glamorgan.
Peter Karrie - singer , best known for his portrayal of the lead role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, The Phantom of the Opera. He was twice voted the favourite Phantom of members of The Phantom of the Opera Appreciation Society. He has also starred in many other West End musical productions, including Les Miserables and Chess. Karrie has had his own television and radio shows on BBC Wales.
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On this day 2008 Nicole Cooke claimed Britain's first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics becoming the first Welsh person to win Olympic gold for 36 years.
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Born this day 1930 in Newport
Derrick Sullivan - former Welsh soccer international, who was part of the Wales squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweeden.
Images Of A City, Stories Of Its People
Hundreds of prints and negatives taken by Cardiff photographer Keith S. Robertson lay forgotten in drawers in one of the city's buildings for years - the photographer himself had been told they had been destroyed. They were found, however, and their creative and social value was realized immediately. The result of restorative work on the photographs and the reaction generated from the people portrayed or who have seen them, is what we have in this fascinating book. 126 B&W photos, 1 color. Buy Cardiff Before Cardiff here
Cambrian Safaris is a new business, we have only been up and running a few months and are working hard trying to make ourselves known both in Wales and abroad! The idea has been with us for several years, we have always enjoyed showing visitors family and friends the sights of the area, and 7 years of ownership of an old military 'Lightweight' Land Rover meant we have found our way around most of the back roads, both surfaced and unsurfaced, of north Ceredigion and the Cambrian mountains.
At first we thought we'd be using an old style Land Rover, as you might expect on safari in Africa, but we soon decided to go for something which would give our guests a more comfortable ride. The Land Rover Discovery 3 is practically as good as a Range Rover, and can carry 6 passengers. We did not chose a Land Rover because we want to drive a lot of rough tracks / 'green lanes' etc, but more for space and comfort, and the view, which turned out to be a lot better in the 'Disco' than in a conventional Land Rover.
There are 3 main areas which we cover in our tours, 1) The Rheidol and Ystwyth Valleys in land of Aberystwyth, 2) the Elan Valley Reservoirs and 3) a tour of the southern part of the Cambrian Mountains.
The UK as a whole has a greater diversity of geology, geography and different landscapes than anywhere else in the world, for such a small area. In Wales, the National parks in the North and the south seem to hog all the limelight, the Cambrian Mountains were proposed as a National Park but the plan was rejected. The Cambrian Mountains are, however, an equally special area with a very dramatic, diverse landscape, with high hills, deep valleys, tremendous views and an abundance of wildlife. In fact the management of some of the upland areas, such as around the Elan valley estate and some of the forestry plantations is gradually being managed more and more for the benefit of wildlife and for amenity value.
The northern part of Ceredigion, or Cardiganshire as it used to be known is crammed full with steep sided valleys, is very green and rich in history. The tops of the Mountains here are mostly 1,500 2,000 feet high, Plynlumon is the highest point in Mid Wales at 2,468ft. The Welsh name Pumlumon translates as 5 peaks, although it mystifies most people where they all are as there are really only 2. The name Plynlumon derives from the Roman name, Plumbilumon which means I believe lead boundary. The Romans certainly knew there was lead in them there hills, and mined in around 30 places in the area. The mining developed slowly through medieval times and right up to the second half of the 19 th Century when it briefly boomed and died. In most cases the mining remains are discrete, there are just a handful of notable exceptions. The mining left its marks in other ways, but unfortunately it is generally regarded as something dirty, dangerous, scary, and to be avoided... I'll write a couple of pieces about the mining in the near future and try to show a different story.
The tours in North Ceredigion feature the contrast between the gentrified estates and the scattered small holdings and farmsteads where people tried - and still do try - to eek out an existence in the hills. It features the mining remains of the old Cardiganshire Silver Lead mining industry, and is intended to surprise and delight with sudden dramatic views from steep back roads and mountain routes. Nant y Moch Dam is over 1000 feet above sea level, the hydro electric power station in Cwm Rheidol is about 800 feet below. There are remote lakes, isolated farmsteads, Red Kites over head, hanging oak woodland clinging to the steep valley sides with Redstarts and Pied flycatchers, forestry and open moorland. We follow in the footsteps of artists, poets, writers, and the aristocracy, who came to marvel at the rugged landscape and 'hunt' out the best spots for a painting. At a time when it was fashionable to take a tour of Europe, Aberystwyth was becoming a genteel seaside resort and Mid Wales was at the heart of the Picturesque movement. During the second half of the 18th century the members of the English upper classes with time on their hands took the 'Grand Tour' of Europe. Some however began to discover that places like Mid Wales had the landscape qualities they were looking for to delight and inspire.
The 'mountain road' tour passes through one of the remotest parts of Wales (or England). The mountain road is a single track former drovers route running for 20 miles between the lush grazing lands of the Teifi valley in the west and the Wye valley on route to Hereford to the East.
It climbs to 1580 feet, passes through forest and over open moorland, plunging into the deep valleys feeding the long fingers of the Llyn Brianne reservoir and passing through the upper Irfon Valley. The tour circles to the south with stunning views of the Brecon Beacons and the Llyn Brianne reservoir.
The Elan Valley tour passes alongside a sequence of 5 reservoirs and from wooded valley sides to high open moorland, this tour will take you past the dams and over 2 high upland routes with views to Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons and possibly Pembrokeshire. The Elan valley is known as the 'Welsh Lake district', the 5 large reservoirs were built in the 1890's and 1950's supply water to the Midlands.
Although the distances and heights above sea level are distinctly unimpressive compared to other parts of the world, the beauty of mid Wales lies in the magical way in which the landscape can change completely every few miles, there is no need to travel vast distances, wonderful variety can be found within 20 30 miles in each direction.
Over the next few months we hope to develop a range of 'package tours with different options for accommodation, tours, visits and even airport pick ups. Watch this space! In the mean time I will describe parts of the areas the tours pass through in more detail.
