Monasteries

What was in PenCambria: Issue 25 Spring 2014?

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Eliza, Julia and Henry-a Victorian Triangle Val Church

“The One I Don’t Go To” Lawrence Johnson

The Trouble with History Diana Ashworth

My Roots Part 5: Salmon Poaching Richard Meredith

Torri Mawn: Peat Cutting in the Uplands of Mid Wales Brian Poole

Farming Between the Wars 1920-40, Part 2: Men’s Work R.M. Williams

1st World War Centenary Commemoration Gay Roberts

Put Out To Grass: Part 12 Left-Handed Challenge Diana Ashworth

How Not To Kill Yourself in Borth: a meditation on the Welsh hills by a flatlander Veronica Popp

Monastic Wales Diana Brown

Jottings of a Mid Wales Tourist Peter Watson

The Dragon’s Crypt:

Three Ladies Bruce Mawdsley

Back to the Smoke Gaynor Jones

In Time of War: A Trilogy Part 1: Selina’s Birthday Norma Allen

Editorial PenCambria Issue 25 by Gay Roberts

Well, after such a soggy winter, what a lovely spring we are having at the time of writing. We all love a good scandal and we start this issue with a splendid example of a Victorian marital disharmony and a wet lettuce – just read it and find out. Val Church tells us the extraordinary history of Eliza Williams of Dolanog, her friend, Julia Davenport and Julia’s husband Henry Crookenden.

Lawrence Johnson has been looking into the culture of the Chapel in mid Wales. Once Non-Conformity became legal and the Bible was printed in Welsh and English, people could interpret it and preach more or less what they liked. In Wales, which has always been a very religious and thoughtful country, a whole variety sects with their attendant chapels mushroomed and one could choose which group to attend, which group to avoid and to chop and change as the fancy took.

Prior to this, the invasion of the Normans in 1066 was followed in the 1130s by colonisation of the country by the monastic movement, which, in Wales, was overwhelmingly Cistercian. Professor Janet Burton of the University of Wales Trinity St David’s has created a database and website which will eventually provide a fully comprehensive archive of all material including a bibliography of primary and secondary sources relating to this phenomenon – a must for anyone research this fascinating topic. Diana Brown has been studying it and gives us a most interesting account of what she has learned.

It is thanks to the Chartists that we have the parliamentary democracy we enjoy today. Llanidloes played a small but notable part in this campaign and, taking the two main historical sources, Diana Ashworth manages to present an account that does justice to both sides.

Tracing his roots once again, Richard Meredith regales us with his youthful salmon poaching adventures on the river Severn.

Peat cutting is one of the great unsung crafts of the uplands of mid Wales. Brian Poole touched on it in his article on Capel Gerisim in the last edition of PenCambria. This time he does full justice to it through the oral history of the area and his own interest in and understanding of the technical side of these activities.

Meanwhile on the lower slopes and pastures R.H. Williams describes men’s work on the farm between the two world wars.

It is lambing time in Llawryglyn and our retired lady grasps the mettle, or rather the back legs of her sheep by the hand and attempts to administer all kinds of pills and potions to keep her flock in tiptop condition.

The last episode of recent television programme thriller “Hinterland” set in Aberystwyth included a murder in Borth. A few days later Veronica Popp sent me this delightful piece about one of her experiences as a student at the University in Aberystwyth entitled “How Not to Kill Yourself in Borth”. I won’t spoil it for you. Just enjoy it for yourselves.

Peter Watson had a holiday in mid Wales last year both for leisure and for research and here is his affectionate account of his travels.

The RCAHMW have been very busy with their activities to preserve our heritage and to make sure that we are as fully aware of them as is possible. One of these is the creation of computer 3-D animation reconstructions of complex archaeological sites, especially the Swansea Copper Industry, for which they have received an award. They have also managed to provide a conclusive date for the construction of Tredegar House, one of Wales’ great until now unsolved archaeological mysteries. And they are asking for our help in providing what information we can about our own areas, specifically when it comes to place names. They are also putting on a full programme of events open to the public which are very enjoyable and informative, so do go along if you can.

Mid Wales Arts Centre and Bleddfa Centre for the Creative Spirit are offering a wealth of creative and spiritual opportunities and you can read all about their activities as usual.

In The Dragon’s Crypt Bruce Mawdesley entertains us with his pen portraits of three women; going back to the smoke Gaynor Jones expresses what so many of us feel about have to leave mid Wales for a life elsewhere; and Norma Allen begins a three-part story set in the time of the First World War as the opening to our commemoration of this event, which will be published in the next issue.

 

What was in PenCambria: Issue 19 Spring 2012?

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Musical Words Lawrence Johnson
Ty Coch Water Mill at Pontdolgoch Tim Chilton
Two Pen Portraits Bruce Mawdesley
“Don’t Push Until We Get You Into Bed” Connie Howells with Lesley-Ann Dupré
The Gwalchmai Family of Mid Wales : part 3 Gwalchmai Sais
The Mount and China Street Gay Roberts
Baron Moyle of Llanidloes in the County of Montgomeryshire Diana Brown
Homage to Gwendolen Williams Brian Poole
New Friendly Society of Rhayader and Llansantffraid-Cwmdauddwr Brian Lawrence
Saint Harmon and the British Heresy R.H. Williams & Gay Roberts
Digging up my Roots David Jandrell
Put Out To Grass part 3: Beginner’s Luck Diana Ashworth
Meg Lesley-Ann Dupré
Aberystwyth Printmakers

Welshpool Sheep Market Jane Keay
The Little Dog’s Journey Lesley-Ann Dupré
Lord Edric’s Fairy Wife Hatton Davidson
Walking the Hills and Hearing the Wind Lesley-Ann Dupré

Editorial PenCambria Issue 19 by Gay Roberts

Welcome to PenCambria number 19, the first issue of 2012. With this edition I am very pleased to welcome Lesley-Ann Dupré as our new Commissioning Editor. You will already know her name from some of her very imaginative poems and prose published in The Dragon’s Crypt in the last few editions of this magazine. Bilingual in Dutch, Lesley has had extensive experience in editing and translation and she is already a valuable asset to the team. She is very good with snippets and so we can enjoy a few more of those in future. She also has a keen interest in oral history and begins a series for PenCambria with an interview with Connie Howells, the former Llanidloes midwife who remembers very different practices from those today.
As usual, we have lots of good things for you to read. Lawrence Johnson has been researching John Hughes, the 19th century Llanidloes stationmaster whose alter ego was that great Welsh poet Ceiriog. Well, there must have been a lot of time between trains and once he had finished his chores… Tim Chilton was looking to buy a period residence in the Cotswolds or South Wales and ended up with the water mill at Pontdolgoch near Caersws – haven’t so many us found ourselves here quite by chance? With the third instalment of his researches of the Gwalchmai family history Gwalchmai Sais comes to the end of his account for the time being. From 1920 until his death Lord Arthur Moyle of Llanidloes was a great socialist and member of the Labour Party who sought to improve the conditions of working men and women through his support for the trade unions and whose position as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Clement Attlee enabled him to play an active part in the introduction of the welfare state and the National Health Service in the late 1940s. Diana Brown has been researching into his life and has shed some light on this neglected worthy of our heritage. With the help of Dr David Stephenson I have been able to put you all in the picture as to how the Mount in Llanidloes came to be and its subsequent history and how China Street got its name – something which I know has puzzled so many people in the past.
In times of sickness, old age or any other kind of adversity, until the creation of the Welfare Stare and the National Health Service, the only thing that stood between the working man and his family and the Poor House, the Work House or starvation were the Friendly Societies, a form of insurance that paid out benefits to its members so long as certain stringent conditions were met. These societies need to be remembered for the good they brought to their members and as the result of his research into the social welfare life of Rhayader and the surrounding districts, for this issue of PenCambria Brian Lawrence has given us an account of the New Friendly Society of Rhayader and Llansantffraid Cwmdauddwr. Continuing his Glimpses of Beautiful Mid Wales, R.H. Williams begins a two-part look at the religious life of St Harmon Parish beginning with a brief look at its early medieval history and the Pelagian heresy that was integral to the establishment of St Harmon church. From there he touches on Francis Kilvert, vicar of St Harmon Parish for a short time, the long vanished St Harmon Monastery and Abbey Cwm Hir.
After his tour of the Hafren Circuit around the edges of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, David Jandrell has settled back at his home on the Shropshire border and has been digging up the roots of the Jandrell family tree – and a fascinating dig it is too, going right back to the late 14th century and lucky, no doubt to survive the Black Death. Our retired couple from Llawryglyn face their first lambing season, observed with wonderful wry humour as ever by Diana Ashworth, PenCambria’s “Pam Ayres in Prose”. A book shop and the coach station provides the venue for two more of Bruce Mawdesley’s beautifully penned character studies. Brian Poole makes an interesting and quite unexpected diversion from his industrial pursuits by venturing into the cultural life of Newtown and has discovered yet another forgotten artist, Gwendolen Williams, a sculptor, who although a north Walian by birth, nevertheless spent a lot of time here with her closest friend, Eveline Lewis, and much of her work is still in the area.
In the Dragon’s Crypt in a poetic change from her usual pen-and-ink studies, Jane Keay shows us a very poignant perspective of Welshpool Sheep Market from the point of view of the sheep. In the classical tradition of the medieval English ballad Hatton Davidson recounts the tale of the fairy wife of Lord Edric of Shrewsbury. Finally Lesley-Ann Dupré takes us on a journey up into to the realms of the Infinite with her little dog, and coming back down to earth again to the sublime hills of Mid Wales.

What was in PenCambria: Issue 3 Autumn 2005?

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Capel Bethel Cemetery, Llanidloes E Reginald Morris

A Victorian Industrialist Reverend M Tudor

The Gentleman Hood: Second part of the history of Murray the Hump-Life on the mean streets Tyler Keevil

Past and Present Bryan Lawrence 

Some letters of General Valentine Jones, who built the Trewythen Arms, Llanidloes Nick Venti

The Ancient Monasteries of Arwystli Dr. David Stephenson

“Come away from the window, you’re not supposed to look at that” Dennis Duggan and the Welshpool Oral History Project

Gothic Parker Gay Roberts
Gregynog – The Butterfly of Mid Wales Gay Roberts
Down and Out in Rhayader and Saint Harmon Gay Roberts
Unsung Heroes Gay Roberts

The Pebble Maggie Shepherd
The Conjuror of Llandinam Norma Allen

Editorial PenCambria Issue 3 Gay Roberts 
First of all, please accept my apologies for the late publication of PC3. I broke my arm in August and, not being able to drive for two months, was unable to get out about collecting material or indeed put what I had into the computer until a couple of weeks ago. Consequently for some of this edition I have resorted to that most modern of information sources, the internet about which more later.
For those of you who were among the first buyers of PenCambria number 2 and would not have had the slip I sent round a week later, I must also immediately correct a mistake in the article by E. Ronald Morris’s. On page 11 please note that in the second paragraph from the bottom, “Dolhafren cemetery” should be substituted by “the churchyard”. So the passage should read as follows: “A ‘running sore’ was the fact that if Nonconformists wanted to be buried in the churchyard, rather than the cemetery just off High Street, they had to submit to the rite of the Church of England. Because the Church of England owned the churchyard, they were not allowed to perform their own rites over the deceased.” The original insertion was due was a misunderstanding by the editor, not a mistake by Mr. Morris. My sincerest apologies go to Mr. Morris for any distress he has felt as a result of this misprint.
In his article for us in this issue, about the Capel Bethel Nonconformist cemetery in Llanidloes, Mr. Morris shows just how Llani draws people back, its hiraeth, to such an extent that however far away they may have strayed in their lifetimes, after their deaths native Idloesians want to come back and spend eternity here.
At the other end of life, we have a vivid picture of childhood in the 1930s as told to Dennis Duggan by five members of Welshpool’s senior community as part the Welshpool Oral History project.
Nick Venti has been continuing his search for General Valentine Jones, who built the Trewythen Arms Hotel in Llanidloes. In this issue we join him in Canada in 1770s commanding the Northern District of the American Colonies in Quebec, hearing in his own words how he is at his wits end trying to find and finance provisions for the soldiers under his command, before returning to London in 1779.
The Reverend Malcolm Tudor pens a brief sketch of the great Llandinam coal magnate and philanthropist David Davies, while at the other end of the spectrum Tyler Keevil continues his search into the murky underworld of 1920s Chicago in his quest for Carno’s grandson, Murray the Hump.
Brian Lawrence brings us a breath of the bracing Radnorshire air as he walks the Cwmdauddwr hills, pondering the struggle of the small farmer to survive in this hard, unforgiving environment and looking at the military time capsule left there in the form of relics from the two 20th century World Wars and the ruins of the Roman military occupation of Wales.
The ancient monasteries in Arwystli are David Stephenson’s topic this month, specifically the ‘clas’ communities of Llangurig and Llandinam and, with an interesting twist, the legal expertise of one of its medieval abbots.
The Arwystli Society had an afternoon at Gregynog in May and this inspired the article about the families who occupied it from its foundation until the University of Wales took it over in 1963.
In June I was delighted to be contacted by the BBC who, as part of their regional network policy, were interested in forging a link between them and PenCambria as a source of information. PC is now linked to the BBC Mid Wales web site and on their newsletter list and as a result, I am now pleased to be able to include an internet round-up based on their site, of all kinds of news and snippets relating to Mid Wales. Inspired by this, during my incapacity, I found quite a few more internet goodies and was able to put together a look at the life of the poor in Rhayader during the 19th century based on the Rhayader mini web site at http://history.powys.org.uk
Another Arwystli event inspired An Unsung Hero, a look at commandeering of horses during wartime and one relating specifically to a member of the British Army Veterinary Corps during the First World War who retired to Llanidloes.
Powys Archives have sent us their updates and a lovely photograph of Plas Winton Square in Llandrinod Wells in the early 1900s.
Finally, in the Dragon’s Crypt this month we have a bewitching tale of love and fulfilment from Norma Allen and a fascinating exercise in litho-empathy (work it out for yourselves!) from Maggie Shepherd, a student in Llanidloes’ Creative Writing Class. As a new and very talented writer, I am delighted to be able to publish her work and hope it will inspire her to write more.