What was in PenCambria: Issue 18 Winter 2011?

A Forgotten Industry: the Coal Fired Gasworks of Montgomeryshire Brian Poole
The Maggot Roger Garfitt
Kington & Radnor Bank in Rhayader Gay Roberts & Gwynne Jones
From the Glog to the Giant’s Grave Lawrence Johnson
Lumberjacks & Backwoodsmen: Put Out to Grass pt. 7 Diana Ashworth
More Winter Memories of Llandrindod Wells Joel Williams
Llanidloes Town Hall Gay Roberts
Saint Harmon Parish Monty Williams
John Wesley and Methodism in Llanidloes Gay Roberts
Round Perdition’s Corner Gay Roberts
The Hafren Circuit: Final Stage the Heart of Montgomeryshire David Jandrell
Witchcraft and Magic in Wales Richard Suggett

Radnorshire Felicity Vale
Flight Plan for the Island Lesley Ann Dupré
Journey South Janet Williams
Verbascum thapsiforme Bruce Mawdesley, illustration by Jane Keay

Editorial PenCambria Issue 18 by Gay Roberts

This month we have a real taste of Radnorshire, I am pleased to say. Monty Williams shows us around St Harmon Parish by way of another article based on his book, A Glimpse of Beautiful Mid Wales. We get a look at the history of the Kington and Radnor Bank together with banking practice from another era with Gwynne Jones, former manager of the Midland Bank in Rhayader. The late Felicity Vale wrote paean to Radnorshire and this is published by kind permission of John Pugh. Finally we have some more winter memories of Llandrindod Wells provided by Joel Williams.
That forgotten industry, the coal-fired gasworks in Montgomeryshire is the subject of a well-needed tribute and Brian Poole is the man for this. Gas was the first source of power to literally shed light on a whole community, delivered from a single source rather than from individual candles and torches. Not since the Moors left Spain had the streets in Europe been lit so efficiently. It was the stepping stone to so many other chemical-based facilities that we take for granted today. It was a dirty, dangerous industry and the men who operated it deserve our heartfelt thanks for risking their health and their lives in such conditions to lighten our darkness and put bread on their tables.
Lawrence Johnson’s peregrinations have taken him to the Glog, an area full of prehistoric monuments, behind Dolfor and Mochdre. Coming into the present era, early motoring in The Maggot is what Roger Garfitt remembers in this final excerpt from his autobiography, The Horseman’s Word. David Jandrell completes the Hafren Circuit with a nostalgic trip down memory lane through the heart of Montgomeryshire by road and rail from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth. This has been a wonderful series which has taken us to some beautiful and little known places in the valley of the Hafren and I do hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have done – and if you can keep a dry eye reading the epilogue than you are made of sterner stuff than me!
John Wesley visited Llanidloes several times in the course of his preaching tours around the country. There has been a small exhibition celebrating this history and also the installation in the Wesleyan Chapel in Longbridge Street, of a bust taken from the statue of him outside his birthplace in Lincolnshire. This bust, created by Sue Thornton, the sculptor of the statue in Epworth, is unique to Llanidloes. The Arwystli Society visited the Wesleyan Chapel in the course of an afternoon trip around Llanidloes this September and the talk given was based on the article in this edition of PenCambria. We also visited Llanidloes Town Hall and you can read all about that as well.
Our retired couple in Llawryglyn have been planting trees and finding their way through a forest of regulations under the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme. Spreading our wings a bit further afield, in the second part of my article on Welsh pirates, we find ourselves back on the high seas with Captain Henry Morgan and Black Bart in wooden ship quite possibly built with Montgomeryshire oak.
It is October and not just the season of mellow fruitfulness but also of melancholy, magic and all things that go bump in the night. Wales is nothing if not the Land of the Fey and in 2008 Richard Suggett published a book entitled the History of Witchcraft and Magic in Wales and that same year he gave a talk about it to the Arwystli Society and has very kindly agreed to let me publish a transcript.
The Dragon’s Crypt contains a feast of poetry in this edition. As well as Felicity Vale, Lesley Ann Dupré and Janet Williams both take flight and Bruce Mawdesley meditates on the humble mullein with another beautiful illustration by Jane Keay.

What was in PenCambria: Issue 17 Summer 2011?

Cup Fever or “Come on, the Daffs!” Lyn Meredith & Byron Hughes
An Ecclesiastical Tale Bev Barratt
Pedro Gonzalez: Put Out to Grass part 6 Diana Ashworth
Liminality – sculpture by Benjamin Storch
“That Poet-Haunted Place” Lawrence Johnson
E. Nicholls & Sons, The Stores, Ystradenni Brian Lawrence
The Gwalchmai Family of Mid Wales : part 2 Gwalchmai Sais
Diatoms, Seed & Pollen – sculptures by Kevin Blockley
The Hopkins of Llanfihangel Y Creuddyn – Joy Hamer’s family research
One Man and His Dog Bruce Mawdesley (illustrations by Jane Keay)
The Hafren Circuit: Stage 8 Breidden Hills and Long Mountain David Jandrell

The Pryces of Newtown Hall: “an interesting family” Diana Brown
The Horseman’s Word Roger Garfitt
A Journey Through Mid Wales R.M. Williams
A Short Life and a Merry One Gay Roberts
Bones and Stones at Old Chapel Farm Gay Roberts

Radnorshire Felicity Vale
Flight Plan for the Island Lesley Ann Dupré
Journey South Janet Williams
Verbascum thapsiforme Bruce Mawdesley, (illustration by Jane Keay)
 
Editorial PenCambria Issue 17 by Gay Roberts
We have a sporting start this month with a rollicking account of football fever in Llanidloes. Last year Lynn Meredith and Byron Hughes, two very well-known footballers in their glory days, published a book recounting stories of the members of Llanidloes Football team, known as the Daffodils, because of their yellow and green strip, who played cricket, hence the title of book The Daffs Who Played in White. When I first read their original manuscript, parts of it actually made me laugh out loud and I knew I had to persuade them to write an article for PenCambria and I am very pleased to tell you that I was successful. For this article, they return to their first love, football, and the highs and lows, not many of them here, of the Daffs and here we have a fond account of the team’s history from the 1920s to the 1970s, with some extraordinary statistics for a town the size of Llanidloes, but I will not spoil it for you just now.
For our other treats this month, the retired lady of Llawryglyn has a doggy tale to tell, divine revelation adds atmosphere to a climb up Snowdonia by the intrepid Bev Barratt; Manafon forges a surprising link between a giant of Welsh poetry, R.S Thomas and an reclusive modern songwriter for Lawrence Johnson.
We have three fascinating pieces of family history. After the death of Humphrey Gwalchmay and the sobering incident with his wife Susannah at Llanwyddelan, in this episode the family dip a toe into religious non-conformity as Gwalchmai Sais takes the next step on the path followed by this remarkable family. Following her work on the Hughes and Hamer families, Joy Hamer has done a quite remarkable piece of research on another branch of her family – the Hopkins of Llanfihangel y creuddyn and I have summarised part of it as a taster for you. Taking us up Breidden Hill and along the Long Mynd David Jandrell reaches the final stage of the Hafren Circuit. The Pryces of Newtown Hall are a very interesting family as Diana Brown has discovered, especially the one who had been so fond of his first two wives that he had their bodies embalmed and slept between them.
Where there’s a demand there’s always a supplier as Brian Lawrence illustrates in his article about the enterprising E. Nicholls of Ystradenni. In another peerless piece of poetic prose,
Bruce Mawdesley remembers a shepherd and his dog and once again, we are privileged to have Jane Keay’s illustrations. One of our occasional contributors, who also has such a wonderful way with words is Roger Garfitt, who has just written his autobiography and the publishers Jonathan Cape have very generously allowed me to reprint some extracts from it.
With its small settlements set in its wild and lonely hills and valleys Radnorshire is a great inspiration to many a writer. R.M. Williams has written a book about Mid Wales and with a view to serialising it in PenCambria he has written this introduction, A Journey Through Mid Wales, giving a brief, lyrical picture of some of what has been lost in this part of the world.
For my contribution this month I have taken to the high seas with a synopsis of the book Welsh Pirates by Dafydd Meirion.
Mid Wales provides an unending source of inspiration to those of a creative mind. Kevin Blockley, who many of you may know as an archaeologist, is a highly talented sculptor and you can read about him and exhibition of his work along with that of his son Merlin and two other crafts people, that was held in June. You can also see pictures of his work on some of the pages elsewhere. Mid Wales Arts Centre at Caersws goes from strength to strength and you can find out about everything that is going on there in the later pages of this magazine. There are also a number of other very interesting and unusual events that you can read about and possibly be encouraged to attend, especially at the Willow Globe in Llanwrthwl. Dr David Stephenson’s lectures will be embarking on some very interesting water this year for those of you who like to attend them.
The Dragon’s Crypt is full of mystery this month. While Norma Allen reminds us all of the joys of a School trip, Lesley Ann Dupré takes a trip of a much darker kind while Hatton Davidson “travels the whorls of Space and Time” to who knows where?.

What was in PenCambria: Issue15 Winter 2010?

Remains of Roman Villa found near Aberystwyth Diana Brown
Cartrefi Cefn Gwlad Cymru book launch.
The Meifod Deserter Bryn Ellis
Winter Walks in the Elan Valley
The Grand Canyon of Mid Wales Bev Barratt
The Second World War in the Clywedog and Trannon Valleys Diana Ashworth
Jamila Massey
Improving Llanidloes Michael and Diana Brown
The Wild Men Of Dinas Mawddwy : Put Out to Grass part 4 Diana Ashworth
The Hafren Circuit: Stage 6 The Berwyns David Jandrell
Armchair Detective Lawrence Johnson
Winter Memories at Llandrindod Wells Joel Williams
Seashore Bruce Mawdesley
Radnorshire: A Historical Guide by Donald Gregory part 2 of a detailed synopsis
Gay Roberts
Joan Corbet : Medieval Chatelaines of Powis Castle part 4 Dr David Stephenson
Two Pictures by John Lavrin
Ferrilos Patagonicos Brian Poole
Owen Owen by David Wyn Davies: part 2 of a detailed synopsis Gay Roberts
John Lavrin: a profile Gay Roberts

Lady’s Maid Norma Allen
The Torso Lesley-Ann Dupré
Autumn Reflections David Jandrell
Autumn Janet Williams

Editorial PenCambria Issue 15 by Gay Roberts

The air is bracing, the view from the mountains is wonderful – panoramic peaks, plunging escarpments, gentle rolling hills, myriad subtle hues of green, purple and russets of autumn – just the vision to conjure up sitting by your firesides reading PenCambria in the darkness of winter. Yes, we go out and about for much of this issue treading in footsteps of the drovers, the preachers, the miners, the medieval knights, the Welsh princes, the Romans, the Celts and those enigmatic peoples who populated our hilltops thousands of years ago but of whom nothing remains now but a few standing stones and flint tools.
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales are excavating a hitherto unknown Roman villa near Aberystwyth and this is completely redrawing our previous picture of Roman settlement in Wales. We, or rather Clwb Dringo of Machynlleth plunge into the Grand Canyon of Mid Wales in the wilds of Plynlimon near Dylife and with Lawrence Johnson we contemplate the hills of Radnorshire and the ancient people who populated them from Fowler’s Armchair – if we can find it, that is. Our progress with David Jandrell around the Hafren Circuit reaches the most northerly edge of Montgomeryshire with a magnificent view from the Berwyns and takes us through to Llanymynech via Llanrhaeadr-ym-mochnant, Llansilin and the site of Owain Glyndwr’s celebrated but completely obliterated hall of Sychnant.
With Diana Ashworth we go out into the valleys of the Clywedog and the Trannon to investigate an aeroplane crash from World War II. Further afield, almost as south as we can go, we find out about the development and construction of the railway system in the Welsh colony of Patagonia, with Brian Poole finishing the late David Burkhill-Howath’s series about the Welsh people in Patagonia.
Michael and Diana Brown’s account of how Llanidloes was as anxious to attract visitors a hundred years ago as it is today gives a fascinating picture of the town and its improvement campaign, which offered basically the same sort of attractions as we do now in the 21st century i.e. accommodation, outdoor activities amidst wonderful scenery, some popular entertainments and good connections to other parts of the country. At this point I should like to welcome Michael Brown back to the authorial fold of PenCambria and I am delighted to note that he is making such a good recovery after the stroke that incapacitated him so badly three years ago.
Diana Ashworth was definitely out and about in the middle of a dark and stormy night as she recounts in the latest episode of her memoirs of retirement to a Welsh hill farm, Put Out To Grass, a familiar plight I am sure to all of you who have made the same leap of faith to come and live in the hills of Wales.
Joel Williams discovers more winter memories and Llandrindod Wells and Bruce Mawdesley evokes the magic of the seashore, well away from wintry landscape of mid Wales.
Jamila Massey is an exotic Indian jewel living amongst the greenery of Montgomeryshire and you can find out all about her on Youtube.
David Stephenson introduces us to another formidable medieval chatelaine of Powis Castle, while I continue with my synopses of Donald Gregory’s Historical Guide to Radnorshire and David Wyn Davies’ account of the great Victorian department store owner, property magnate and philanthropist Owen Owen.
For proper outings, there are walks in the Elan Valley and there’s lots of entertainment for those of you who like to go out of an evening rather sit in front of the television mesmerised by Strictly Come Dancing. Montgomeryshire’s Got Talent too, as you may have enjoyed at Theatr Hafren earlier this month.
Mid Wales is certainly the home to talent as evidenced by the art exhibitions, especially John Lavrin, at Mid Wales Art Gallery and Glasbury Arts programme of events. Finally, for a rollercoaster read to keep you entertained on those dark days and nights when the fireside calls, you can find out how to get hold of Tyler Keevil’s first published novel, Fireball.
In The Dragon’s Crypt I’d like to extend a warm welcome a new poet, Lesley-Ann Dupré, who also introduces us to the pantoum, a form of poetry that is new to PenCambria and which I am sure you will enjoy. I look forward to more of this interesting poetic discipline. David Jandrell has come across a connection in his family history that has sparked his imagination with a tale of medieval derring-do. Norma Allen’s tale of a country girl about to go to town for her first job and the apprehension she feels will bring back memories, too, I am sure. Finally we end this edition of PenCambria with poem from Janet Williams, guaranteed to bring a seasonal glow to our smiles.

What was in PenCambria: Issue 14 Summer 2010?

A Worker’s Paradise!!! Brian Lawrence
Hamers and Hughes Families: book review Gay Roberts
The Abermule Train Crash – post script Transcribed by Brian Poole
The Dylife Postbus Lawrence Johnson
Madame Despard Gay Roberts with E. Ronald Morris
Put Out to Grass: Episode 3 Hi-Ho! Farm Electrics Diana Ashworth
A Peculiar Hissing Sound in Rock Park
Freemen of Llanidloes Diana Brown
The Hafren Circuit: Stage 5 Around Lake Vyrnwy David Jandrell
Hare and Hounds Gay Roberts
Robert Owen John Harrison
Owen Owen by David Wyn Davies: part 1 of a detailed synopsis Gay Roberts
Radnorshire: A Historical Guide by Donald Gregory part I of a detailed synopsis
Gay Roberts
“Those Were The Days” at Llandrindod Joel Williams
Medieval Chatelaines of Powis Castle part 4 David Stephenson
A Family Affair/Pagans & Polytopes Gay Roberts
Ty Duw Bruce Mawdesley

Life Support Tyler Keevil
Midsummer Janet Williams
The Shepherd Over The Water Norma Allen

Editorial PenCambria Issue 14 by Gay Roberts

Once again we have a journal packed full of good things which I hope you will find interesting. Some of our writers are new; some are familiar friends. As ever, some pages will make you think, some will make you chuckle, some will bring a glow of reminiscence, some
will offer you something totally new.
The construction of the Elan Valley dams in the 19th century brought in a huge number of workers all of whom had to be housed, fed and cared for. In order to attract the best quality of workman a model village was built at Llanwrthwl and an insurance scheme set up to provide top quality care paid for via premiums taken out of the men’s wages. Brian Lawrence has researched this aspect of the project and provides a fascinating insight into the lives and the health of the men who worked on these dams.
Joyce Hamer has put together the family history of the Hamer and Hughes families of Newtown and Llanidloes in a book which is a model of how to present such research in both an informative and an interesting way. One member of the family went to the site of Great Train Crash at Abermule in 1921. He wrote an account of it to his daughter who was studying at Bangor Normal College at the time and Joyce has very kindly allowed me to print it for you.
With friends in the area, Lawrence Johnson has been a frequent visitor to mid Wales for many years much of which he has spent walking the hills and the valleys, which he probably knows better than many of us who spend all our lives travelling them by car. His first venture into the wilds of PenCambria is his reminiscences of the round trip to Dylife by bus from Llanidloes.
Llanidloes has rightly been proud of the part it has played in the history of social reform and the Chartist movement. However, this did not extend en masse to supporting for votes for women. The esteemed suffragette Madame Charlotte Despard got a very rough ride when she came to the town and you can read all about that with grateful thanks to E. Ronald Morris who proved me with the information.
Meanwhile the Freemen of Llanidloes had a much more respectful reception as Diana Brown discovered from family papers and as reported in The Montgomeryshire Times.
The retired lady and gentleman from Llawryglyn find themselves at the mercy of their ancient electrics whilst converting their barn in this episode of Put Out To Grass.
The Hafren Circuit takes us around Lake Vyrnwy and up to Llangynog, taking in the Anne Griffiths Walk to Dolanog, the glimpse of wild Snowdonia at Bwlch-y-groes and the beautiful Pennant Melangell. I have also included an impression I wrote of the visit to Pennant Melangell and Llanyblodwel with the Arwystli Society several years ago. Bruce Mawdesley finds a similar peace on the Llyn Peninsular.
This month we come to the final essay on Robert Owen, this one by John Harrison who discusses the great man and the communities he founded.
Owen Owen by David Wyn Davies and Radnorshire: an Historical Guide by Donald Gregory are two books which I hope will interest you and I have begun a detailed synopsis of each one this month.
Dr David Stephenson takes us into the Grey areas of Powis Castle with Jane Orwell proving as attractive and fertile to Edward Grey, then Lord Powis, as another Jane, this one Grey by descent, was at the same time proving to be to the English monarch of Welsh descent, Henry VIII.
Joel Williams revives some more memories of Llandrindod Wells in summer.
An exciting new addition to the arts world in mid Wales is the Maesmawr Arts Centre at Caersws. Opened in October 2008 it is really on its feet now and you can read all about in this edition. To complement this article you can also read all about the Wade family of Tylwch all of whom are artists in their own special way and who all took part in a family exhibition in June this year at Maesmawr, each one displaying their own original talents.
Summertime is festival time and of the huge number to pick from I have chosen two each of a very different character to tell you about: the Machynlleth Festival which includes art and music of the highest quality; and at Pontrhydfendigaid is the Festival in the Shire which is devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien, the Lord of the Rings, hobbits and all things to do with Middle Earth. A new trail around sixteen relatively undiscovered places of worship in North Montgomeryshire, Living Stones, was inaugurated in May and I am sure many of you will be keen to go on that too. I have also included brief details of walks organised in and around the
Elan Valley by the Elan Valley Trust and those further afield, Trail Tempters 2010, by Powys County Council.
Meanwhile for those of you with Arthurian interests, Old Oswestry Landscape and Archaeology Project are holding a seminar in October entitled A Time For Arthur? Western Britain Without the Romans. This should be a real treat.
In The Dragon’s Crypt after his tour de force with Murray the Hump this month Tyler Keevil takes a well earned breather with a short story all about the tenacity of life; Janet Williams finds poetry in midsummer; and finally Norma Allen gives the Second Branch of the Mabinogion, the tale of Branwen and Llyr, a modern day twist.

What was in PenCambria: Issue 13 Spring 2010?

Black Vaughan of Hergest and the Vaughan Clan in the 15th Century Mary Oldham
Put Out To Grass 2: The Phantom Tup Diana Ashworth
1834 – A Fateful Welsh Journey, Siluria versus Cambria  Colin Humphries
A Shadow, a Lion, a Bicycle, a Pit Prop and a Prop Shaft Brian Poole
The Hafren Circuit: Stage 3 Owain Glyndwrto Machynlleth David Jandrell
Robert Owen and the Co-Operative Movement William P. Watkins
The Medieval Chatelaines of Powis Castle: Part 2 Dr David Stephenson
The Gentleman Hood: part XII End of an Era Tyler Keevil
Park House (Parc Pen Prys) Talk by Dr David Stephenson transcribed by Diana Brown
At the Bright Hem of God: Book Review Reginald Massey
The Great Fire of Llanfair Caereinion 1758 Part 2 Bryn Ellis

Margaret Collier Michael Brown
February Janet Williams
Carys’s Story Norma Allen
Time Is? Bruce Mawdesley

Editorial PenCambria Issue 13 by Gay Roberts
Well, I am sure that many of you were glad to have something to read, maybe even PenCambria, during the weeks we have been snowed up this past winter. For myself, we were snowed in from 20th December to 16th January. Luckily we had the foresight to be stocked up with provisions for two months, taking us well into February. Our neighbours’ landrover was also a lifesaver for one of our cats who, beset with a blocked bladder, needed an emergency dash to the vet. It was the end of February before we were finally free of snow on
our driveway.
However, from what I have been told before, this still does not measure up to the winter of 1947. The ladies of Clochfaen Hall, Llangurig, always remembered the snow starting on 23rd January and it being the middle of March before they were able to get supplies from the village about half a mile away. It was July before the snow finally disappeared. Do send me your winter memories if you will since I know so many of you like to share these things.
Black Vaughan of Hergest gets this edition off to a rollicking start. Mary Oldham has been researching that great Welsh family, the Vaughans, and the article she has written for us concerns the Hergest branch, in particular one Thomas Vaughan who may have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write his finest detective novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Another mysterious animal, but definitely not in the Dartmoor tradition, is the phantom tup that features in this next episode of Diana Ashworth’s memoire of retirement to a Welsh hill farm in Llawr-y-glyn.
A 19th century geological feud that literally split Wales in two is related by Colin Humphries.
Newtown’s shadow aircraft factory has inspired a most interesting feature on the Lion Works by Brian Poole. The history of industry rarely gets the coverage that it deserves and yet the importance of this factory to the conduct of World War II can hardly be overstated.
The history of another medieval lady of determination is related by Dr David Stephenson. Indeed, her very nickname, Hawise Gadarn, Hawise the Hardy, gives us a glimpse of the life she had to endure.
From Llanidloes to Machynlleth and then over the top to Llanerfyl is the route that David Jandrell takes on his next stage of the Hafren Circuit, his most enjoyable and comprehensive tour around the outskirts of Montgomeryshire.
With Robert Kennedy’s pursuit of the Outfit, the national trauma of President Kennedy’s death and the Gentleman Hood’s own demise, this month Tyler Keevil brings his epic work on Murray the Hump to an end. We have been following the career of this extraordinary Welshman by parentage for all but the first edition of PenCambria, from the next issue it will be very strange not to be looking forward to it any more. Tyler has created a hard act to follow.
Park House just outside Caersws was one of the most important houses of its day. The Arwystli Society was privileged to visit it in 2007 with Dr. David Stephenson as historical consultant and Diana Brown has transcribed a report of this visit.
A Radnorshire Pastoral by Peter Capaldi has caused Reginald Massey to wax lyrical.
We have the third of our essays on Robert Owen, this one by William P. Watkins, who looks at the Co-operative movement that Robert Owen inspired.
Bryn Ellis has produced another inventory from the 1758 Great Fire of Llanfair Caereinion that he invites our help with in the deciphering.
In response to a letter in praise of Brian Poole’s article on the lost Clywedog Valley, archaeologist Richard Scott Jones has provided a wealth of information about the uplands of Plynlimon.
Joel Williams brings us some more memories of Llandrindod Wells in Spring.
In The Dragon’s Crypt, Norma Allen has been inspired by the story of Rhiannon and Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed in the First Branch of the Mabinogion; and Michael Brown has written a poignant portrait of a woman who finds herself in the sort of dilemma that has been much in the news lately. Janet Williams’ poem celebrating February looks forward to the coming year while Bruce Mawdesley calls Time on this edition of PenCambria.