Cambrian Railway

What was in PenCambria: Issue 29 Summer 2015?

/ Gay Roberts

Issue 29 Introduction and Contents at a glance

INTRODUCTION 

Well, what profusion of centenary commemorations we have this month! Continuing with our tributes to the war time generation, this issue remembers both world wars. Brian Lawrence has documented month by month Rhayader’s involvement in and reaction to World War I and this time we hear something about life from January to July 1915. Brian Poole has been investigating the contribution of the men of the Cambrian Railway, specifically three men from Caersws, to the war effort and Diana Ashworth has been looking through back numbers of the Montgomeryshire Express to find how VE day was celebrated in 1945in mid Wales.

Lawrence Johnson considers the bloody history of a pile of bones found in the church of St Llwchaiarn at Llanmerewig in 1892.

Richard Meredith treats us to another aspect of his extraordinary family history – the builders, and their lasting legacies of edifices of all kinds from houses to chapels to bridges and a reservoir are still part of our everyday environment.

Another centenary is celebrated this year at Bryn Tail Cottage which has housed an Outdoor Summer School for Central Secondary School in Birmingham since 1915. Richard Fryer tells us all about it. While researching the life of the late Emlyn Hooson Diana Brown found out so much about the Liberal Party and its links with Montgomeryshire that she decided to write about it for this edition and cover Emlyn’s life in a later issue.

Jo Florin was one of those souls that come to mid Wales after a very much out-of-the-ordinary life elsewhere and find a haven here to settle down and develop a life away from the stresses of modernity and to end their days, which indeed Jo did last year. Andy Scrase knew her well and has written an appreciation of her which will chime with all those who knew her. In Llawryglyn our retired couple hope they can give their dog benefit of the doubt regarding the wound on their dog’s leg, which they hope has come from an heroic stand taken to defend a sheep against an intruder hound.

A crop of interesting books has been brought to our notice this month. Newtown History Group has published two very different books – A Brief Survey of Public Houses, Inns and Taverns of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, and Letters from the Front 1914-1918, a collection of letters sent home to Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn by some of the men involved.   The Dolanog Booklet Group has brought out a  booklet all about Dolanog. Meanwhile this month Gwen Prince reviews a recently published book about climate change by George Marshall; and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales have published two new books: one about the history of the slate industry in north Wales and the other about their discoveries of Roman life from their excavations of the Roman villa at Abermagwr, near Aberystwyth. For those of you eager to read the next instalment of E.Ronald Morris’s account of the Chartists’ uprising in Llanidloes, lack of space prevented its appearance in this issue, so it will continue in the next edition out at the end of October.

In the Dragon’s Crypt Gaynor Jones paints a beautifully sensitive picture of a mother taking her child to be admitted to school for the first time; Norma Allen completes her tale of the Welsh migrants’ journey to Patagonia; Reginald Massey expresses his love of Wales in some wonderfully heartfelt verse (SEE BELOW); Bruce Mawdesley remembers summers of childhood brought to life by John Selly’s illustration, and Amber Louise Robinson asks us what happens when we silence the world – a profound question from a 17 year old.

 CONTENTS

ROD Brian Poole 

Victory in Europe –  VE Day in Mid Wales Diana Ashworth

Blood and Fire Lawrence Johnson

A Legacy in Stone, Bricks & Mortar Richard Meredith

Don’t Even Think About It : Why Our Brains are Wired to Ignore Climate Change :

George Marshall book review Gwen Prince

Bryn Tail Cottage Richard Fryer

A Local Gladstone vs Disraeli Diana Brown

World War One in Rhayader : January to July 1915  Brian Lawrence

The Story of Jo Andy Scrase

Put Out To Grass : part 16: Dog Days Diana Ashworth

Roman Life in Abermagwr: Villa Finds Go On Display In Ceredigion Museum RCAHMW

New Publications reviewed:

Dolanog – Village on the Vyrnwy

From the Newtown Local History Group

–  A Brief Survey of Public Houses, Inns and Taverns in Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn :

–  Letters from the Front 1914-1918 Newtown & Llanllwchaiarn

From the RCAHMW:

– Welsh Slate: Archaeology and History of an Industry

  The Dragons Crypt

School Admission Gaynor Jones – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -43

Mimosa Journal  Norma Allen – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –  44

Lines from Llani Reginald Massey – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –  51

“All on a Summer’s Day” Bruce Mawdesley, illustration John Selly– – – – – – – – – – – 52

A Song in Silence  Amber Louise Robinson  – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 53

LINES FROM LLANI

I now proclaim my immense wealth.
I live in Wales, the Land of Bards.
I know it rains and winds are cold;
But grass is green and sheep are hard.

I am not Welsh by blood nor birth
But they have taken me to heart.
And hence I thank the Welsh nation;
They are indeed a world apart.

My London friends still think I’m mad
That I deserted them for Wales.
But I never made a better choice;
I love the oaks, I love the gales.

The Mid-Walians possess warm hearts
And have a sense of decency.
They are the salt of God’s good earth;
I love them all and they love me.

Reginald Massey

 

 

What was in PenCambria: Issue 23 Summer 2013?

/ Gay Roberts / Leave a comment

Aberystwyth: the Biarritz of Wales Gaynor Jones
My Roots: Part 2 – Cor Hafren Richard Meredith
Cor Hafren Photographs
Mid Wales Railway and Associated Lines to Brecon: 50th Anniversary of Closure Anon, submitted by Colin Breeze

The Naming of Parts Lawrence Johnson
A Secret Legacy Diana Ashworth
An English Admiral and a Welsh Hill Reginald Massey
The Montgomeryshire Bench in the 1870s Rachael Jones & Gay Roberts
The Reality of Lambing Without Spring Diana Ashworth
Grus Grus at Caersws Brian Poole
Put Out To Grass part 11: Raining Cats & Dog Diana Ashworth
The Water Mills of Radnorshire R.M. Williams
Riot on the Mid Wales Railway: Llanidloes and Newtown Telegraph article submitted by Brian Lawrence

Coronation Day Diana Ashworth, the County Times and a few others
Freedom of the City of London for Reginald Massey
Knit for Britain From Above Campaign Natasha Scullion and Sandra Bauer

The Dragon’s Crypt:

Saturday Night Dance Norma Allen
Letter from the Llyn Bruce Mawdesley, illustration by John Selly

Editorial PenCambria Issue 23 by Gay Roberts
It is the summer holiday season once again and, up to the date of printing, we appear to having the sort of summer that has been just a distant memory for so long. Well, to celebrate, or rather to commemorate, we start with a memory from Gaynor Jones of more summer holidays in Aberystwyth in the 1950s. This article is a follow-up to her first memory there of a holiday, aged three years old, as printed in PC22.
Apart from the Cardiff services, from a network that covered the whole country, there are only three railway lines left in Wales. This industry, along with coal and various metal works, once provided the work that made Wales prosperous in so many ways. All these industries are now reduced to a wraith of their former services, and so it is very pleasing to be reminded of how integral they were to life in Wales. This we can enjoy in an article, author unknown, written in 2004 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the closure of lines through mid Wales to Brecon.
Mid Wales is famous for its highly descriptive names of features in the countryside and Lawrence Johnson has been investigating the wilds of Plynlimon once again, this time as a lexicographer – he has been finding out what some of the names up there might mean.
Diana Ashworth has had a really busy few months on our behalf. Long before the advent of the NHS, we kept ourselves well with herbal remedies, a practice for which Wales has been famous for generations. As a retired GP, she has been looking into this from the point of view of a modern practitioner, and has shed a very interesting light on some of the remedies used, in comparison to today’s knowledge, with a particular emphasis on Nicolas Culpeper, the 17th century herbalist whose work still provides the standard body of knowledge for anyone learning this ancient art.
This year has been terrible year for Welsh sheep farmers and as Diana and her husband now have a small hill farm, she takes us through the hardship and heartbreak of those months. But, not to be beaten, the retired lady and gentleman from Llawryglyn still appreciate the funny side of life with their hearthside animal companions.
Reginald Massey has been visiting the Montgomeryshire borderlands, and at Breidden he came across Rodney’s Pillar, the tale of which he relates here. He has also become a Freeman
of the City of London, for which we must congratulate him, and you can read all about that too.
Richard Meredith remembers another choir with which he sung, this time Cor Hafren. With so many members, I have printed two different photographs so that you can enjoy seeing who was who in the 1950s.
I am very pleased to welcome local historian Rachael Jones back into the pages of PenCambria. She has been researching the Montgomeryshire Bench in the 1870s and we have a very interesting article based on a talk she gave to Powysland Club in April this year plus an account of a trial in Newtown 1869 to which I have added my own thoughts.
Rhayader has always had a mind of its own, so to speak, and Brian Lawrence has uncovered more riots in a very uncomfortable episode that happened between the Welsh and Irish navvies when the Elan Valley dams were being built. Calming things down a bit, in the gentle countryside of Radnorshire, R.H.Williams gives us tour around the water mills of St. Harmon Parish.
Royalist or republican, Protestant or Catholic, 1953 was one of the two years that marked the beginning of modern Britain. In 1945 the Atlee government that gave us the NHS, full state education and the Welfare State. In 1953 the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was the start of a brighter, more hopeful age after the dreadful slaughter of the two world wars and the years of greyness and austerity which followed as Britain struggled to recover from near bankruptcy. It was also the first event that virtually the country watched as it happened on the newly available television sets. Many people have all sorts of memories of that day sixty years ago and now, thanks to Diana Ashworth once more, we have a literary snapshot to complement them.
How are your knitting skills? One of the most delightful projects I have ever come across is the brainchild of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales. This august body would like us all to Knit Aeroplanes for Britain From Above – yes, really! Natasha Scullion and Sandra Brauer will tell you all about it, including how to get hold of the knitting patterns.
In The Dragon’s Crypt Norma Allen goes out dancing while Bruce Mawdelsey contemplates evening on the Llyn Peninsular.

What was in PenCambria: Issue 6 Autumn 2006?

/ Gay Roberts / Leave a comment

Life in Radnorshire Eileen Williams

“Are You Church or Chapel?” – part III Michael Brown

Bob Hyde Rachael Jones

The Deadly Tablet: The 1921 Abermule Train Crash – part I David Burkhill-Howarth

Working at the Post Office in the Winter of 1947 Joel Williams

The Llanfyllin Union Workhouse John Hainsworth

Town Planning in the Upper Severn Valley – Medieval Style Dr David Stephenson

The Use of Modern Technology for Research Rachael Jones

Caersws, Moat Lane and the Cambrian Railways Brian Poole

The Gentleman Hood – part V Tyler Keevil

The Great Mid Wales Land Grab – part III Gay Roberts

A Trip to the Old Homestead Eileen Williams

Rain? Diana Ashworth
Song of the Van Cynthia Mills
A Cat’s Party Harry M. Scharff
Do You Remember the Gooseberries? Norma Allen
A Woman’s Prerogative Ellen Hywater

Editorial PenCambria Issue 6 by Gay Roberts

Well, after one of the hottest summers ever, it seems as though we are plunging earlier than ever into the cold of winter. If any of you have memories of Wales during notable weather periods I shall be very happy to publish them. The winters of 1947, 1963 and 1980-2 are the ones that spring to mind immediately, as well as the summer of 1976, which I mentioned briefly in the last edition. I was not here in 1947 or 1963, but I remember the early 1980s vividly. For several weeks over the 1980-1 winter months, temperatures dropped to -23 degrees centigrade – it was far too cold to work it out in Fahrenheit – and many trees were killed by the resulting permafrost. Diesel turned to jelly and drivers were lighting fires under their vehicles to get the engines warm enough to turn over. In 1982 temperatures dropped to about – 18°C and on the night of Thursday 5th January it snowed a blizzard. We woke up to a world of white and Llanidloes was cut off from the outside world by a 10 foot snowdrift down the pitch. With no daytime warmth to melt the top of the snow and form a nice crisp covering the snow stayed powdery. On the Friday morning I had to walk the four miles from Tylwch to Llangurig, with sledge, to get cat food and other supplies. On the Saturday I had to walk the same distance, with sledge, to Llani to get chicken feed. Once I was on the A470, it was easy, but walking the two miles there from the house – our normal B-road was out of the question – was like wading through talcum powder.
This month’s main feature is the Abermule train crash of 1921. David Burkhill-Howarth has written a very lively, detailed and comprehensive account of this disaster, which is known throughout the world wherever there is a single line railway system. It is published in two parts and in this issue he deals with the events leading up to the crash. David is one of the five new writers who I am very pleased to welcome this month.
Eileen Williams is a native of Radnorshire and has written two delightful pieces about rural life in the county. The first gives an insight into the medical practices, smock-making and wife-selling in the “good old days”; the second is of a chance visit she made to yours truly in the summer. Her grandmother had lived in my house and as part of the family continuity, she wished to show it to her daughter and granddaughter, who came with her. We had a very pleasant afternoon and I am pleased to say that she has agreed to write for us.
Diane Ashworth is a newcomer to Mid Wales, but she has certainly got the feel of the place and the language. The fluidity of her prose flows from her pen – or keyboard – onto the paper like the rain she has observed so imaginatively permeating Wales and its culture.
Harry Scharff came across PenCambria on a visit Llanbadarn Fynydd while his wife was looking for her Welsh ancestors. A talented writer, Harry’s muse, dormant for sometime, has been re-awakened by the idea of The Dragon’s Crypt and his first story for us, The Cat’s Party, will, in its way, remind many of you, I am sure, of the French film, La Ronde.
Ellen Hywater shows how internet dating should be approached with caution.
Of our established team, Michael Brown brings the story of the China Street organ to a rousing finish. Many of you will, I know, be aware of the campaign to restore and preserve the Llanfyllin Workhouse, Y Dolydd, and John Hainsworth, who wrote that very moving tribute to the men of the North Wales slate quarries in the last issue, is one of the leading lights in this campaign, which he tells us all about in this issue. Railways are Brian Poole’s passion and this month he goes into the rise and fall of the railways in Mid Wales, the subsequent development of the bus services and the importance of Caersws and Moat Lane as the gateway to the rest of Wales and the Marches. Joel Williams takes us back to the winter of 1947 in Llandrindod Wells.
In her previous article re-creating an early 20th century walk to Madog’s Wells, Rachael included a picture of Dr Bob Hyde. For this issue she has sent us a profile of Dr Hyde whose extraordinary career has brought him to the bookshop in Knighton. This was previously published in Mensa Magazine. She has also written of her experiences tracing a family through the internet, a very popular pastime these days. As part of the studies for her MA in Local History, she was recently awarded a distinction for her project on the historical significance of the Devon landscape in comparison with the Llanidloes area of the Montgomeryshire landscape, for which, Rachael, our heartiest congratulations.
Dr David Stephenson gives us an insight into how our towns in the Severn Valley were planned. Logaston Press have published some fine books on the architecture and prehistory of Wales this year and you can read all about these too. Tyler Keevil has delved even deeper into the murky world of 1930s Chicago with Murray the Hump. Finally we emerge to draw a welcome breath of clean Mid Wales air with Norma Allen reminiscing about gooseberries and Cynthia Mills lifting our eyes, voices and hearts to the hills.

What was in PenCambria: Issue 2 Summer 2005?

/ Gay Roberts / Leave a comment

The Gentleman Hood – first part of the history of Murray the Hump, notorious accountant for Al Capone. Tyler Keevil

Walking the Van.  Brian Poole

The Beginning of Education in Llanidloes.  E Ronald Morris

Trefeglwys Engineers Reverend Malcolm Tudor

The Origins of Llanidloes Dr. David Stephenson

Eiluned Lewis Reginald Massey

Llandrindod Wells – An Exceptionally Fashionable Town Peter Dean

Jonathan Sleigh – A Tribute Alan Sillitoe

The Parthenon of Wales Gay Roberts

The Powis Family Album Gay Roberts

Welsh Tradition Tune Club Gary Northeast

The Lamplighter Norma Allen
The Day It Happened August Mullen
The Case of the Lingo Larceny Matt Maus

Pen Cambria Issue 2 Editorial by Gay Roberts

Welcome to PenCambria No.2 and before I go any further, my very grateful thanks are long overdue to everyone who helped me get the first issue off the ground and who are still supporting on its second outing as well as all our new contributors and distributors.
I am very pleased with the response to PenCambria No.1. It has been available in shops in Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire since April. We also have eight new contributors to this issue, I am delighted to say, as well as four from last time. There would have been five but Nick Venti’s findings on General Valentine Jones will be published in the PenCambria No. 3.
This issue has quite a different flavour from the last one. As part of our oral history, we have a very entertaining piece about the hotels of Llandrindod Wells and some of the town’s colourful characters as told to me in conversation with Peter Dean, whose family has lived in the area for 400 years.
Teachers are perhaps Wales greatest export and education came very early to Mid Wales, albeit a religious one first of all. Ronald Morris, who as so many of you know is an absolute gold mine of information about Mid Wales and Llanidloes in particular, has written a most informative piece about the beginnings of education in the town in the 19th century.
Tyler Keevil has turned from fiction to fact for this issue and has been researching Murray the Hump. In the first of a four-part series he begins to dish the dirt on one of Mid Wales’ most notorious characters.
The Arwystli Society was treated to a very enjoyable talk by Brian Poole on the Van Railway and he has described a walk he took along the old railway track from the Van mines to Caersws in the process of updating a book on the subject in which he has collaborated.
From Trefegwlys to Sardinia, it is extraordinary how Mid Walians have brought the benefits of technology to the some of the most remote areas of the world. Malcolm Tudor gives us a glimpse of one such in the person of Benjamin Piercy,
A writer from Newtown who was compared with Jane Austen thirty years ago but who now all but forgotten in her home area, Eiluned Lewis was rediscovered by Reginald Massey who reminds us of just how important a writer she was and of the company she kept.
In our first edition, Jonathan Sleigh gave us a very moving and much appreciated account of his experience as a cancer patient. This was to be the first of two, maybe several episodes of the progress of his recovery. Unfortunately, he lost his battle with this scourge of our time and died at the end of April. His friend Alan Sillitoe (no, not THAT Alan Sillitoe) has very kindly sent me a copy of the tribute he paid at Jonathan’s funeral service and gives us an insight into the life of this man who had such a variety of jobs and interests and gave so much of himself to his friends and his family. The last time I saw Jonathan, he suggested that we might have a series of articles on people who had moved into Mid Wales and stayed here. I think this was a series he himself was planning to write. I would like to think that this portrait of him might be the first of such a series.
I have been out and about on guided tours of the paintings and statues of Powys Castle and, with the Arwystli Society, of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth and you can read all about these as well.
The folk music tradition is alive and well in Mid Wales and Gary Northeast tells us about the tune club he formed in Llanfyllin last year and invites anyone who is interested to go along.
We have an update on Powys Archives from the manager Catherine Richards.
The Dragon’s Crypt is full of goodies this month with a charming but slightly edgy story that will have your heart in your mouth from Norma Allen, a tale of the heart in the classic Edgar Allen Poe tradition from August Mullen, and another philological tour de force from Matt Maus that will having you reaching for your dictionary of English grammar. Play it again, Matt.
Finally, the pictures filling in the spaces between the articles are all from the recent Work Together exhibition of painting, photography and sculpture at the Minerva Arts Centre in Llanidloes.