Searching for the Oldest Houses in Wales

With over 306,000 hits on the website in the last twelve months and more than a hundred members signing up since Easter the DATING OLD WELSH HOUSES GROUP is already making an impact in communities across north west Wales. “Our programme of events is very popular, with waiting lists for our guided visits to old houses and our Study Tour to St Fagans and Cosmeston Medieval village” says Margaret Dunn, Group Secretary. She has recently been made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London for her work running the successful Dating Old Welsh Houses Project and will shortly be giving a lecture on the Project to that Society in London.

Margaret added “we are excited to announce that with our partners, the Royal Commission on Ancient & Historic Monuments of Wales, we will be publishing a book titled Discovering Historic Homes in North-West Wales.”

The Project spent over £250,000, including the time given by around 200 volunteers, to date, record and research around eighty Tudor houses across the region. This was only possible with grant aid from around twenty five organisations led by the HLF. Over a hundred people attended the Annual Public Lecture held this year in Conwy.

“Searching for the Oldest Houses in Wales” has been selected as the topic for the Annual Lectures of both the Caernarfonshire and Merioneth county history societies.

Richard Suggett, of the RCAHMW, will be the speaker giving an emphasis on local buildings on each occasion. The Merioneth Historical & Record Society AGM & Lecture will be held on 6^th October at 2.00 p.m. in Llanelltyd Village Hall, and that for the Carnarfonshire Historical Society will be held on 20^th October at 2.30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Caernarfon. All are welcome. 

Margaret commented “Another development is the newly revised bilingual website: www.datingoldwelshhouses.co.uk  which contains an increasing amount of information about the project and the Group”.   Anyone interested can join the Group via the website or contact Margaret on 01766 890550.

Festival No. 6

Bleary eyed festival goers were in good spirit on the morning of the third day. Down in The Village, the re-enactment of Checkmate, by The Six of One (Prisoner appreciation society), brought back distant memories for those of us who’d watched 1960s TV. Words like ‘groovy’ come to mind?

This was followed by Osadia, a colourful duo from Barcelona performing elaborate hair transformations to willing volunteers. 

Everyone seemed to be having a good time; posh people were staying at the hotels, others in camper vans but the majority were in tents. The mix of acts, which ranged from big name groups to folk singers, poets, artists and stand up comics, worked well – an eclectic cocktail that worked in a surreal setting.

For many people this was their first visit not only to Portmeirion but to Wales. They knew they were in Wales that Sunday evening when the Brythoniaid took to the stage and gave them a male voice choir rendition of a New Order number. This is what it sounded like in rehearsal:

Quarry Power

The weekend beginning 14th September will be a celebration of old quarry engines. Full details are on the event website including guided walks. Engines on display will include the trio of Hunslets which can be seen here pulling up a gravity train on The Ffestiniog earlier this year.  

It's an elm!

20 to 25 million elms died of Dutch elm disease in the UK but don’t blame the Dutch, it was their scientist who identified it. Today it’s a rare sight to see an elm but you can find one on the drive down from Plas Tan y Bwlch towards The Oakeley Arms, on the right hand side, just after the turning to The Lodge.

The gardens are open to the public from 10am until 4pm and contain all sorts of trees. Oaks of course, giant limes, also the handkerchief tree and the tree of heaven. But for me the elm is the star – I wonder how it survived.

I'm told there are quite a few elms across the valley in Ceunant Llenerch.

Power of The Plas

It was one of the first houses in Wales to have electricity with a Gilkes turbine installed in 1905. This was used until 1928; presumably made redundant by the opening of the much larger Maentwrog hydro scheme which was big enough to power all of north Wales. Since then nuclear has been and (almost) gone and in a few months The Plas will be back to having its own hydro power generated by yet another Gilkes turbine.

Construction is fraught with conservation complication. Work on the turbine end, alongside the main road, can only be done in the summer months so as not to disturb bats. Trench work at the top end has to wait until the ecologist confirms ground nesting birds have fledged. The section through the orchard to the road has to avoid anthills. And then there are trenches beneath highly prized trees, such as the huge limes and the ‘Tree of Heaven’, which have to be hand dug to preserve the roots.

The scheme costs £420K and at current electricity prices is expected to have a ten year payback. Generating 100,000 Kw a year that’s enough for about fourteen normal households. 

Stori Traws

Stori Traws is a weekend conference, 16^th to 18^th November, celebrating the heritage of Trawsfynydd power station & electricity production in Eryri.

It's about the social as well as the technological impact of one of the largest industrial developments seen in North Wales during the last 50 years. It is an impressive story of innovation and engineering on a grand scale encompassing the three main phases of Trawsfynydd Power Station’s lifetime: construction, power production and decommissioning.

Footbridge, reactors and Stwlan

Now, as work on site is approaching its final stages, an imaginative programme is underway as part of the Trawsfynydd Heritage Strategy to safeguard this unique aspect of our industrial and social history by preserving documents, photographs, and the taped memories of former workers etc. for the future.

Nuclear power production though is only one part of the story of electricity generation in the area. Our conference timeline starts with the production and use of electric power in local quarries in the Victorian period, early hydro-electric schemes, establishing local supply networks, the National Grid, the advent of nuclear power, pump storage schemes and the recent revival in interest in micro-generation and concludes with a look to what the future might hold.

Interwoven with this story of technological revolution is the social and economic impact of such a large development as Trawsfynydd power station and the domestic transformation which followed the coming of power to people’s homes.

The conference begins at 7pm Friday 16th November with an open evening for the public; an exhibition of photos and a chance for former / present workers & their families to share memories. Followed by a presentation of ‘Stori Traws’ by Joanna Wright & Naomi Jones.

The weekend course costs £160 to £180 on a residential basis or £8 per session non-residential.

For further details contact Twm Elias at 01766 772600 or twm.elias@eryri-npa.gov.uk

Dragon's Back Race

200 miles and 45,000 feet of altitude starting at Conwy Castle on Monday 3^rd September and finishing five days later at Carreg Cennen Castle near Llandeilo. 

 A hundred competitors from fourteen countries are expected to take part in the ultimate endurance race which was last run in 1992. Day two of the race will start with an ascent of Cnicht then Moelwyn Mawr, Moelwyn Bach, through the Vale of Ffestiniog and across the Rhinogydd. Faster runners are expected to complete each day in about eight hours whilst slower competitors will be out for over sixteen before making it to the overnight tents. The mind boggles and the price for all this ‘fun’ is a mere £500 per person.

Full details can be found at Dragon’s Back Race.