Mike Madden writes:
“I have attached 2 pictures. One of the Oldham Battalion (Pals) Manchester Regiment. And one with my Grandfather’s section, George Madden, seated in the centre of the front row. I think both pictures were taken in 1914 at Kinmel Park Barracks”
We’re grateful to Mike for sharing these gems from his family’s collection.
Reader Rol Griffith is looking for details of an aircrash near Abergele in 1943. He writes:
“Does anyone one have any information of a RAF Beaufighter VIF X8261 of 406 Sqn(RCAF) based at RAF Valley which flew into the ground at high speed near Abergele after being blinded by searchlights killing the two crew F/Sgt(Pilot)WI Hereford RCAF & Sgt (Nav)JWE Robinson on 7th June 1943. Where did it crash? Any personal memories?”
Please use the comments section on this page if you have anything to share with Rol.
Judging by the comments here and on Facebook, local photographer Dennis Parr’s photographic collection has given many readers great enjoyment over the past months.
Dennis has written to say that he’s deposited his entire photographic collection, which numbers around 500 gems, with the Conwy Archives Department in Llandudno.
Ms Susan Ellis of the Archive has kept them for safekeeping and they will be available to view at the Llandudno Archives facility.
The Archive Service is based at: The Old Board School, Lloyd Street
Llandudno, Conwy LL30 2YG. (01492) 577550 archifau.archives@conwy.gov.uk
The Conwy Archive Service is open to the public every Monday to Thursday from 10:00 to 12:30 and 13:30 to 16:30.
This watchtower is called Lady Emily’s Tower. It’s near Cefn yr Ogof and is a familiar landmark to everyone who drives along the A55 north Wales coast road between Abergele and Llanddulas. It’s a 1930s folly commissioned by Lord Hesketh’s wife, Lady Emily, so she and the children could go painting and take in the air (source)
Lady Emily’s Tower is connected with Gwrych Castle. From its perch, high above North Wales’s A55 road, you can see breathtaking views east and west along the coast. Looking out to sea from the tower is stunning, with the windfarms peppering the northern horizon.
In the woodlands around the tower, you can walk along the many paths created when the tower was built.
“The headstone above the main entrance to Lady Emily’s Tower bears the words “the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands prepared the dry land”, taken from line 95:5 from Psalms of David.
“There’s a variety of access points as it’s buried in some really beautiful woodland, we park near Llandulas and walk up the scree banks from the Dolwen / Tan Rallt side. The view from here opens up quickly over the houses of Llandulas, The Beach caravan park and beyond.
The Frozen Divide Blog writes: “After forging a path through the maze of forest trails, the limestone caves lower down the cliffs are amazing fun and well worth an explore too, with popular sport climbing routes.”
There are a few stories associated with this landmark. However, my favourite is the one told to me by a friend of my father’s – on the condition that I didn’t publish his name. When he was a boy in the late 1950s, he and his friends ‘borrowed’ a tailor’s dummy of a woman from the back of an Abergele dress shop. They marched the dummy up to Lady Emily’s tower. They then hung her from a rope round her neck from the branch of a tree through the tower’s window. Seeing the body swinging over the cliff, several car drivers on the road below stopped at phoneboxes in Llanddulas and Abergele. They called the police to say they’d witnessed a tragedy.
The police retrieved the dummy from Lady Emily’s Tower and returned her to the dress shop owner. Do you know what? I don’t think my father’s friend was ever found out.
You may have walked over this moss-covered slab after crossing the Gele via the second steel bridge from what we used to call the Sixth Field to the base of Red Rock, Tower Hill. It’s a large flat stone lying on its side. But what’s its history I wonder? Was it a grave, a fallen gatepost, an old standing stone..? If you know, please let me know.
Maldwyn Huges has been in touch via our comments section to let us know about a project he’s working on to research and digitise the Abergele Town Council Archives so these treasures can be shared on the Casgliad y Werin Cymru / The People’s Collection Wales website.
Maldwyn lives just past Penrefail on the road to Llanfair TH. He’s been working with Town Clerk, Mandy Evans, on this project. After finishing with this archive he wants to offer his services by offering to scan interesting photos owned by people living in Abergele and the surrounding area. He would then pass these scans on to the bilingual People’s Collection website, which is run by the National Library of Wales.
If you’d like to work with Mal on digitising and sharing your treasured photos and items, Mal’s email address is mal.hughes (at) talktalk.net.
As he says: “We know much about the celebrities and politicians of the country, those who have the media’s spotlight turned on them, but we want to know about the ordinary men and women of Wales, their lives and their experiences.”
I took these photos looking down on Abergele when I walked up
Tower Hill last month. The shot of Tan-y-Gopa was taken in panoramic mode; click on it to zoom in:
Jack Jourdain has been in touch with news of dates of martial arts classes. He writes: “Pritchard’s Martial Arts Abergele opening up in Canolfan Dewi Sant Centre on Monday 7th September.
Dragons karate – 5pm to 5:30pm
Juniors karae – 5:45pm to 6:30pm
Adult and Teen Kickboxing – coming in October
H.A.B.I.T. – coming soon
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