What a difference 44 years makes.
Category: topography
Harp Court, Abergele
Harp Court, Abergele. These flats were built here by Eldon R. Gorst, Abergele. Gorst bought the site from Richard Pearce, Auctioneers. Previously, the site had been used as a pig market.
Harp Court, Abergele. Adeiladwyd y fflatiau yma gan Eldon R. Gorst, Abergele. Prynnwyd Gorst Y safle oddi wrth cwmni arwerthwyr Richard Pearce, Abergele. Ynghynt ‘roeed y safle yma yn cael ei defnyddio yn farchnad moch.
Llaethdai Abergele dairies and commercial milk producers
Gyda diolch i Gwynn Williams, yn enedigol o Lanefydd, wedi byw yn Abergele a bellach yn Rhyl.
Here’s a list from from local singer, actor and historian Gwynn Williams showing how many farms, outlets and dairy companies sold milk in Abergele in the first half of the 20th Century:
Glan Llyn – Williams
Ty Mawr
Pen Llyn
Bryn Gwyn
Bowdon House – William Jones
Fern Bank
Siamber Wen
Tim Roberts
Jenkins
Hylas Dairies – up St George’s Rd
Tan Dderwen – Manners
Bryn Coch – Lewis
Nant Fawr – Edward Jones
I’m grateful to Gwynn for sharing this list.
When I showed this list to local historian Brian Haynes, he added another name an a nice story about :
Farmer Roberts the Weatherman in Pensarn.
Brian says:
“The Royal Welsh Show was held on part of his land. He’d come out of his farm in Pensarn every day with two half churns balanced on either side of his bike. His weather forecasting ability was second to none. But one day, someone asked him: ‘what’s the weather going to be like today Farmer Roberts?’ and he replied: ‘I don’t know, the battery’s just run out on me radio!'”
Brian printed a set of maps and ringed the commercial dairy outlets listed by Gwynn. Here’s a detail:
St George’s Rd, Abergele
Here’s a photo of St George’s Rd, Abergele, by Sion Jones.
Water St., Abergele
Abergele and The People’s Collection Wales
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.”
Gwynt y Môr
In September 2013, the offshore wind-turbine electricity generation project Gwynt y Mor began producing power. Here is a photo by Sion Jones of its construction…
Early road plan of Abergele. Very old map.
I’m not sure of the age of this old road plan of Abergele, owned by Dennis Parr, but it looks very old. It shows the old – now demolished – houses on Peel Street. Apart from those lining Market Street, other buildings are sparse.
Can anyone help to date this map please?
In the days of Woolies
It’s always good to be reminded of how Market St used to look in the days when Woolworth’s was still open. Here’s a colour postcard from the last millennium to give a burst of nostalgia. Because of the miniskirts, I’d date it as late 1960s.
There are lots of interesting features: the old Goerge & Dragon pub sign; the sun shades over the shops on the right; the green Crosville double decker bus in the distance; the old roadsigns outside Woolies on the right and pointing to Llanfair TH on the left; the Volkswagen Beetle; etc…
Cae Stalwyn, Abergele
This relatively new housing estate is called Cae Stalwyn – Welsh for Stallion Field. This is an apt name as the houses were built on the site of the old horse sale field where the stallions were chosen by owners of mares.
Stâd o dai newydd o’r enw Cae Stalwyn, Ffordd Rhuddlan, Abergele.