‘Due to me this day £4. 7s and…’ Ink falls from the nib onto the page.…
Graham Watkins
The Mermaid of Cemaes Head
Peregrine was a fisherman, like his father and his grandfather before him, a hard workingman used…
Rowland Lee – The Hanging Judge who boasted he executed 5000 Welshmen
Rowland Lee was born in 1487, two years after the Battle of Bosworth. Originally from Northumberland,…
The Robber’s Grave
In the early 1800s Montgomery was a thriving market town. A plaque on Broad Street tells…
Giving Something Back
I belong to a writer’s group in Llandovery whose ages range from seventeen to even older…
Fort Williamsburg – A toy fort with real cannon.
When in 1549, John Wynn was King Edward VI’s standard bearer the king rewarded him with…
Castell Gwrych – A monster folly.
In the 19th Century, gothic revival architecture was the height of fashion. The new Houses of…
The Smugglers of Culver hole.
In 1702, a new crown treasury department was established, the Salt Office. A tax on salt…
Dafydd Gam – The Cross Eyed Knight
Fluellen: “If your Majesty is remembered of it, the Welshmen did good service in a garden…
The Press Gangs of Swansea
In 1803 a Royal Naval Officer named William Harries visited the tiny hamlet of Llangynnwr in…
Hywel’s Law
After the Romans departed, Wales split into small kingdoms. One of them was the kingdom of…
The Princess of Rhuddlan.
Rhuddlan castle was a fine palace. Inside the castle there were great state rooms where a…
Dry Bridge Lodge
Strangers travelling along a minor road south west of Mostyn are surprised to find themselves driving…
The Salt Smugglers of Mawddach
The Salt Smugglers of Mawddach “The only thing worse than a smuggler is the excise man…
Six foot three Mr. Jones slept with his feet sticking out of the window.
Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne when a rather unusual house was built in Conwy.…
The Curse of Nant Gwrtheyrn
Gwrtheyrn was a British King who lived in Kent during the 5th Century. He was a…
Researching family history can throw up some surprises.
The gravestone was leaning against the wall of the church. I walked over and read the…
Henry Paget’s Leg
Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, a battle which changed the course of…
So why did Mr. Jones build a funny looking castle?
The practice of erecting a memorial to a loved one is common enough but when William…
Eliseg or Elisedd – so whose pillar was it?
Elisedd ap Gwylog was a 1st Century King of Powys and a descendant of Brochweil Ysgithrog,…