Tag: Wales
Cornelius Varley again
I’ve been revisiting the miraculous drawings made by Cornelius Varley when he spent time in Dolgellau in the summer of 1803. The end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century was an age of wonder for watercolour painting in Britain, but I think it’s a shame that Varley’s name isn’t celebrated as widely […]
Stanley Spencer at Llanfrothen
1938 was a difficult year for Stanley Spencer. His marriage to his wife Hilda Carline had been in trouble for years. Divorce followed in 1937, though the two never lost contact. His relationship with the artist Patricia Preece, whom he’d met in 1929, had been close and obsessive – he commemorated it in several nude […]
The 20mph revolt
I usually float through the sewage and green algae of political debate in the UK buoyed up by a comforting belief: that here in Wales people are in some way insulated from the worst of the reactionary and cruel madness that now passes for politics in Westminster. Comforting, but, I fear, quite wrong. The extreme […]
Early archaeology in Wales: the ‘Precambrian’ era
The Cambrian Archaeological Association, established in 1847, was the first society devoted to the study of archaeology of Wales. This piece aims to tell the story of archaeology before that date. Archaeology, in the sense of the systematic study of the material remains of prehistoric and early historic times, can hardly be said to have […]
The Cambrian Archaeological Association in the 19th century
The first society in Wales devoted to the study of archaeology, the Cambrian Archaeological Association, was founded in 1847, largely through the efforts of two Welsh clergymen, Rev. Harry Longueville Jones (1806-1870) and Rev. John Williams, ‘Ab Ithel’ (1811-1862). Longueville Jones, London-born and not a Welsh speaker, had led a varied life: he was educated […]
A black hole in green transport?
An anecdote is a dangerous base for an argument, I know, but today that’s not going to stop me from a grouse about public transport. Yesterday I needed to get from Mumbles to Cardiff Bay. These days I try to keep the car in the drive, unless there’s no reasonable alternative, and I didn’t think […]
Yn y Gororau
Nid yw’n bosib i Mike Parker ysgrifennu llyfr sych a difywyd, a dyw ei lyfr diweddaraf ar y ffin rhwng Cymru a Lloegr, All the wide borders, ddim yn eithriad. Mae i’r gyfrol strwythur diddorol. Tair rhan sydd ynddi, sy’n gyfatebol i’r tri phrif afon yn ardaloedd y ffin, Afon Dyfrdwy, Afon Hafren ac Afon […]
Francis Place, pioneer artist and potter
In the late seventeenth century York was a lively intellectual centre. The York Virtuosi – modesty was not one of their features – were a group of scientists, historians and artists including the zoologist Martin Lister, the antiquarian and historian of Leeds Ralph Thoresby and the glass painter Henry Gyles. Another member was a pioneering […]
Stephen W. Williams, engineer, architect, archaeologist
His name’s been familiar to me for years, but it’s only in recent months that I’ve got to know him better. In May this year I happened to stay the night in Penralley House, his home in Rhayader, and earlier in our walk up the Wye we passed Bryn Wern, a country house he designed […]
Mr Bebb’s dislike of the motor car
Not many people these days have heard of Ambrose Bebb. Maybe some Welsh speakers, especially following Robin Chapman’s 1997 biography, but very few others. His son Dewi Bebb, the rugby player, and his grandson Guto Bebb, the former MP, are probably much better known. In the interwar period, though, Ambrose Bebb was known for his […]
