Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Wales Trip Report - 2014

In early May of 2013, daughter Diana posed the question, “Where are we going on our next trip.” At the time I was busy preparing for a family reunion by reviewing some family background information provided over the years by family members. This background consisted of memories provided verbally by my mother and written down by family members, an outline of my families history from the earliest member (John Fox Price) to settle in Tennessee and some sketchy information purporting to trace his lineage back to an early colonist (also named John Price) who came from Wales in the early 1600s.

Although I have always enjoyed history, I have never been very interested in genealogy. It just seems to me that we are who we are and who are ancestors were doesn't really change that. Nevertheless, on finding that a connection to the early Prices of Virginia had been accepted based on very skimpy evidence, I investigated further.

I found that most of the information given to me on early family ancestry in America had been derived from a book by a Rev. Benjamin Luther Price published in 19201. This book provided information relating to John Price who arrived in Virginia from Wales before 1920 and his descendants in Virginia. However, the book did not trace the family to the John Fox Price who arrived in Tennessee in the early 1800s, supposedly the first of our family to settle there. Further work did disclose additional information which satisfied me that there was a valid link to the descendants of the earlier John Price in Virginia.

This limited effort reinforced my belief that spending a lot of time on personal genealogy was not worth the effort. On the other hand, I had now developed an interest in learning more about the country that produced that early American colonists, so I told Diana that I wanted to visit Wales. Now relieved of the tedium of tracing individual persons from generation to generation, I started reading about Welsh history in general and the origin of the Welsh people.

In his book, A History of Wales, historian John Davies writes that “once upon a time, the Welsh knew when their history began.2” They accepted the circa 1136 account of their early British history written by Geoffrey of Monmouth3, second bishop of St. Asaph4, and author of The History of the Kings of Britain. He wrote that the first humans to settle in Britain were descendants of Aeneas of Troy. The same Aeneas who, in Greek mythology, was the son of Aphrodite5. Geoffrey wrote that Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas who escaped when Troy fell to the Greeks, had three sons, Locrinus, Camber and Albanactus, who created England, Wales and Scotland respectively6.

A recent more scholarly explanation presented by Stephen Oppenheimer, titled Myths of British ancestry, was published in the October 21, 2006 edition of Prospect Magazine. Oppenheimer says that according to genetic analysis, the original genetic stock for Wales came from Basque hunter gatherers who arrived between 15,500 and 7,500 years ago. This would have been “after the melting of the ice caps but before the land broke away from the mainland and divided into islands7.” He claims that this separation from the mainland has preserved the ice-age genetic stock of southwestern Europe which the people of the British Isles share “most closely with the former ice-age refuge in the Basque country.” Oppenheimer indicates that these settlers may have spoken a language related to the Basque language.

He goes on to say that genetic analysis further shows that southern England has received about one-third of its population since the hunter-gatherer period. Percentages received in other regions are: Ireland 12%, Wales and Cornwall 20% and Scotland 30%8.

He writes that Celtic languages were likely spread by agriculturalists from Anatolia about 7,000 years ago who traveled along the Mediterranean “to Italy, France, Spain and then up the Atlantic coast to the British Isles. There is a dated archaeological trail for this. My genetic analysis shows exact counterparts for this trail both in the male Y chromosome and the maternally transmitted mitochondrial DNA right up to Cornwall, Wales, Ireland and the English south coast9.”

According to Davies, in AD 4810 the Romans, having already occupied the south and east of the island, reached the River Dee (Afon Dyfrdwy) and received the submission of the Decangli (a Welsh tribe). But subjugation of the Welsh turned out to be a long, costly effort which was not accomplished until around AD 7911. Roman rule in Britain came to an end in about AD 410.12

During the years between AD 400 and AD 600, according to Davies, “the main kingdoms of Wales” were established and Brythonic was transformed “into a language which can be recognized as Welsh”13 He writes that it was also the period when Wales was pervaded by Christianity14.

Meanwhile, the Welsh retained their separateness, as demonstrated by the construction of Offa's Dyke during the reign of Merca's King Offa (AD 757 – AD 796). The dyke was not fortified, but was rather meant to define the border between English Mercia and Wales.15

The Viking presence in Wales was not as extensive as in England. Although it apparently began around 800 and seems to have continued until around 1150, the Norsemen were unable to develop large settlements and kingdoms as they did in England and elsewhere in the British Isles16. The BBC Wales History site, however, indicates that they “did settle “in South West Wales areas including St David's, Haverfordwest and the Gower.

Meanwhile, the Viking invaders were also menacing large parts of Europe, including the colonization of a part of France, which became the Duchy of Normandy under the Viking leader, Rollo, in 91117. In 1066 William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, invaded England, seized the crown and became its first Norman King, William I. Although the Normans became masters of England in a few years, Wales, less centralized, was more resistant, eventually becoming divided between the Norman Lords of the March18 and the native rulers from the old royal lines19. Wales was not firmly under the rule of the English King until 1485 when Henry Tudor (Henry VII), of English, Welsh and French royal lineage, became king.

About 100 years later, in 1494, a John Price was born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales. Although the identification is based on sketchy and unverified information he is apparently my earliest known ancestor. He married a Florence Clunn and is said to have been the Great Great Grandfather of the John Price who emigrated to the Virginia Colony in the early 1600s. From that point, the line of succession is fairly well documented20.

Diana and I (mostly Diana) had done some minimal planning for the trip. Neither of us was interested in any detailed genealogical work. We just wanted to get a look at the area where our distant ancestors lived and then enjoy traveling in a country that was foreign but still familiar to us.

Although I had earlier toyed with the idea of traveling by Amtrak to meet Diana in Washington, DC, I quickly ruled that out based on the expense of a March Amtrak trip. Instead I took the Arizona Shuttle to Phoenix on 1 May, stayed overnight at the Airport Best Western and took a United flight to Washington National Airport in DC. From there I took a taxi to Diana's office and rode home with her to spend the night. The next day we took a car to Dulles Airport and then flew on United to Dublin, Ireland.
Bright red door

We had a nine hour layover in Dublin and took the opportunity to see the sights of the city. A short bus ride brought us to downtown and we set out on foot to explore the city. One of the first things to draw our attention was a bright red door (right). Placed in a wall painted a neutral tone and set off with bright white trim, it presented a quite attractive appearance.

Turning our attention from the red door we found ourselves looking down a narrow street with spacious sidewalks, lined on both sides by shops and set off at the end by St Ann's Church.



Anne Street South, ending at St. Ann's Church of Ireland
National Museum of Archaeology
Diana wanted to visit the National Museum of Archaeology, but it was a bank holiday and the museum (left) was closed.

We next headed to St. Stephen's Green Park where we expected to enjoy a few minutes of quiet in a peaceful setting. We approached the park from the northeast corner where we found two sculptures created by Edward Delaney in 1967.
Wolfe Tone
The first of these (right) commemorates Wolfe Tone, a leading Irish revolutionary figure who died in a British prison while awaiting execution. The second sculpture (below, left), located just on the other side of the wall shown behind the Tone statue, commemorates the Great Famine of 1740-1741.

The Great Famine
As an aside, I later learned that Wolfe Tones son, William Theobald Wolfe Tone, served as a Lieutenant in the French Army, emigrated the the United States after the defeat of Napoleon, and was commissioned a Captain in the US Army.

St. Stephens Green was indeed a peaceful place, even considering the increased numbers of visitors on this bank holiday. Most holidayers seemed more interested in the commercial delights of the streets, with just a few strollers enjoying the park.



Peaceful scene in St. Stephens Green Park
Sculpted street light
But, because our time was short and we wanted to visit the Molly Malone Statue, we didn't linger long in the park. Instead, with the lyrics of “Sweet Molly Malone” (to hear a Live performance of the song go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruNdU6bGE5E21) echoing in our minds, we set off for its location at the nearby corner of Suffolk and Grafton Streets. Along the way, we admired the ornate, intricately sculpted street lights (right) on Dawson Street.

At the time of our visit a campaign to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) was in full swing. Campaign posters, very similar to those seen at home, adorned every lamppost. The poster in the foreground below supports a Socialist who opposes, among other things, compulsory health insurance. It reminded me of some of the rants against “Obamacare” in the United States and I wondered what the term “compulsory health insurance” really meant in Ireland and what the European Parliament might do about it. But, being a guest in the country and short of time at that, I didn't ask.

Political signs for the upcoming European Parliament election
When we arrived at the corner of Suffolk and Grafton Streets, we found that the Molly Malone Statue had been temporarily removed to allow for the construction of a streetcar line. It was
Molly Malone
represented by a poster and I extracted an image of Molly and her cart (left) from a photograph of the poster.

Heading next to Dublin Castle, we came upon the below scene and paused to take a photograph. I am not altogether sure just what grabbed our attention. Perhaps it was the contrast between the ornate building housing the Dublin Tourism Information Center at left and the three plain, but multicolored, buildings centered by Louis Copeland Outfitters lined up along Wicklow Street in the background. Then again it could have been the colorful blue door and the seemingly misplaced statue just to its right contrasted with the unexpectedly drab utility building with a single parked car.

View from St Andrews Street in Dublin looking south toward buildings
 on Wicklow Street

While we were photographing the scene, an Irish gentleman, probably in his sixties, with a new camera stopped to ask what caused us to be interested in that particular scene. He seemed quite sincere and Diana explained what had drawn our interest. He then decided to take a photograph himself and it turned out that he was still learning to use his camera. He was most pleased when Diana offered to give him a few operating tips.

Medieval Dublin Castle
We left the Irish gentleman happily playing with his camera and continued on our way to Dublin Castle. We learned that a Viking fortress stood on the site around 930. The Vikings were defeated by the Irish in 1014 who were in turn defeated by the Normans in 1169. Each in turn had some sort of fortification at the site. In 1204, King John ordered the erection of a strong castle on the site to protect the city. This was completed in 1230. According to information posted at the site, the Great Courtyard (upper castle yard) of today corresponds closely with that castle (right).

Two of the features that interested us were the gates of Fortitude and Justice shown in the following photographs.

Gate of Fortitude
Gate of Justice
After leaving the castle we made a quick stop at Christ Church Cathedral and then headed back to the airport. We wanted to get there in time to clear security and eat dinner before boarding the flight to Cardiff.

The hour and ten minute flight to Cardiff was on an ATR 42/72 a French-built, short haul turboprop aircraft capable of carrying 78 passengers in single class configuration. It was operated by Aer Arann, a regional airline based in Dublin. Although we did fly across the Irish Sea to Wales, most of the flight was actually over land along the coast of Wales.

As we descended on the approach to Cardiff, we noted fields of bright yellow interspersed among the normal green. We found out later that it was fields of rape (a plant in the mustard family). Rapeseed is used in the production of animal feed, vegetable oil and biodiesel. Canola (with “can” referring to Canada and “ola” referring to oil) is a form of rape developed in Canada in the 1970s. It has less erucic acid, making it better suited for human consumption. We learned that it was first grown in Wales (and probably elsewhere) as a ground cover on fallow land, even before it became a commercially valuable crop.

Angel Hotel
We landed in Cardiff on 4 May at about 2030. In consideration of the time and the fact that we had not yet eaten dinner, we decided to take a taxi to the Angel Hotel (left) on Castle Street where we were booked for three nights. On arrival, we checked in, dumped our packs and went immediately to dinner, eating at Torre Coffee, a cafe just down Castle Street from our hotel. The Torre had Wi-Fi, good food and friendly staff; we returned there several times.

After dinner we bathed and washed the clothes we had worn since leaving Washington in the bathtub. We weren't really very tired from our trip and both stayed up late reading (me) and watching pre-recorded television shows on Kindle (Diana). Diana called it an impromptu slumber party.

The next day we slept in late, ate breakfast and set out to explore the city. We wandered down St. John Street Street to St. John the Baptist City Parish Church, but hurried on past area because of the constant ringing of very loud church bells. I really thought that ear protection might be in order. We were now on Working Street which took us to a street called The Hayes. This street ended at the Cardiff Library and we cut over to St. Mary Street to make our way back to Castle Street.

Monkey in the clock
Clock
On St. Mary Street we found a very interesting old clock (right). Manufactured in 1897, it had a glass case and contained cast figures of animals (left), monkeys I think, posed inside as though they were operating the mechanism.

Still rather tired from our impromptu slumber party of the night before, we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. After our nap, we checked and found that the clothes we had washed the night before were still quite damp, 24 hours later, so I checked with the front desk to see whether there might be a self-service laundromat in the area. Unfortunately, they either didn't understand what a laundromat was or they just wanted to provide the service themselves for a fee and that would take too long.

We could wear the clothes we had on for another day, allowing the wet garments more time to dry, but we would be leaving for Newtown the day after tomorrow, so we needed quick service. In the end, we decided to just change our underwear and wear our clothes another two days. We ate that night at the Revolution Bar. The food was good and the prices were lower than any of the other places we found in the area.

Tuesday was a full day. We took a bus to Cardiff Bay, a redeveloped area containing several tourist attractions. The first thing that struck my fancy was the Pierpoint Building. This building, with an exterior finish of glazed terracotta blocks, was built in 1897 for the Bute Dock Company. It is presently a part of the estate of the Welsh National Assembly and houses the Welsh History Museum. The clock visible in the main tower is known as the “Big Ben of Wales.” A colorful carousel, idle at the time of our visit, is visible at the right.

Pierpoint Building at Cardiff Bay
Steel water tower
We next turned our attention to the beautiful, gleaming stainless steel water tower (left), often featured in episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood. The tower is shown here with the Pierpoint Building in the background.

We passed the National Assembly for Wales building and the Wales Millennium Center, a 37000 sq meter opera house and performing arts center. As is true of the water tower, the Wales Millennium Center marquee appears in numerous Torchwood and Doctor Who episodes as well as several other productions.



Wales Millennium Center
Still making our way to the Doctor Who exhibit, we passed the Norwegian Church Art Center. The church was founded in 1868 by the Norwegian Seamen's Mission. It was de-consecrated in 1974 and now houses the Dahl Gallery, hosting contemporary exhibitions of local photography and art. Just past the church stands the Captain Scott Memorial. A sculpture erected to commemorate the 1911-13 Terra Nova Expedition, officially the British Antarctic Expedition, led by Robert Falcon Scott to the South Pole. Scott and his four companions did reach the pole, although beaten by a Norwegian expedition by just 33 days, but perished on the way back to base. Three of their bodies, along with Journals and photographs, were discovered eight months later. The photograph of the sculpture (below) shows the Norwegian Church in the background.

The Scott Antarctic Memorial – Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, Wales
The surface of the monument is composed of white and near-white tiles evoking snow and ice. Scott is shown trudging south, leaning as though pulling a load behind him. The faces of his three companions are shown trapped in the snow. All five members of the party are shown in an 18 January 1912 photograph taken at the South Pole.

Left to right: (standing): Edward Wilson, Robert Scott, Lawrence Oates;
(seated): Henry Bowers and Edgar Evans – a public domain photograph
Doctor Who Exhibit 
We spent quite some time at the Scott Memorial, but finally finished and continued to the now visible Doctor Who Exhibit (right). I had not yet managed to work up a lot of enthusiasm for Doctor Who, so the plan was that Diana would visit the exhibit while I read a book on my Kindle and enjoyed a cup of tea at a nearby cafe.

Unfortunately, we found that the exhibit is closed on Tuesdays, which was today. We both then retired to the cafe for tea (coffee for Diana), leaving the Doctor Who visit for our return visit to Cardiff.

 Water taxi 
For the return trip to our hotel we decided to take a water taxi (left) up the River Taff. The cost was reasonable, the landing was at Bute Park, just across the street from our hotel, and it would give us a chance to view the waterfront along the river.

We had already purchased train tickets for our trip to Newtown the next day, so we made an early evening of it and, after struggling through composing a few e-mail messages on my Kindle while Diana watched programs on hers, we turned in for the night.

Fruit & Vegetable stand at
Cardiff Market
The next morning, we visited Cardiff Market on St. Mary Street. We had already visited the market once, but Diana wanted to return to see some antiques a vendor had promised to have available. The market consists of a series on stalls arranged, on two levels, in a single large structure. The fruit and vegetable stand (right) is one example of the many stalls at the market.
The following photograph, taken from the upper level of the structure, provides a better perspective of the overall market.

A view of Cardiff Market from the upper level
Our next destination was Newtown, Powys County, Wales. This was the area from which our ancestors originated. Powys County is basically composed of the territory of the historical counties of Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Brecknockshire. Our ancestor, John Price, born in 1584, migrated from “Brecknock, Montgomeryshire, Wales” in the early 1600s and his roots have been traced back to an earlier John Price who was born in 1494 in Newtown. We just wanted to get a feel for the area as it exists now. In other words, in what sort of place would we be living had our forefathers not emigrated to America.

Our train trip took us first to Shrewsbury, England (90 miles northeast of Cardiff) where, after a 37 minute wait, we caught another train to Newtown, Wales (27 miles southwest of Shrewsbury). We had booked a reservation for the night at the Dragon Hotel in Montgomery and planned to make the short eight-mile trip from Newtown by taxi.

We left Cardiff at 1200 and arrived in Newtown at about 1530. Since the earliest Prices we know of in our ancestry lived in and around Newtown, we would spend a little time looking around before we headed to Montgomery. Our first view was from the train station platform.

Our first view of Newtown
The town looked small and relatively compact, so we set on foot to explore it. Just down the
Pryce-Jones Royal Welsh Warehouse
street we saw a large four story, red brick building with a sign (
left) proclaiming it to be the Pryce-Jones Royal Welsh Warehouse. We were interested because we had learned that some of our ancestors had used that variation of our surname.

Pryce-Jones Royal Welsh Warehouse
We learned that the company, founded by Pryce Pryce-Jones (1834-1920), was the world's first mail order business. The existing building, built in 1879, was last used by a call center owned by Shop Direct, which closed in 201122. More recently, a large local church has received approval to temporarily use part of the facility as a place of worship23. But all this I learned later, so we just snapped one final photograph (right) to show the intricately-carved company crest mounted above the main entrance and continued on our way.

St. David's Church, newtown
Leaving the warehouse behind, we next headed for a large church whose tower could be seen from the train platform. It turned out to be St. David's Church (left).

The church was built in 1847 and continued in service until 2006 when it closed due to safety concerns. It appeared to be deserted at the time of our visit; however, according to a 9 December 2010 BBC report, approval had been granted to convert it into a children's activity center. We spent some time
WWI Memorial
wandering around in the church graveyard reading the inscriptions on tombstones. We found no Price graves; however we did note three Price names inscribed on a WWI memorial (right).

We next headed toward downtown, but made a wrong turn and wound up on a picturesque residential street of what appeared to be council houses. The dwellings were all in a row and each was fronted by a tiny well-tended garden.

Residential row houses lining a street in Newtown
When we approached what appeared to be the edge of the town without having seen any sort of downtown, we knew we had gone astray. A kind lady took the time to set us right and we retraced our path and finally found ourselves approaching the small, tidy downtown area. Our first order of business when we got there was to find an ATM, as we were running short of money. This turned out to be located outside a service station/convenience store.

Now having local currency, we headed for a supermarket to purchase supplies. We bought bread and cheese for our evening meal and then set out to find a taxi to take us the eight miles to our hotel in Montgomery. We thought that finding a taxi would be no problem as we had seen several on the street already and there was a designated taxi stand in the downtown area. We were wrong. Suddenly, there were no taxis on the street and the designated stand was vacant.

Just as we were about to give up on the taxi idea and start considering other alternatives, we met a very nice gentleman who gave us directions to the taxi office. He reminded me very much of Onslow, sister Daisy's husband in the British comedy Keeping up Appearances, except that he was a lot younger and much better looking. We thanked him for his help and went in search of the taxi office, following his directions with care. Alas, we found no such office.

We then widened our search by another block in each direction and, much to our surprise, met “Onslow” again. He again stopped to help and this time, obviously deciding that the dumb Yanks needed some hands-on help, offered to lead us to the taxi office. We shortly arrived back at the spot his original directions had led us to. The place was deserted, the door was securely locked and there was no hint that the place served as a taxi office.

Well”, said our guide, “They should at least have a sign. But never mind, my mate Ahmed runs a taxi. He'll take you to Montgomery.” Whereupon he called Ahmed on his cellphone and after what seemed to us a prolonged negotiation, informed us that Ahmed would meet us at the Fish and Chip location just across the street. We decided that we would have fish and chips while waiting and offered to buy dinner for our benefactor. He thanked us but said that his wife would already have dinner prepared and he didn't dare go home having already eaten.

Ahmed did show up as scheduled; however, it was obvious that this trip was not to his liking. In an obviously surly mood, he drove the narrow winding road to Montgomery at a reckless rate of speed.

Room at Dragon Hotel
We arrived at the Dragon Hotel tired, dirty and a little shaken. It was a pretty good climb to the attic where our room was located. But we found the room itself (left) quite acceptable. Every bit of the limited space had been used to best advantage. The curtain seen at the end of the room hides an ample storage area. The room had a radiator for heating and that was a definite plus; we could drape wet clothing on it for
Bathroom at Dragon Hotel
faster drying. The bathroom (
right), located to the left, just inside the door and down a step from the raised sleeping area, was small but well-equipped. It also was equipped with a heater which meant that we could both dry clothes at the same time.

We each washed our dirty clothes, taking them into the tub with us when we bathed. We then rolled our wet garments tightly in towels, squeeze dried them as much as possible and draped them on the radiators to finish the process. We then plugged our Kindles and other electronic devices in to charge and settled in for the night.

Still familiarizing ourselves with the area where our ancestors lived, basically the historic county of Montgomeryshire, formed in 1535 and now part of Powys County, we had arranged for a tour guide to show us around the local area and then transport us to the city of St David's on the west coast. Over the years I had seen references to Offa's Dyke and I knew it was in the general
National Path symbol
area, so we started our day with a quick trip to see a section of it. See the National Path symbol (left).

The dyke, a 177-mile long earthwork was reputedly built by King Offa of Mercia between 757 and 796. However, a recent article on the UK National Trails Website24 reports that, according to recent carbon dating, at least a section of the dyke was constructed between 430 and 652. The article concludes that King Offa probably included parts of an existing network into the structure he built. The earthwork was apparently meant to be more a demarcation line than a fortification. A National Path now runs along the still-visible remains.

Section of Offa's Dyke
We next visited Clun Castle. It wound up on our list because, according to some accounts, one of our ancestors John Price who was born in Newtown in 1494, married a Florence Clun in 1509. Of course this date, if accurate, would mean that he married at age 15.

According to English Heritage, Clun Castle was originally built by Picot de Say, one of the Marcher Lords granted lands on the border between Wales and England by William the Conqueror. It passed to William Fitzalan by marriage in 1155. It is now owned by the Duke of Norfolk, a Fitzalan descendant and is under the guardianship of English Heritage.

The ruins of Clun Castle
From the heights of the ruins, located at the gateway to the Clun Valley, one has a very fetching view of the village located below.

The village of Clun seen from the castle ruins
We were now beginning to think of the drive across the country and down the west coast to St David's, Pembrokeshire where we had reservations for the night. But we did want to stop at Glan Mule (Glanmiheli) and Abermule, both areas that we had read about while planning our trip.

At Glan Mule we found a very small village and a large commercial farming operation at nearby Glanmiheli Bridge.

Large farm at Glanmiheli Bridge just outside Glan Mule
Abermule, just down the road from Glan Mule, turned out to be a slightly larger village. However, the only thing that captured my attention was the War Memorial (right) mounted in
War Memorial at Abermule
the town square. It included the name of one Price from the area who died in that war.

On the recommendation of our tour guide, we ate lunch at Glansevern Hall, Welshpool. The location is described as “more than 25 acres of glorious gardens ... an elegant Greek revival house on the banks of the River Severn. As well as fantastic lakeside walks, … a beautiful water garden....” However, we still had to drive across Wales to the west coast before the end of the day, so we skipped everything but their excellent restaurant.

After lunch we retraced our way through Newtown and then drove on up the Severn River Valley and then the Wye River before crossing the Cambrian Mountains and continuing to Aberystwth on the west coast. From Aberystwth we continued south along the coast through Fishguard to our destination at St. Davids (note the absence of an apostrophe in St. Davids; that seems to be standard practice) where we had reservations at the Grove Hotel. We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, caught up on e-mail and turned in for the night.

The next morning we headed for Dinas Island for a hike. Located along the coast between Fishguard and Newport, Dinas in not really an island because it is connected to the mainland by a neck of land. It includes a working farm and is encircled by a hiking path (or trail). We drove to a carpark at a beach on the Fishguard side of the island at Pwllgwaelod, just at the end of the low-lying “neck” that almost separates the island from the mainland.

Our guide, still with us for the day, waited at the carpark while we hiked around the island. The trail from Fishguard Bay to Newport Bay, climbs to the top of the cliffs and then follows along the rugged coastline, dipping once to pass near Needle Point Rock, before it descends to a beach at Newport Bay. The section of trail to this point is a part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Trail. The rest of the circuit around Dinas Island, the connector across the low-lying “neck” is largely along a paved footpath. The connector will surely be inundated by even a moderate rise in the sea level, making Dinas a real island.
From the carpark, one travels a short distance along the paved road that leads to the island farm, leaving it to follow the coastal trail through a pedestrian gate, also called a “kissing gate.” The flowers along the road were gorgeous and we first continued on the farm road until we came to a closed gate, finding the banks all along the way blanketed with bluebells and gorse.

Bluebells
  Gorse

After we returned to the kissing gate and continued along the trail, we continued to be surrounded by flowers, among them beardstongue and rue anemone.

Beardstongue

 Rue anemone

We climbed over 450 feet from the beach to the top of the cliffs and from there had great views out across the bay and to the Fishguard, UK to Rosslare, IE Ferry docked across the way.

Along the path we saw ancient stone walls that were, in places, topped by more modern wire fences. We passed through another kissing gate, passed an Ordnance Survey marker and then came at last to Diana's primary goal for the hike, Needle Rock, a favorite nesting place for the guillemots and other birds. We saw a number of these along with some gulls as we passed by the rock.

Birds nesting on Needle Rock
Needle Rock at Dinas Island
We found two very knowledgeable birders perched on the cliff just above the rock waiting to catch the birds as they rode the breeze in to land at their chosen nesting spot and Diana stopped for some pointers. Then, passing on, we found that the best view of the rock itself (left) was had by looking back just after we had passed.

Bluebells and spring beauties
Just as were nearing the beach at Newport Bay, we came upon a very attractive patch of mixed bluebells and spring beauties (right).

It was now just a short distance back across the neck of the island to where our guide was waiting and we hurried right along. We had learned that his mother was in hospital and wanted to let him go in time to see her that evening.

We checked into the Y Glennydd Hotel after our visit to Dinas Island because we had arranged for only one night at the Grove and it was now booked. We visited the tourist center and walked around in St. Davids for awhile then visited Saint Davids Cathedral. I had expected the cathedral to be a ruin; however, we found that it has been restored and regularly scheduled worship services are held.

Saint Davids Cathedral from the driveway above
We spent some time inside the cathedral, wandering through the bookstore then, while Diana continued shopping, I just sat for a time to enjoy the peaceful surroundings. As always in such surroundings, I wondered what inspired men to build such magnificent structures. I am sure if asked, the builders would say that it was for the glory of God. I rather suspected, however, that they confused their own glory with that of their god. But, on the other hand perhaps the buildings were useful as public works projects. In any case, Saint David's Cathedral is a magnificent place and I was quite content to just sit and enjoy it.

Unfortunately, I was soon distracted by a, somber, officious looking, man dressed all in black and pompously wielding a large ring of keys as he rushed hurriedly about, I left my resting place at the back of the church sanctuary and moved down a large side hall. There were two of these, running the length of the sanctuary and beyond, one on either side.

Sanctuary a Saint Davids Cathedral
The large halls on either side of the sanctuary are separated from it by the huge pillars that form its boundaries as shown above.

Bishops Iowerth – 1231/
Anselm – 1247 
Lady Maidstone - 1932
Tombs of important people (mostly ancient) were placed at widely spaced intervals along the walls and I stopped to view a few of these.

The “Lady Chapel,” shown below, is situated just on the other side of the wall shown behind Lady Maidstone's tomb as seen in the above photograph. Although the chapel does not have her name affixed anywhere that I could see, I assume that it is named in her honor.

The Lady Chapel, presumably honoring Lady Gladstone whose tomb lies
 just behind  the wall shown at right.
Tomb of Edmund Tudor
Located in a place of honor, between the main sanctuary and and the Lady Chapel, is the tomb of Edmund Tudor (left), first Earl of Richmond, father of King Henry VII and grandfather of King Henry III. According to information posted at the tomb, its presence may be the reason the cathedral was spared physical destruction during the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry III.

Tomb of Rhys Ap Rhys
The next tomb (right) is that of Rhys ap Rhys. He was also known as Rhys Gryg (English Rhys the Hoarse) and Rhys Fynchan (i.e. The Younger). He was a Welsh prince and ruler of part of the Kingdom of Deheubarth.25


The next day, 11 May, was Sunday and we had to check out of the Y Glennydd Hotel because they were booked to capacity for the rest of the weekend. The proprietor did, however, manage to book us another room just down the street at the Glendower Guest House. We slept in as long as possible without missing breakfast and then checked out, depositing our bags at the new location.

Sign at Sounds Cafe
St. Davids might be a tourist town, but many businesses were closed on this Sunday. Not feeling very ambitious, ourselves, we made our way down the street to the Sounds Cafe to read our Kindles. Despite its name the cafe was pretty quiet, perhaps cowed by the posted sign (left).

Later in the day, feeling a bit restless, I decided to make a short trip (there are no long trips in St. Davids City) to the Bishops Castle ruins. I was pretty sure that the large stone ruins we had noted nearby while visiting the cathedral must be the castle ruins. On the other hand, the castle was supposed to be across the River Alun and I had seen no river.

The River Alun
As it turns out, the ruins we had seen from the cathedral grounds the day before were what is left of the Bishop's Castle. It was just that we had missed the small river flowing between them. The photograph (right) shows a footbridge spanning the River Alun which flows between the Bishop's Palace ruins on the left bank and Saint Davids Cathedral on the right. The small building in the center background is the cathedral bookstore.

The palace must once have been impressive, but it was now just ruins.

Saint Davids Bishop's Palace ruins
Making one final stop at the cathedral bookstore, I bought Rosemary a wood jigsaw puzzle as a present. Though I suppose, since it has only 250 pieces, it would be more a keepsake than a puzzle. After I returned to our lodgings, we went to dinner, planned a boat trip to Ramsey Island for the following day and turned in for the night.

The boat trips to Ramsey Island nature reserve start at St. Justinian's Lifeboat Station, located 2 miles from St. Davids. We were at the tour office to pick up our tickets shortly after they opened and the Loadmaster, a very nice lady, who was just leaving for the dock, gave us a lift.

St. Justinian's Lifeboat Station
To board the boat one ascends the ladder at the front and then descends along the left side to the far end of the building. From there a boat ramp descends to the floating dock and the waiting boat. Part of the Loadmaster's job is to control access to the ramp and make sure no passengers fall. The center section of the ramp, used to launch and retrieve boats, is greased and one must steer clear of that area to avoid slipping.

Diana 
Diana (left) is shown at the top of the ramp looking back toward shore as the boat eases it way alongside the dock at the bottom. It is fairly windy as can be deduced from the choppy waves. On the other hand, the small boat seen upper left indicates that the water is not dangerous.

On arrival at the island the boat operator checked to see how many people wished to book an additional cruise around the island to look for birds. Alas, not enough people were interested so that part of the trip was not scheduled. The boat would pick us up where we were dropped off later in the day. Meanwhile we were left to hike around the 640 acre nature reserve. A trail circumnavigates the island and one can hike it either clockwise or counterclockwise. We decided to go clockwise and set out up the road from the dock to the old farmhouse where we would start the hike.

Road leading from the dock up to the old farmhouse on Ramsey Island

One of the first sights to greet us as we passed along the trail above the farmhouse was a grass, bluebell and gorse covered depression leading down to the shore between us and an ocean bluff ahead. A small corner of the rock wall enclosing a garden behind the farmhouse is visible at lower left in the below photograph.

Bluebells and gorse above the farmhouse on Ramsey Island
Ancient stone walls
Atop the bluffs we found ancient stone walls (right) delineating the fields that were used by the farmers, and have been, at least partially, continued in use since the island was acquired by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1992.

Ordnance Survey marker
The highest spot on the island, marked by an Ordnance Survey marker (left) is on the opposite side from the farmhouse. A path turns off the main trail and leads directly up the hill to it. I climbed to the marker because I wanted to check the view from the highest point. The extra few feet didn't add much as the view is spectacular from just about anywhere on the island.

South Bishop Lighthouse
The South Bishop Lighthouse (right) , built in the 1830’s to warn mariners of the dangers of outlying rocks to the west of Ramsey, is clearly visible from the trail. The lighthouse was manned until 1983. It then became fully automated and is now powered largely by solar power and operated by a visibility sensor.

Enclosed fields with grazing sheep
As we neared the end of our hike we came to a stone wall enclosed field (left) with several grazing sheep. According to the preserve, “grazing animals such as sheep, ponies and deer were introduced onto the island to graze on the various habitats and keep growth under control.26

We were finished with our hike on Ramsey Island but still had a couple of hours to wait for our boat. We sat at a picnic table in the farmhouse yard and ate the box lunches we had brought with us. Then we stretched out in a sunny spot to take a nap. But as the sun changed position my sunny spot moved into the shade and with a brisk breeze blowing it soon became quite chilly. I eventually dug out my plastic poncho, wrapped up in it, and was quite cozy until the boat arrived.

Archaeological excavation sign
The next morning we took the bus to Whitesands Beach and then hiked along the Coastal path to St Davids Head. A visit to the Coetan Arthur Dolmen (a burial monument or cromlech) located there was high on my “things to see” list. It turned out that the hike to the dolmen was just as interesting as the monument itself.

As we headed north on the Coastal Path from Whitesands Beach, we noted several people digging in a fenced-off area between the trail (path) and the parking lot. A closer look revealed a sign (right) identifying the site as an archaeological excavation. As we climbed the hill we got an overview of the area.

Archaeological excavation
The trail we were following quickly climbed to the top of the sea cliffs and then followed along the rim. We had a great view out over the ocean to our left and back across lush green fields to our right. A fence ran along the very top of the cliff.

Coastal Path just north of Whitesands Beach
Wood pigeons
A pair of fat wood pigeons (left) greeted us along the way. They just sat there, seemingly quite unconcerned, as we approached. When we were almost upon them, they made a show of flying away in a very leisurely manner, almost as though our approach had nothing at all to do with their departure.

We met only a few other walkers along the path. In this part of the world hikers are “walkers” and trails are “paths.” The American terms, “trail” and “hiker,” are occasionally used and are understood perfectly well, but are just not standard terminology.


Kissing gate
We eventually crossed the fence that ran along the top of the cliffs. We did so at one of those ubiquitous kissing gates that I mentioned in the report of our hike on Dinas Island. This time, however, I remembered to photograph the gate (right). The example shown is essentially the same as all the others we saw in Wales.

The hillsides along the path were literally painted with spring flowers, in addition to gorse which we had seen everywhere we went, we saw beardstongue blanketing a rock wall, a particularly lush clump of the thrift that covered the banks along the way, a mixture of bluebells and cowslips and one of heather and thrift.

Beardstongue 
Thrift




Bluebells and cowslips
Heather and thrift

















Rocky, thrift-adorned slope, sea, islands and sky
But my favorite view of the day was of a particular rocky, thrift-adorned slope that sported a stretch of sea, some outlying islands and a cloud streaked strip of sky as a backdrop.


When we arrived at St Davids Head I photographed the dolmen looking out to sea.

Coetan Arthur Dolmen at St Davids Head
I had started out calling this object a cromlech and, indeed the Oxford American-English dictionary indicates that in Wales it is called a cromlech, defined as “a megalithic tomb consisting of a large flat stone laid on upright ones.” However, the dictionary indicates it is also called a dolmen and this term now seems to be more commonly used.

The author at Coetan Arthur Dolmen on St. Davids Point photograph by Diana
The earliest mention of the site that I found was in The History and Antiquity of Saint David's L.P., published in 185627. In this book the authors describe it as follows:

... a Cromlech lying on the high ridge of ground north-east of St. David's Head. It is placed among large masses of rock cropping out above ground, with others of various sizes which lie scattered on the surface. The cap-stone, which lies N.W. b. W., is eleven feet nine inches in its greatest length, and nine feet nine inches in its greatest breadth, narrowing rather towards the north. Its thickness does not exceed one foot four inches. Of the supporters, one only remains standing, which carries the eastern angle of the cap-stone. Its height is four feet three inches, its main breadth, taken from north-west to south-east, four feet, and its greatest thickness ten inches. At the northern angle lies a fallen supporter, five feet in height; and two stones, which probably played the same part, lie on the west side, one five feet high, and the other three feet six inches. The south-eastern end has been built up, and several loose stones lie to the east of it. The cap-stone was dismounted as early as the sixteenth century.

Having seen the dolmen, we left St. Davids Head, returned to Whitesands and settled in at the cafe for hot drinks while we waited for the bus to take us back to St. Davids.

Travellodge and Great Western Pub
The next day we took a bus into Haverfordwest and caught the train to Cardiff. We had reservations at the Travelodge for our last two nights in Wales, and we hoped to check in a day early. The train deposited us at Cardiff Central Station just a block from our hotel. We could actually see it (right) from just outside the train station. It is the tan-colored building just to the left of the Great Western Pub, the brick building on the corner. Although we stayed there three nights, we never did try the Great Western. I think it seemed a little too frenetic for our taste. However, I have since read several reviews that cause me to think we may have missed a good bet.

They did have a room for us, so we promptly checked in and connected to the internet, something we had been unable to do for the last three days.

First thing the next morning we took the bus to Cardiff Bay for the Doctor Who Experience. After giving the matter some thought, I decided that, despite having never seen a single episode of the show, I would go with Diana rather than wait in the cafe. That turned out to be a good decision as I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The exhibition starts with a short film, followed by a voyage in the Tardis (the blue Police Box space ship the Doctor travels in). Once inside the Tardis, the visitor slips through a time crack and accompanies the Doctor as he uses a sonic screwdriver to escape from his foes. The current Doctor Who is the eleventh to play the role since the show was originated in 1963. Doctor Who is a “Time Lord,” an alien being, who travels around the universe doing good. The change from one actor to another in the lead role is explained as a rejuvenation of the Time Lord. This also allows a different approach to be written into the role for each new actor filling it. In the series, the rejuvenations are made necessary when the Doctor sustains injuries that would be fatal for a mere human.
We finished our tour of the exhibit with an examination of Bessie (left), the Doctor Who roadster.

Our next stop was to be Cardiff Castle, so we took the water taxi up the River Taff to the landing at Bute Park, which we would walk through to the castle, enjoying the scenery along the way.




The shoreline viewed from the Water Taxi
On arrival at the park we decided that we had already seen enough old buildings and it was a beautiful day outside, so we eschewed the castle in favor of wandering the grounds. One of the first sights was the Gorsedd (a community or coming together of bards) Stone Circle located in Cooper's Field in Bute Park.

Gorsedd Stone Circle

This stone circle is not an ancient monument; it was erected to celebrate the Welsh National Eisteddfod (a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance) held in the city in 1978. However, I have read that the central stone slab used in the circle was recovered from an ancient megalithic monument found nearby.

Silver leaves at twig tips
We spent some time just wandering around the park. Originally the grounds of Bute Castle, the 130 acre park was presented to Cardiff in 1947 by the 5th Marquess of Bute and is now owned and operated by Cardiff City Council. Of the many attractive trees and shrubs in the park, I was most intrigued by one that had bright silver leaves at the ends of its twigs, fading to a lustrous green farther along the stem (left). I have no idea what species of tree it might be.

Corner of Crown Court building and
City Hall clock
Having decided to to forgo a visit to the castle itself, when we were done with wandering the park, we set our sights on a stroll down Gorsedd Street past the Crown Court, City Hall and the National Museum of Wales. The streets in this section of the city are laid out so that a rectangular-shaped building will have one corner pointing north and the obverse corner pointing south. Thus, as we left the park, looking northeast across North Road, we could see past the south corner of the Crown Court building (right) to the Civic Center clock tower on its left and the dome of the Cardiff Register's office, also in the Civic Center, on its right. The City Hall Lawn and Fountain are located directly across Gorsedd Street from the register's office. Just on the other side (northwest) of the Civic Center is located Alexandra Gardens which contains the Wales National War Memorial.

For the most part, we just wandered around and enjoyed the scenery. This included lamppost sculptures of the Cardiff Coat of Arms, flanked by two dragons, mounted at the southeast lawn of the Crown Court building. In the below photograph, the three ostrich feathers at the top are overlaid by a Tudor rose, the Welch goat at left represents the Glamorgan Mountains, the sea horse at right represents the Severn Sea and trade and the dragon in the middle is holding a flag with three chevrons, attributed to the last Prince of Glamorgan. A leek, a national emblem of Wales, can be seen just to the left of the dragon. The words on the banners at the bottom, ‘Y ddraig goch ddyry gychwyn’, mean “The red dragon will lead the way.”

Cardiff Coat of Arms – Crown Court Building in background
Red dragon
A thumbnail of one of the flanking red dragons is shown here (left) for better detail. The red dragon appears on the Welsh national flag and, supposedly, was King Arthur's battle standard.
Looking up from the front of the Crown Court building we saw a sculpture by Paul Rafael Montford titled Commerce and Industry. It included six life-size figures dressed in classical style to represent various industries.

Commerce and Industry – Cardiff Crown Court
Next door we had another view of the clock tower at City Hall along with a view of Paul Rafael Montford's Poetry and Music sculpture.

City Hall clock tower and Poetry and Music sculpture
The clock tower is 194 feet tall and has a 12-foot diameter face on each of its four sides. The Poetry and Music sculpture shows six life-size figures holding various instruments and sheafs of paper.

The day was now approaching its end, so we cut short our wandering through the streets of Cardiff, ate dinner at the Revolution Cafe and returned to our motel. We wanted to catch up on our e-mail correspondence and plan tomorrow's trip to the Welch National History Museum. The museum has relocated old buildings from all over the country to its site at Cardiff and I particularly wanted to see some of the structures that existed around the time our ancestors emigrated.

The next morning, our last day in Wales, we caught a bus to the museum. We spent some time in the gift shop and then set out on a self-guided tour of the facility. We saw old churches, barns, shops, farmhouses, a mill, a toll house and even a round pig sty. All in all it was a great way to spend the day, both educational and entertaining. I would recommend it for the first day of a visit to Wales.

Gwynned farmhouse
The farmhouse (right) was built in Gwynned in 1544 and re-erected here in 1984. Constructed of slate stone and mountain boulders, it must have been the home of a very wealthy farmer.

St. Teilo's Church
St. Teilo's Church (left), originally built in the 12th century, altered and extended into the 16 century, was re-erected here as it is believed, based on recovered paintings, to have appeared around 1530.

Replicas of two of the recovered wall paintings are shown below.


Wall painting at St. Teilo's Church 
Wall painting at St. Teilo's Church



The farmhouse shown here (below, right) was built in Gower in 1610 and re-erected in 1955. Originally, the house consisted only of one room and a loft above. A living room was added around 1680 and a
Gower farmhouse
kitchen about 1750. The red color may have been intended to protect against evil spirits or may simply have demonstrated that the owners were affluent enough to put red pigment in the whitewash. The white structure adjoining the house at the rear is a cowshed/barn.

Hand-cranked grindstone
The hand-cranked grindstone shown here (left) probably dates to the 1800s. It caught my attention because I spent many hours turning such a stone in my youth. We used it on the farm to sharpen axes, brier scythes and tobacco knives. In retrospect it probably did me no harm, but I certainly did not enjoy it at the time.

Blacksmith shop
The blacksmith shop shown here (right) very much reminds me of the shop my grandfather had on his farm. I spent many hours as a child watching him work there. We lived for a time just a few hundred yards down the lane from his shop and it was easy to sneak away for a quick visit to that most interesting place. Grandpaw always welcomed the company and Mom really didn't worry as long as I was with him.

Circular pigsty
A circular pigsty made of stone (left) was something I had never seen before. It was built and roofed using a technique called corbelling in which each circle of stonework is gradually reduced until a dome is formed. The pigs could run out in the stone walled pen shown at the left, but sought shelter in the domed structure.

Horned black sheep
My last photograph for our Welsh adventure turned out to be a black sheep (right), grazing in a small pasture as part of the exhibit. Looking at the sheep I wondered, were my ancestors also black sheep? Is that why I am not a Welshman? I guess that, after 400 years, I'll never know, nor does it really matter.

We caught the bus back to town, ate a takeaway dinner in our room and retired early in preparation for an early departure the next day.

The next morning our bus to the airport left at 0425. Although our flight did not leave until 0805, the gate closed at 0740 and we wanted plenty of time to make our way through security. We were traveling with no check-in baggage and the Aer Arann regional flight we would be taking had quite strict carry-on luggage standards. We would each be limited to one 22" x 16" x 8" bag, weighing no more than 15 pounds. We both made it, but we had a lot of junk stuffed in our pockets and under our shirts and, in my case, tucked into a kangaroo pouch (or, as Diana called it, a “frontal assault pack”).

In Dublin we went through security at least twice, it seemed like more than that, during our three-hour layover.  But we finally boarded our United flight for the eight-hour trip back to Dulles.  I watched three movies, I know not which ones, during the flight, finishing the last one just before we descended at Dulles, a few minutes before our scheduled arrival time of 1530.


We hired a taxi to take us back to Takoma Park, ordered pizza delivered for dinner and were soon asleep.


The next morning Diana delivered me to Washington National airport for my 0759 flight.  I had a three-hour layover in Newark and was in Phoenix a about 1430.  the Arizona Shuttle then delivered me to cottonwood about 1830 where I was met at the station by Rosemary.  I had departed home on 1 May and it was now 18 May.  My Wales trip was over and I was ready for a couple of days rest.

1John Price the emigrant, Jamestown colony 1620, with some of his descendants, by Rev. Benjamin Luther Price, Minister of the First Presbyterian Church, Alexandria, Louisiana, published before 1923, reproduced 2010 and available at Amazon.com
2 A History of Wales, Rev 2007, by John Davies, Penquin Books, 375 Hudson
Street, New York, NY 10014, USA, page 1
6 A History of Wales, Rev 2007, by John Davies, Penquin Books, 375 Hudson
Street, New York, NY 10014, USA, page 120
9 Ibid
10 A History of Wales, Rev 2007, by John Davies, Penquin Books, 375 Hudson
Street, New York, NY 10014, USA, page 27
11 Ibid, page 28
12 Ibid, page 41
13 Ibid, page 43
14 Ibid
15 A History of Wales, Rev 2007, by John Davies, Penquin Books, 375 Hudson
Street, New York, NY 10014, USA, page 62
16 http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/periods/dark_ages04.shtml
17 http://viking.no/e/france/foundation.html
18 A militarized border region
19http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/periods/medieval_normans05.shtml
20 See Appendix
21Live performance at the “Jameson Distillery” in Dublin by Patsy Watchorn & friends
22http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-12299914
23http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-26138359
24http://nationaltrail.co.uk/offas-dyke-path/news/breaking-news-archaeologists-have-uncovered-evidence-which-suggests-offas-dyke-
25http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhys_Gryg
26http://www.ramseyisland.com/Ramsey%20Island%20rspb%20nature%20reserve%20st%20davids%20pembrokeshire%20wales.html

27A Google eBook, available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=IjZVAAAAcAAJ&vq=coetan+arthur&dq=cromlech+at+st+davids+head&source=gbs_navlinks_s