In the first half of the nineteenth century, Holyhead experienced considerable growth and improvements to the town infrastructure thanks to the growing importance of its port. The completion of Thomas Telford’s Holyhead to London postroad, the…

On 22 February 1797, the locals in the area around Fishguard and the Pencaer Peninsula remarked that for a day in winter it was an uncommonly fine and warm morning. Little did they know that this day would be marked down in the history books less…

In 1783, Carl Gottlob Küttner (1755-1805) travelled via Holyhead to Dublin for his new post as house teacher and travel companion in the household of George Beresford (1735–1800), the second Earl of Tyrone. Originally from the Electorate of Saxony,…

The day for which Holyhead had so anxiously prepared had finally arrived: newly-crowned King George IV (1820-1830) was making his first visit to Holyhead as a stop-off in his inaugural grand tour. In the early evening hours of Monday, August 6,…

William Haggar (1851-1925) was a travelling showman with a large family and a vision. Following his marriage to Sarah Walton in 1870, the newlyweds established a travelling theatre company and toured extensively across England and Wales. Eight of…

After the end of ship building in Pembroke Dock in 1926, the RAF set up an air base for flying boats in the disused dockyard in 1930. In 1938, they introduced the famous Sunderland flying boats to the fleet. During the Second World War, Pembroke…

The prolific Dutch photographer and journalist Willem van de Poll (1895-1970) visited Rosslare on at least two occasions in 1930 and 1932. During this period and leading up to the Second World War, he established his international reputation as…

In Pembrokeshire, fairies are commonly known as Plant Rhys Ddwfn, the ‘children of Rhys the Deep’, ‘deep’ here referring to depth of character. This particular tribe or type of fairies are of diminutive size like that of a 5- or 6-year old child.…

The veneration of saints and their holy wells has a long tradition across Wales. The wells around Holyhead are no different. Their former use and importance reflects centuries old traditions and changes in attitudes towards life and folk…

Although Dewi Sant, or Saint David, has been recognised as the Welsh patron saint at least since the twelfth century, public celebrations of his feast day are a fairly recent tradition. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the habit of patriotic…