Under the feudal system the manor lands consisted of the lord’s demesne and the lands of the tenants. In addition there were woodlands, commons and wastelands which provided wood, turves and pasture for cattle. The change to money rents, the […]
You need to go some to earn the epithet ‘infamous’. George Jeffreys, or 1st Baron Jeffreys as he became, was a Welsh judge who was, well, infamous. He’s also known to history as ‘the Hanging Judge’. In his determination to […]
Coetan Arthur, Arthur’s Quoit, stands on St David’s Head, where Wales meets the western sea. It’s 4000 years since Neolithic people devoted themselves to making this mark, here, in their community. It’s one of the oldest buildings in the world, […]
Edward of Caernarfon. He was thus known, even when he became King Edward II. He’d been born in Caernarfon you see and was the first heir-apparent to the English throne to be styled ‘Prince of Wales’. It’s a contentious title […]
When the white-robed Cistercian monks of Whitland, Carmarthenshire, decided to spread their wings and establish a monastery in the wilds of the Cambrian Mountains little did they know it was destined to become one of the most powerful and culturally […]
I didn’t know this, but ‘Referee Baiting’ (or ‘Mobbing’) used to be a thing and February was a good month for it – or a bad month, it depends how you look at it. People, otherwise just like you, would […]
News from the Courts – The Monmouthshire Quarter Sessions The sessions for Monmouthshire Quarter Sessions in January 1835 began with news of an unexpected cancellation. This was the case of ‘a lad, charged with robbing his master’. Not unusual, […]
There was an interesting piece in the Cambrian newspaper on 20 December 1872, which examined the origins of familiar Christmas traditions. The piece is unattributed, but it fits in with a well-established pattern in all nineteenth century newspapers, which published […]
It was said that all Robert Webster’s problems started when Mary hit him over the head with an iron. But I am not so sure; to be honest, I think they started before that. You see, his domestic arrangements had […]
Reporters and newspaper owners didn’t really understand the poor; they were a little frightened of them, aware of their potential to deliver chaos to comfortable Victorian lives. Viewed from a distance they could be quite entertaining, in their racy, drink-fuelled […]
I expect you want to know about Sandscratching; after all, you have an enquiring mind. Well today we call it sand sculpture and it is far more impressive and technological, rather like those men who sit in the middle of […]
The next time you are under the probe you will believe, without question, that dentists are capable of all kinds of evil. So this story here from the South Wales Echo in July 1886 will not surprise you at all. […]
