Graham WatkinsNov 3, 20217 minRhys ap Thomas - Hero of Bosworth FieldAccording to the poet Guto’r Glyn, Rhys ap Thomas struck the blow that killed Richard III.
Graham WatkinsOct 30, 20212 minThe Smallest HouseQueen Elizabeth I was on the throne when a rather unusual house was built in Conwy. To keep the cost down, the builder wanted a site...
Graham WatkinsDec 2, 20204 minGnoll Belvedere - A Story of Welsh Coal, Copper and Corruption.Sir Humphrey Mackworth was an industrialist, lawyer and fraudster who studied the scriptures in his spare time. He was educated at...
Graham WatkinsNov 20, 20204 minThe Wreckers of Cefn SidanThe Wreckers of Cefn Sidan 'Gwyr-y-Bwyelli Bach' The people with little hatchets. The Captain of the La Jeune Emma peered through the...
Graham WatkinsOct 23, 20203 minThe Mad King's Monument.King George III, the first Hanoverian king of Britain who spoke English as his main language, had been on the throne for nearly forty...
Graham WatkinsOct 14, 20204 minPaxton's Tower, a nabob's revenge.There is a strange looking gothic tower standing high above the Towy valley between Carmarthen and Llandeilo which was built by a...
Graham WatkinsSep 4, 20204 minThe Devil's BridgeThe widow, Marged, lived on the south bank of Afon Mynach. For company she kept a little dog and a cow. Each morning, as the sun’s...
Graham WatkinsAug 18, 20202 minTŷ Castell - Castle or Cow Shed.The Elizabethan country house, Nercwys Hall, was built by John Wynn in the 1638. Wynn, a wealthy gentleman left the estate to his son...
Graham WatkinsJul 23, 20205 minWelsh Legends and Myths - King ArthurIn the Welsh legends Arthur’s sword Excalibur was ‘Caledfwlch.’ In the stories the sword was used to kill an Irish king.
Graham WatkinsJul 10, 20208 minSwansea and the SeaWhen Captain Dan Nicholas wrote his diaries, describing forty years at sea, he recorded that his father was a boy of ten when the French...
Graham WatkinsJun 5, 20204 minThe Devil Dogs of Marchwiel.'Like one that on a lonesome road doth walk in fear and dread… because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread.' The Rhyme...
Graham WatkinsApr 7, 20208 minFrom Ammanford to AlbaceteIn the 1930s the political scene was changing across Europe. The Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, and his Nazi Party had seized power in Germany....
Graham WatkinsApr 5, 20204 minThe Cockle Women of PenclawddIt was early, before the sun’s warming rays touched the land. A group of women waited with their donkeys for the tide to turn. Their feet...
Graham WatkinsMar 17, 20206 minWhy is a lighthouse or is it a clock tower in the middle of a Cardiff boating lake?"I am just going outside and may be some time.” Captain Lawrence (Titus) Oates 17th March 1912 In 1909, a young naval lieutenant named...
Graham WatkinsJan 20, 20206 minThe Boy In The PictureA short story taken from my anthology 'A Walk in The Woods' It smells funny, not very nice. It's my first visit. I'm six years old in a...
Graham WatkinsJan 8, 20203 minRobert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell died this day in 1941 in Nyeri, Kenya.Speaking with a reader at a recent book fair I was interested to learn he'd been a boy-scout in Kenya and, every Sunday morning after...
Graham WatkinsDec 15, 20193 minCilwendeg Shell House - Built with profits from a shining light.When William Trench visited a group of islands off the coast of Anglesey known as The Skerries he came up with a money making idea. The...
Graham WatkinsNov 26, 20193 minThomas Telford's sense of humourOn the 26th November 1805 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, designed by Thomas Telford, opened to great fanfare. It carried the canal, across the...
Graham WatkinsNov 17, 201911 minThe White HatErnest Neap shuffled forward in the queue. He didn't feel conspicuous in his raincoat and white roll necked shirt. In fact, he'd dressed...