Graham Watkins
Crow’s Nest Farm - Is Your Home Really Your Castle?
In 1760, the Prime Minister, William Pitt, stated. ‘The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It may...
top of page
Graham Watkins Author.
Search
Graham Watkins
- Oct 20, 2019
- 6 min
The Decoration.
"Did you remember to bring it?" asks Sarah. I check again to make sure it's still there. The silver brooch in my pocket feels warm in my...
56 views
Graham Watkins
- Oct 6, 2019
- 3 min
Orielton Banqueting Tower - Doesn't everyone need one?
Once a grand three storey building, Orielton Banqueting Tower, now stands alone and neglected in the south western corner of Wales. The...
190 views
Graham Watkins
- Sep 20, 2019
- 4 min
Birth of a Salesman - And it's not a play by Arthur Miller.
It was 1975 and my first visit to Soho Foundry, Birmingham, Head Office of W & T Avery Limited weighing machine manufacturers. Soho...
45 views
Graham Watkins
- Sep 8, 2019
- 4 min
Owain Glyndwr
These signs have mark’d me extraordinary; And all the courses of my life do show I am not in the roll of common men. King Henry IV -...
343 views
Graham Watkins
- Aug 25, 2019
- 5 min
Maelgwn Gwynedd and the Yellow Eye
"... you the last I write of but the first and greatest in evil, more than many in ability but also in malice, more generous in giving...
205 views
Graham Watkins
- Aug 15, 2019
- 3 min
The Sleeping Prince of Carreg Cennen
Beneath a rocky outcrop, topped by Carreg Cennen Castle, there is a cave that reaches deep into the bowels of the earth. Within this cold...
319 views
Graham Watkins
- Aug 5, 2019
- 5 min
Tom Wellies takes a Bath
A short story reproduced from my anthology 'A Walk in The Woods' Thomas Jones was a farmer and, like other farmers in the valley, he wore...
154 views
Graham Watkins
- Jul 28, 2019
- 4 min
The Kymin - A folly of voluptuary and gluttony
A painting of Philip Meakins Hardwick, in Monmouthshire Museum, portrays him as a portly gentleman who clearly enjoyed his food. During...
155 views
Graham Watkins
- Jul 14, 2019
- 3 min
The Red Bandits of Mawddwy
Hen ddwyediad lleol – ‘Tri pheth o Fawddwy a ddaw, Dyn cas, nod cas, a glaw’. Old local saying – ‘Three things come from Mawddwy, hateful...
675 views
Graham Watkins
- Jun 27, 2019
- 5 min
Swansea - Incendiaries and High Explosives
The rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany was viewed with concern by the British Government. A lone voice had been warning...
205 views
Graham Watkins
- Jun 18, 2019
- 6 min
Thomas Picton - Welsh Hero or Monster
Thomas Picton - Welsh Hero or Monster; you decide.
930 views
Graham Watkins
- Jun 2, 2019
- 4 min
Nantyglo Roundhouses - Riots, masters and men.
In the 19th Century, the South Wales valleys underwent dramatic industrial change. People arrived in their thousands, looking for work...
252 views
Graham Watkins
- May 5, 2019
- 2 min
The Enemy Within - A Dystopian Crime Thriller
Yesterday I was asked where the ideas for my new dystopian crime novel The Enemy Within came from. It's an interesting question which...
40 views
Graham Watkins
- May 5, 2019
- 3 min
The Hallelujah Obelisk - 'Praise the Lord' but it also means, 'Fools.'
In 1736, landowner Nehemiah Griffiths, who lived near Mold built an obelisk in one of his fields. The stone monument he erected included...
343 views
Graham Watkins
- Apr 21, 2019
- 3 min
Prospect Tower - Bats and a copper bottomed story.
Robert Morris moved from Shropshire to Swansea, in 1724, to work as the manager of Llangyfelach Copper Works. When the proprietor of the...
211 views
Graham Watkins
- Apr 7, 2019
- 4 min
The Rape of Wales
After conquering the Silure, the last resisting Welsh tribe, in AD 76, Governor Frontinus began the next phase of Roman occupation;...
387 views
Graham Watkins
- Mar 24, 2019
- 3 min
Jersey Marine Tower. Rocky Marciano's Wartime home?
In 1886, the brewer Captain Evan Evans was looking to diversify his business. Brewing beer was profitable but he wanted to expand and...
444 views
Graham Watkins
- Mar 10, 2019
- 4 min
The Spirit of Llandegla.
It was Sunday morning and Llandegla Parish Church was full. The congregation waited, patiently at first and then with increasing...
251 views
Graham Watkins
- Feb 24, 2019
- 6 min
The Reckoning
'Due to me this day £4. 7s and...' Ink falls from the nib onto the page. It runs, like a tiny black stream, across the words. I return...
51 views
bottom of page