Graham Watkins
Rhys ap Thomas - Hero of Bosworth Field
According to the poet Guto’r Glyn, Rhys ap Thomas struck the blow that killed Richard III.
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Graham Watkins
- Oct 30, 2021
- 2 min
The Smallest House
Queen 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...
223 views
Graham Watkins
- Nov 20, 2020
- 4 min
The Wreckers of Cefn Sidan
The Wreckers of Cefn Sidan 'Gwyr-y-Bwyelli Bach' The people with little hatchets. The Captain of the La Jeune Emma peered through the...
776 views
Graham Watkins
- Jul 10, 2020
- 8 min
Swansea and the Sea
When Captain Dan Nicholas wrote his diaries, describing forty years at sea, he recorded that his father was a boy of ten when the French...
143 views
Graham Watkins
- Apr 7, 2020
- 8 min
From Ammanford to Albacete
In the 1930s the political scene was changing across Europe. The Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, and his Nazi Party had seized power in Germany....
243 views
Graham Watkins
- Apr 5, 2020
- 4 min
The Cockle Women of Penclawdd
It 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...
1,263 views
Graham Watkins
- Mar 17, 2020
- 6 min
Why 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...
367 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...
450 views
Graham Watkins
- Dec 12, 2018
- 3 min
Fort Williamsburg - A toy fort with real cannon.
When in 1549, John Wynn was King Edward VI’s standard bearer the king rewarded him with a gift of Bardsey Island. In the 17th Century,...
492 views
Graham Watkins
- Oct 8, 2018
- 7 min
The Press Gangs of Swansea
In 1803 a Royal Naval Officer named William Harries visited the tiny hamlet of Llangynnwr in Carmarthenshire. With him were several burly...
698 views
Graham Watkins
- Aug 26, 2018
- 3 min
Dry Bridge Lodge
Strangers travelling along a minor road south west of Mostyn are surprised to find themselves driving under a house. The structure, known...
721 views
Graham Watkins
- Aug 13, 2018
- 4 min
The Salt Smugglers of Mawddach
The Salt Smugglers of Mawddach "The only thing worse than a smuggler is the excise man who tries to catch him!" Dr. Samuel Johnson 1709...
154 views
Graham Watkins
- May 31, 2018
- 3 min
So why did Mr. Jones build a funny looking castle?
The practice of erecting a memorial to a loved one is common enough but when William Jones’ wife Elizabeth died in 1787 he felt that...
450 views
Graham Watkins
- May 12, 2018
- 2 min
Eliseg or Elisedd - so whose pillar was it?
Elisedd ap Gwylog was a 1st Century King of Powys and a descendant of Brochweil Ysgithrog, so named because of his fang like teeth and...
233 views
Graham Watkins
- Apr 19, 2018
- 6 min
Davies’ Stone
The A4069 is a narrow country road that snakes its way over the Black Mountain from Llangadog to Brynamman. A good surface, hairpin bends...
251 views
Graham Watkins
- Feb 11, 2018
- 3 min
A strange house, a Welsh lawyer and an Italian Contessa.
To the north of Merthyr Tydfil, near the railway viaduct at Pontsarn, stands a very peculiar house. The property has been known by a...
6,887 views
Graham Watkins
- Jan 8, 2018
- 2 min
Deceiving the Devil.
John Renie. The man who tried to trick the Devil. On the 8th October 2005 a tombstone in the churchyard at St. Mary’s Priory Church,...
267 views
Graham Watkins
- Dec 19, 2017
- 4 min
Mail Coach Monument - An intoxicating tale from the Past.
The road that we now call the A40 has for centuries been a main transport route across Wales. In Roman times, it was a military road that...
1,353 views
Graham Watkins
- Oct 31, 2017
- 4 min
The Angelystor of Llangernyw.
The Angelystor of Llangernyw. ‘When the bell begins to toll, Lord, have mercy on the soul.’ The Venerable Bede, 672-735. Our forefathers...
519 views
Graham Watkins
- May 24, 2017
- 4 min
The Rape of Wales
In AD 76, after conquering the Silure, the last resisting Welsh tribe, Governor Frontinus began the next phase of Roman occupation;...
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