The old Garfeth Road

 

Red line:  the old Garfeth Road and the old farm lane leading to Cilwen. 

Blue circles: cottage locations.  Green line: old edge of the common.  The cottages 

on the Garfeth Road are not named on the old maps -- so I have used the Isaf, 

Ganol and Uchaf convention.

The old trackway that runs up the side of the hill from the Cilgwyn clapper bridge towards Cnwc yr Hydd and Banc Du is so substantial that it might well have been the key roadway running southwards from Newport towards Haverfordwest.  Indeed, it looks that way from some of the oldest maps, which show this lane but not the other road that runs up past Ysgarwen and Cilgwyn Mawr to the junction with the Brynberian road.  This idea of "the old road" and "the new road" is supported by the fact that until quite recently the existing farm track leading to Cilwen did not exist at all; that farm was served by another farm track leading from near Cilgwyn Church and along through the woods on the eastern side of the stream, through the woodland of Allt Ysgarwen.

Side by Side, old six-inch map (pre-1913) and the modern satellite image.  

The Cilwen farm track is prominent, but only on the photo!  The old track ran down 

the valley towards St Mary's Church, Cilgwyn.

The old roadway was clearly capable of taking wheeled traffic at one time, but it has deteriorated a lot in recent years, and is now deeply rutted.  But the interesting thing is the presence of four ruined cottages along its length -- or rather three cottages and one substantial farmhouse, which is still listed as Garfeth on the large-scale maps. To the est of the track, Cilwen is still inhabited, and Fagwyr (or Fagwr) Lwyd is a much decayed ruin which was used as an overnight stop by Henry Tudor on 8 August 1485, on his way to Bosworth field.

The old Garfeth track --used as a routeway for many centuries, but now deteriorating fast......

Garfeth Isaf

The old dwelling house or cottage (which might have been known by another name) is to the east of the track, approached through a gate.  On the west side of the track there is a substantial animal house with some retaining walls, and the layout can be made out from the old 6" maps.  The cottage is so ruinous that it looks as if it was abandoned a long time ago, maybe before 1900.  Its dimensions are c 15m x 5m.  The front door was on the eastern wall, looking over the valley.  The characteristic internal "buttress" in the gable end wall -- showing where the simnai fawr (inglenook fireplace) was located -- is at the north end of the house.  There is no sign of the elongated pantry which we find in the larger dwellings in this area.  On the west side of the track there are the remains of two buildings joined together, one about 5m x 5m and the other about 4m x 4m.  Cowshed and pigsty?  Again they are very ruinous.

All that's left of the cottage.  The gable ends have not yet quite collapsed......

The remains of the cowshed (?).   On the other side of this wall is the pigsty (?) built against the bank, with a fine protective wall projecting northwards.

Garfeth Ganol

Again, another name might have been used.  The pathway beyond the end of the lane goes straight past the eastern gable end of what must have been a substantial dwelling in a commanding position.  It looks as if it was quite independent of the long farmhouse of Garfeth, which is over a fence on private land. The stonework is very rough, but some massive coin stones have been used on the corners.  The easternmost part of the building is a small (4m x 4m) self-contained shed or pigsty, joined to a small dwelling with dimensions 7m x 5m.  There were two doors, one facing south and the other facing north. The simnai fawr end was towards the west. There is no trace of a pantry, but there was a pleasant yard or terrace on the southern flank of the building, with a walled lane.

Garfeth Uchaf

This is a substantial ruin, on private land. It was occupied in 1778 and 1874, and it would be interesting to do a census search to see whether it was also inhabited in the 1900's.   In its heyday it was the largest of all the buildings in this group, a longhouse about 20m long and 5m wide. It's aligned more or less N-S, with the dwelling at the southern end.  The main fireplace and chimney were at the southern gable end.  There was an elongated pantry attached to the dwelling, making the dimensions of the footprint c 9m x 7m.  The middle section of the building was probably a cowshed, maybe with two doorways facing west.  At the northern end there were two small attached buildings separated by a dividing wall -- maybe intended for poultry and dogs.  Across a passageway on the east side there were two further buildings, one about 2m x 3m, and the other 3m x 3m.  About 25m away, along the lane leading to Fawyr Lwyd,  there was another small building -- maybe a pigsty.

 Satellite image of the old Garfeth farm and surrounding walls.

Garfeth ruins with Carningli in the distance

Looking downslope.  On the left, the cowshed.  On the right, the pantry and the dwelling house. 

Fagwyr Lwyd

The place where Henry VII (Henry Tudor) is reputed to have slept on August 8th 1485, while his army camped nearby, on his way from Dale to Bosworth Field.  So it is a very old building, presumably with a reasonably sized estate around it.  It was still being farmed in 1734 and 1762.  It means "grey wall"  and was alternatively spelt "Vagwrllwyd".  It's an enclosure that now appears to be in the middle of a field, following the removal of two long hedges, with the ruinous old walls now hosting a cluster of mature and rather magnificent beech trees.  On the satellite images, the buildings cannot be seen at all.  There are traces of at least five separate buildings.  Highest up the slope are two small farm buildings, each about 5m x 5m square.  Then, looking northwards (downslope) there was a substantaial farmhouse on the west side with dimensions 15m x 5m and across a yard (on its eastern side) another large building -- probably a barn or cowshed, with dimensions c10m x 5m.  The old maps show TWO buildings here, but they cannot now be traced.  There was a lean-to shed on the downslope gable end of the dwelling house.  Across a paddock to the east, there was a substantial lane running approx SE - NW, and further downslope, about 80m away, there is a pile of rubble that might well have been yet another building.

Somewhere in there are the ruins of Fagwyr Lwyd, among the trees

The undulating pile of stones and rubble which is all that now remains of the original dwelling house at Fagwyr Lwyd.  View from the northern edge of the enclosure, looking south.

One of the two small outbuildings at the upslope (southern) end of the Fagwyr Lwyd settlement site.

Penlan-Oleu

This is the highest of the buildings in the group, in a very exposed location.  It was still inhabited around 1947, and our old postman Derek told us that he was born there.  Probably when it was built it was on the edge of the common, and thus it may qualify for the "ty unnos" label.  It's another longhouse, measuring c 37m x 5m.  The cowshed is at the northern (downslope) end, with the dwelling with simnai fawr and the cwtch against the southern gable.  The dwelling was quite small -- only about 6m x 5m.  The door appears to have been on the eastern (lee) side.  At the northern end there was a small (4m x 5m) shed, and there were two sheds attached at the southern end.  Water supply clearly came from a spring just a few metres from the SE corner of the building.  There were several substantial walls containing paddocks and maybe providing windbreaks, and there were two small yards or gardens on the west side; the layout of these features is quite visible on the satellite imagery.

Satellite image of Penlan-oleu, showing the layout of banks and walls.  The old trackway is off the photo, to the right (east).  There is a tradition that this was once a shop, but maybe we should take that with a pinch of salt........

The dwelling house section of Penlan-oleu, looking downslope towards the north.

View of Penlan-oleu from the west,  The dwelling is on the right, and the cowshed to the left.

If we include Cilwen and Fagwyr Lwyd, that means there were six families in residence in the Garfeth area, all served by the Garfeth trackway.  Quite a little community, which was probably in its prime in the period 1810 - 1850.........

 

The Lost Church (Eglwys Fair) -- a Templar or Hospitaller connection?

We know that the Victorian church in Cilgwyn (now closed and used as a private residence) was built around 1880-84 as a replacement for an older church that was probably built around 1550, following the dissolution of religious orders. According to George Owen (1603) it was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin -- that was not at all unusual, although of course the "mother church" in Nevern was dedicated to our local saint, Brynach.

But what of the even older church on the side of Banc Du? It's recorded on the 6" map as "Eglwys Fair" (Mary's Church or the Church of St Mary) but which Mary? Was it the Virgin, or Mary Magdalene? Vanya suggests that there might have been a Templar link in this area, and that they had a special affection for dedications to St Mary Magdalene......

George Owen tells us that in 1603 there were no less than 8 pilgrimage chapels in Nevern parish, at the following locations:

Capel St Thomas, in Morfa quarter
Capel St Ffraid (St Bride) in Crugiau quarter
Capen Gwenfron, in Crugiau quarter (named after a female saint)
Capel Gwenddydd, in Crugiau quarter (named after a female saint)
Capel Reall (St Milburg's Chapel), on Banc y Capel (SN071392) near Llwyngwair Manor
Capel Padrig (a nice Irish connection)
Capel St George (Capel Cynon) at Roft-y-Capel, SN055344 near Tregynon (still marked on the OS map).  Also called Eskergynon.
Capel Cilgwyn (St Mary's Chapel), recorded as being assessed with Nevern in 1291 -- this must be the ruined chapel on Banc Du at SN076347 and marked as "Eglwys Fair"


They all had influential (and not necessarily devout) patrons, and they were used for solemn processions on holy days and as stopping places for pilgrims. Most were devotional chapels associated with religious cults -- in this area almost inevitably the cult of St Brynach. However, by 1603 almost all of them were in ruins. They were probably not "hermit's cells" like the little chapel of St Govan, although some -- like Eglwys Fair -- were in very remote locations.

The ruins of Capel Cynon or Capel St George, Tregynon, listed by Dyfed Archaeology as PRN 1571

Some of the ruined chapels in Pembrokeshire were conferred upon the Order of St John (Slebech Commandery) around 1150. And we also know that some of the ruined chapels (such as Parc yr Hen Gapel near Dinas Cross) were plundered by the removal of stone for the building of nearby farmhouses. Many old chapels became parish churches on the Dissolution of the Monasteries and Religious Orders.

However,  the name "Temple Bar" is found near Nevern, and the name "Felindre Farchog" might suggest some local link with the Templars, who were a military order set up in the context of the Crusades.  The alternative name for Capel Cynon -- namely Capel St George -- is unusual for this part of Wales, and might suggest a link with the Templars.  And Tregynon is not all that far from Banc Du.  But research suggests that the Templars didn't actually have much of a presence in Wales. As for the Commandery of Slebech, the lists of properties (including churches and chapels) belonging to it in 1230, 1338 and 1525 include just one burgage in Newport (Newburgh) and no properties at all in Nevern parish. (Source: Parry, 1996: The Commandery of Slebech in Wales of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.)  ET Lewis suggests that there were 15 acres of land at Berry Hill which were gifted to the Hospitallers;  but it's not known what they did with it.

We can therefore suggest that there was no strong presence in Nevern or Cilgwyn of either the Knights Templar or the Slebech Commandery in the 400 years prior to the dissolution of religious houses and orders in 1536-1540. It's most likely that the old church on the side of Banc Du was indeed dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.

St Mary's Church -- lost and found

Thanks to Marc, Vanya and others, we think we have tracked down the site of the medieval Church of St Mary the Virgin (Eglwys Fair), on the side of Banc Du at grid ref SN 07680 34746. This was probably the church where Henry Tudor worshipped after landing at Dale, on 8th August 1485, and marching northwards. According to legend, he stayed at Fagwr (or Fagwyr) Lwyd, while his followers camped on the plateau west of Cnwc yr Hydd summit. Afterwards, he continued with his growing army via Newport and Cardigan up to Aberystwyth and then on to the fateful Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

The "lost church" is shown on the old maps as Eglwys Fair, but in the wrong place, to the west of the fence. It is actually below the old quarry shown on the satellite images, and although the piles of rubble / collapsed walls were still visible a century ago, now they are completely covered with turf.

After a search, it has to be said that the signs of the old church are quite subtle. All we can see is a disturbed area on a grassy shelf about 20m from the old quarry. In an area about 7m x 7m there are a number of low hummocks about 80 cms high, with a slight hollow in the middle. On prodding the hummocks, I discovered that they are all located on boulders or piles of smaller stones. Some of these stones are loose -- and that indicated that this is all that is left of an old building. (If all of the stones were to be solidly embedded in the turf, that mightv indicate that they are very old glacial erratics, just as we find on the area west of Cnwc yr Hydd......)

Anyway, a little piece of local history rediscovered!

Some of the uncovered stones -- in a short space of time I was able to strip the turf off 13 of them.

We don't know how much time has elapsed since this old church became derelict. It was probably built some time in the early Middle Ages by a rich local patron, as a "chapel of ease" linked to Nevern -- and maybe used by travellers and by parishioners who found the journey to Nevern too daunting. How big was it? Well, there is a faint impression that shows up in satellite images suggesting a rectangular building c 15m x 5m, aligned approx N-S. I suspect that it fell into disrepair in the middle 1500's, when a new Church of St Mary the Virgin was built in its present location, down next to the river in Cilgwyn. When the building collapsed, I suspect that some of the stone might have been cannibalised and used for the cottage called Penlan-Oleu, a short distance to the east, across the fields.

PS.  More interesting info from Vanya:

from Archives: Site of St. Mary's Church (Eglwys Fair) .
Royal Commission for Ancient Monuments in Wales & Monmouth 1914:
The site of the little chapel of St Mary is reputed to be the summit of Banc du, at the foot of which, 3/4 mile to the north is the present chapel of St Mary Cilgwyn.
About the year 1900 The Pembrokeshire Archaeological Survey reported upon the few remains then visible as follows:
"They consist of large stones forming three sides of a rectangular figure. There is no trace of mortar but in several places both faces of the foundation of wall or hedge are visible, and judging by the size of the stones, some of which are very large, the building, if building it was, must have been very ancient. The east side of the enclosure measures 21 yards and the north side 19 yards. The south side measures only 9 yards but it is possible the stones may have extended further westward and that they are concealed by a mound of rubbish excavated from the neighbouring quarry. The curious feature is that the greatest length is from North to South; whereas in a church one would expect to find the building longest from east to west. The ground rises from the east side of the enclosure so that it would seem that the west wall if there was one must have been below the level of the contour of the land which slopes from the quarry to the east "

Father Gildas from Caldy Monastery has studied early Celtic Christianity extensively and thought it could be an early chapel as their orientation was North west. Rather like the earlier chapel to the North of Nevern Church. That too is built in a similar fashion very like St Govans Chapel in South Pembrokeshire. It would be interesting to compare the dimensions of the three of them.

That's intriguing, suggesting the the western side of the church was below ground level, which is indeed sloping below the edge of the quarry, and that there was a sort of platform on which the church was built.  The enclosure within which the church was built has been lost without trace.  There is also a suggestion that the quarry post-dates the church.  That fits with my assumption that this quarry, like the others on Cnwc yr Hydd, was opened up in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to provide shale and mudstone slabs for local buildings and walls. 

PS.  3rd April 2021.   The mystery deepens -- at the "new" site of St Mary's Church Cilgwyn Maye (who now lives there) has pointed out to me that there are at least two inscribed stones with crosses which are quite discernible.  One stands close to the porch, and the other is built into the fabric of the church, at its NE corner high above the ground.  Stones such as these are generally assumed to date from around 800 - 1000 AD -- so if the stones were carved and used on this site, that suggests the presence of a chapel in the early Middle Ages, possibly used at the same time as the other "Eglwys Mair" high up on the slope of Banc Du..........

Five Bolinda Audiobooks

 Here are the links to the Bolinda web site, for the five Bolinda audiobooks published so far (MP3 versions):

On Angel Mountain

https://www.bolinda.com/uk/search/results.aspx?/2/7260BC15-92CE-4936-8E12-3FF3D4EB7ADC/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/4/Brian%20John

House of Angels

https://www.bolinda.com/uk/search/results.aspx?/2/7260BC15-92CE-4936-8E12-3FF3D4EB7ADC/1/3/1/1/1/1/1/4/Brian%20John

Dark Angel

https://www.bolinda.com/uk/search/results.aspx?/2/7260BC15-92CE-4936-8E12-3FF3D4EB7ADC/1/5/1/1/1/1/1/4/Brian%20John

Rebecca and the Angels

https://www.bolinda.com/uk/search/results.aspx?/2/7260BC15-92CE-4936-8E12-3FF3D4EB7ADC/1/7/1/1/1/1/1/4/Brian%20John

Flying with Angels

https://www.bolinda.com/uk/search/results.aspx?/2/7260BC15-92CE-4936-8E12-3FF3D4EB7ADC/1/9/1/1/1/1/1/4/Brian%20John

Whitesands

 A fabulous image of Whitesands, published on Facebook by Emyr Afan of Avanti Media.  Worth sharing!

The lost church of St Mary the Virgin

On a Facebook group  page I have been discussing with Vanya Orr and others the fate of the “missing church” of St Mary the Virgin (Eglwys Fair) up on the mountainside near Banc Du, at the top of the Garfeth track that leads up from Cilgwyn. There is nothing there at the moment, apart from a name on some old maps. The problem is that it is easy to confuse it with the other St Mary’s Church, down in the valley in Cilgwyn, which is a Victorian building dating from 1880. It’s now a private residence,  having been deconsecrated some years ago. Before the Victorian rebuild there was a church there, but it was derelict. George Owen (1603) said that the church on this site was “consecrated within living memory” — which probably means around 1550.

Before that, the church dedicated to St Mary seems to have been up on Banc Du. We don't know who built it, or when — but it was probably erected by a wealthy patron some time after the establishment of the Barony of Cemais.  It was recorded as a "chapel of ease” connected to Nevern Church in 1284, but it may have been used mainly for private worship. Was it built of wood, or stone? Was it destroyed and rebuilt in this exposed and vulnerable place during the centuries of conflict between the Anglo-Normans and the Welsh princes? Maybe over and again? And where exactly was it located?  And was it connected in some way to the medieval "deer park" that is known to have existed on Waun Mawn?  The old maps show it on the slope of the hill above the old quarry — but Vanya thinks that it might have been located on the flatter ground below the quarry — and there is indeed a very faint rectangular shape there, visible on satellite images, measuring c 15m x 5m, and aligned approx N-S.

Another clue to the existence of this little church or chapel comes in the story of Henry Tudor and his march from Dale to Bosworth Field. In August 1485 he passed this way, and tradition has it that he camped with his growing army at a place called “the fifth milestone”. That might well have been on the plateau near the summit of Cnwc yr Hydd, which is spacious enough and dry enough to accommodate a substantial encampment involving horses, men and their supplies. Tradition also has it that Henry slept at Fagwr Lwyd and that he worshipped at the church of St Mary. Those three locations, within a kilometre of one another, suggest to me that the tradition is a reliable one. The trackway leading down to Garfeth and then onwards to Cilgwyn and Newport is also a very substantial if ruinous lane, and we can speculate that this might well have been the main road leading from Haverfordwest to Newport.

It would be rather exciting if we can establish where this “lost church” was actually located……..

The dolerite plateau to the west of Cnwc yr Hydd summit.  Was this the upland meadow on 

which Henry's army camped on the night of 8th August 1485?

The "one night houses" that lasted for five generations

I'm increasingly intrigued by these little buildings and enclosures on the edge of the common land in the Newport area. The top one is called Ty-Col, and is near the Bedd Morris standing stone to the west of Newport Pembs. The other is called Pen-lan-Oleu, and is to the north of Cnwc yr Hydd, near Tafarn y Bwlch. I assumed they were both "ty unnos" or "caban unnos" buildings originally, given their locations, and I guessed their date of construction to be around 1810. The latter one was still inhabited in the Second World War -- as was the building called Carningli Lodge, on the edge of the common near Carningli. 

So I guessed that these ruins had survived as viable places of residence for 5 generations -- which is much longer than many of the "illegal" houses build on the edges of the commons in other parts of the UK. They are classic longhouse designs, with stable, cowshed and pigsty at one end of the row, and the human habitation at the other end.

Anyway, I put out a request for information on the Heritage and History of Wales Facebook page, and in no time at all I had many replies.  This is what I got from Ceridwen Cilshafe on the subject of Ty-Col:  This 15 acre holding is mentioned in the 1584 Bronwydd papers, and was probably linked to the Cole family of Llwyngwair. The ruins indicate a longhouse, 108’ x 18’ in plan, and a small out- building. Reg Davies concluded that the longhouse contained a pig-cote, cow-house, a 30’ cottage and a barn. It may originally have been a Hafod, and there is a Hendre one mile NNE. The old Drovers’ Road passes 500 yards to the east. However, census records show that from 1841 to 1911 it was a dwelling for the Evans, Williams, Owens, James and Howells families. By 1933 Ty Col was in ruins. (info from Len Urwin)

I suppose its possible that Ty-Col was in more or less continuous occupation from around 1584 to around 1930.   So it's been in ruins for around a century.  The stonework is very rough indeed, and the walls are in a dangerous state; almost all of the mortar that was used has been washed away.

We must clearly be careful about labelling things on the basis of their location on the edge of the common! That having been said, I still think Pen-lan-Oleu is probably a "ty unnos" dwelling........

We like to think that "one night" cottages are unique to Wales -- but that's not true. Almost every country in the world seems to have a tradition that landless people (or young couples with no money) can secretly build a cottage overnight on waste land or common land, and get away withy it, on the grounds that some ancient law allows it.  When you look for these ancient laws, they don't actually exist -- so the tradition probably arises from a resentment against landowners with wealth and power who presume to own land which others think should be part of the "commons"...........

In his book "Cotters and Squatters" Colin Ward says that the great majority of "overnight cottages" built in the British Isles were destroyed shortly after they were built, either by vengeful landowners who felt that their authority was being threatened, or by landowners intent on enclosing parts of the common (with or without Parliamentary approval), or by commoners who felt that with every reduction in the size of the common their own use of it for grazing, peat cutting, and rush gathering was compromised.  So although many of the cottagers were supported by a wide circle of family and friends, it was not guaranteed that ALL of the poor people and tenant farmers of a district were in favour of the incremental shrinking of the common land that was essential for their own survival. 

So if some older building like Ty-Col and some newer ones like Pen-lan-Oleu managed to survive on the edges of the common, while others across the UK were demolished almost as quickly as they were erected, what was different here in Pembrokeshire?  I suspect that there might have been several factors at play:

1.  The fact that the Barony of Cemaes -- a medieval institution -- still owned the commons of Carningli, Dinas and Preseli.

2.  The ruinous nature of Newport Castle and the absence (for most of the time) of the Lord Marcher, leaving things in the hands of rather inefficient stewards who had some sympathies with the aspirations of tenants and landless families.

3.  There were no other large and powerful families in the area who owned estates on the edges of the common and who sought to enlarge them via common-land enclosures.

4.  The enclosures were generally for the benefit of "small" families rather than large estates, which meant there there was not the same level of animosity from the commoners that might have been expected if there had been "land grabs" by unpopular members of the gentry.

5.  The "pressure"on the commons was reducing rather than building up, in the period after 1830, as people left the area to search for a better life in the growing industrial centres on the South Wales Coalfield.  (In the period immediately after the Napoleonic Wars there was a local population increase, with the margin of cultivation moving uphill on the mountain slopes into areas that were very marginal in terms of climate and soil quality.  But when people started to emigrate eastwards that trend was reversed, and many "new fields" were abandoned and allowed to revert back to wilderness.  We can still see them in the landscape today.)

Paul Sambrook kindly reminded me that the Barony seems to have had a policy of allowing cottagers to build on the edges of the common, and that they collected rents on the buildings once they were habitable.  So the environment for settlers was not nearly as hostile here as it was in other parts of the UK -- and even around the lowland commons of Pembrokeshire.  I'll speculate that more cottages (maybe called "ty unnos" cottages and maybe not) were built around the Carningli and Preseli commons, and more of them survived, than might have been expected -- because of this rather unique set of local circumstances.  On the other hand, of course many of them were build in very remote and difficult locations in which "smallholder life" was very tough indeed -- and eventually it was inevitable that they would be abandoned.  But some of them --like Cot Llwyd -- survived and thrived!

PS  Here is an interesting entry:

https://www.hanesabergwaun.org.uk/topics/farms-farming-life/rural-isolation

 

The Ty Col longhouse

 Grid Ref  SN 030 370.  This is one of the most interesting ruined houses on the edges of the common -- not far from the Parc Mawr tors, and reachable along the moorland track that leads westwards and then north-westwards from Bedd Morris.  I suppose that we had better assume that it dates from the early 1800's, like most of the "ty unnos" cottages on the fringes of the moorland -- but this one is more complex and more interesting than any of the others.  It has a very intriguing pattern of enclosures around it, and it is approached by a beautiful little lane flanked by massive stone walls.  This is a landscape littered with huge dolerite boulders, and the buildings are settled on top of some of the largest.  

This is the closest approximation I have seen to a traditional Celtic longhouse, with five rooms in a row, with the dwelling house at the south end and with traces of a traditional "simnai fawr" and cwtch against the southern gable end.  At the north end there are what appear to be a small stable, a cowshed and a pigsty.  The walls are very crudely built with rough stone (all dolerite) blocks roughly shaped or dressed, and with minimal use of mortar. The main entrances face west, and there is one old door that has been blocked in with stonewalling.  So there are at least two phases of development.  

The dwelling is in a dangerous state, and there are no traces of a roof or an upper storey.  Some of the walls on the east side are leaning dangerously, and will soon collapse.

I wonder if the building is listed, or should be.....??

See also:

https://brian-angelmountain.blogspot.com/2020/11/another-romantic-ruin.html

A Character a day: (15) John Wesley Jumbie, extortionist

 Idris Elba as John Wesley Jumbie?  Well, why not?  A nice little cameo for him.....

Jumbie is one of the key characters in “Conspiracy of Angels”. He makes a dramatic appearance, and at the end of the story he exits with a bullet in his heart. He’s a negro of vast stature, brutal and yet very intelligent — and a worthy adversary for Martha. He is a freed slave who was active in the anti-slavery movement until he spotted opportunities for extracting large sums of money from slave-owning families and from the owners of slave trading vessels. He lives in some luxury, with his own carriage and a considerable bodyguard. As his affected name might imply, he sees himself as a righteous man seeking to undo the unspeakable evils associated with slavery — and he becomes the leading member of a cult called The Sons of Obeah. 

 But then what starts as something designed to undermine evil becomes evil itself, as Jumbie and his friends embark upon kidnappings and murders. He first sees Martha as an enemy, but then when he discovers that she is herself heavily involved in the attempts to abolish slavery and the slave trade, the two of them come to an uneasy truce. In spite of warnings from Martha, Jumbie ramps up his activities and it becomes clear that his prime target is now General Sir Thomas Picton, in revenge for his “reign of terror” when he was Governor of Trinidad. Out of the blue, Martha’a help is enlisted by none other than the Prime Minister, who tells her that if Jumbie succeeds in assassinating Picton, and the news gets out that the assassin is a black man, that would set back the abolitionist campaign by at least a generation. The scene is set for a climactic end to the story on a dark night at Picton’s residence, Poyston Hall………

A Character a day: (14) Skiff Abraham, wheeler and dealer

Is Rhodri Meilir just the man to play Skiff?

At the beginning of the tale Skiff is the roughest of the ruffians who control the local petty crime scene in Newport and the surrounding district. He is a friend of Will Owen, the tearaway (and rather intelligent) son of the Plas Ingli housekeeper. The two of them are involved in petty crime, extortion and blackmail, and the smuggling of contraband goods and wrecking activities whenever the opportunity comes along. Martha, like many other members of the gentry, is a good customer of theirs. In dealing with their enemies they stop short of serious bodily injuries and murder, but in their line of business things are occasionally brutal, and people do get hurt.

One day Skiff is on the run from the customs officers while in possession of valuables from a local shipwreck, and he is saved by Martha from deportation and possible execution for grand larceny. Thereafter Skiff is in Martha’s debt, and he becomes her spymaster and protector. They become good friends, and on many occasions Skiff’s spy network in the town saves Martha and provides vital information on the activities of her enemies. Martha encourages him to use his wits in pursuit of a legal fortune, on the right side of the law — and he takes her advice, to the extent that by the end of the narrative he is the wealthiest merchant in the district, owning and operating a number of trading vessels and local warehouses handling goods from all over the world.

A Character a day: (13) Isaac Morgan, pillar of strength

William Thomas would do very well as Grandpa Isaac

Isaac is David’s grandfather, but at the beginning of the story he is still a relatively young man, 57 years old, having married at the age of eighteen. He is fit and active, and acts as David’s mentor in all things to do with the management of the estate. He should, of course, be Master of the estate himself, but he is penniless and homeless, having declared himself bankrupt after giving the whole estate to his son (and David’s father) William some years before the commencement of the story narrative. That was done to save the estate from passing by default to Squires Watkins, Rice and Howell as a consequence of a fraudulent mortgage arrangement. 

 Isaac quite enjoys being a pauper with no responsibilities, and after David’s death he becomes Martha’s fierce protector and mentor. He knows everything that goes on in the local community, and he is still a magistrate with a good knowledge of the law. His sympathies are very much with the poor and the downtrodden, and this sets him on a collision course with other squires and magistrates who use the petty sessions to terrorise those who have committed minor offences and who live in conditions of squalor and deprivation. He has his cronies too, and enjoys nothing better than a few jars of ale in the company of colleagues and old friends in one of the Newport inns. He is an avid reader of whatever newspapers he can get his hands on, and is surprisingly well informed about what is going on in London, on the Continent and on the other side of the Atlantic. He and Grandma Jane make a formidable couple, doing their best, rather too frequently, to keep Martha out of trouble.

A Character a day: (12) David, Martha’s only husband

Tom Rhys Harries might play David rather well......

David is almost too good to be true. As Martha’s first love and only husband, he figures prominently in the first two volumes of the saga, and then he is gone — murdered in cold blood during a Cnapan game on Traeth Mawr, Newport. But before his death he fathers Martha’s first four children and he is a devoted parent and a passionate husband — and Martha loves him dearly.

But he is a man who is deeply traumatised by the fire that killed his parents and three of his siblings right at the beginning of the story — so we don’t know what he might have been like, were it not for that fateful event. Even worse, be blames himself for the fire, and will not be budged from that conviction no matter how hard Martha tries to reason with him. Of course, it was not his fault at all, but neither Martha nor David, nor the reader, knows that……….

Martha is stronger than him, in spite of her wild swings of mood, and he knows it.  The young couple have a number of squabbles, but he knows when to stand his ground and when to back off.  He’s well educated (Eton and Oxford), but is by no means as erudite as his grandparents, and he adapts very quickly when he suddenly becomes the master of the Plas Ingli estate. He takes his duties — and his responsibilities to his servants and tenant farmers — very seriously indeed, and makes a range of important decisions under the guidance of Grandpa Isaac.  he starts to rebuild both the house and the estate.    He is also committed to looking after Moses Lloyd and making a man of him — but after a number of episodes in which his patience is tested to the limit, he dismisses Moses and makes an implacable enemy of him. He had enough enemies already, with the Watkins, Rice and Howell families plotting endlessly for the downfall of the Plas Ingli estate. Although he is young, he stands up to the three villainous and overbearing squires, and wins Martha’s admiration in the process. And there is no doubting his reckless courage — he is a famous and skilful player of Cnapan, and when the French Black Legion invades the Fishguard district in 1797 he is the first to leap to the defence of his country, showing great courage in hand-to-hand fighting and rescuing Lord Cawdor from ignominy. That creates a debt which has a great bearing on the later developments in the story.

 

Guardian Angel audiobook cover

 

Bolinda has released the cover for the next audiobook in the series -- in advance of publication on 1st April.  It sticks to the same theme as the previous five audiobooks, and pays homage to the story line, in which Martha (under an assumed name) goes off to Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil to do good works among the poor.  Since she is just as incorrigible as ever, she makes enemies of assorted poor people and some extremely rich ones as well, but somehow gets out more or less unscathed.......

I tried to convince the cover designer that the background image did not look much like the old ironworks at Dowlais or Cyfartha, but once a designer has an image in mind, there is no shifting him or her.........  anyway, it is suitably "industrial" and makes a change from wilderness!

After this one, only two to go!  Janine and Malk (the narrators) have been working very hard.