Bedd Arthur

 

Had to share this -- a brilliant pic posted by Hugh over on his Preseli360 page.  Bedd Arthur, with the crags of Carn Meini Carn Menyn) in the distance......  and Foel Drygarn and Frenni Fawr as well......

Droning around Carningli

 This is an interesting perspective on the craggy summit of Carningli -- a short drone film from Steve Spon, with very moody music entitled "Mount of Angels" by Nostramus.

The film could have done with tighter editing, but there are great shots of the crags and the defensive walls -- all in a ruinous state but still perfectly visible.

https://youtu.be/x4BlAWhUSE0

 

Bethesda Baptistry, Mill Lane

 

This is rather sad.  Bethesdea Baptistry, on Mill Lane, above Pont Henrietta Mair.  An important part of our local heritage.   It's being taken over by nature, and has clearly not been used for many years.  It needs a small working party to sort it out -- any volunteers?

Newport -- a potted history

NEWPORT — A POTTED HISTORY

The ancient township of Newport lies between the north facing slope of Carn Ingli and the south bank of the River Nevern estuary, surrounded by diverse and beautiful landscapes. Situated on the edge of the Preseli Hills within Britain’s only coastal National Park, the countryside here is rich in local and natural history. The well-planned walks enable visitors to enjoy the town, the nearby hills and the coastal scenery. The town offers a variety of attractions from prehistoric burial sites to a Norman castle and a medieval pottery kiln. Newport's location makes it a popular centre from which to explore the whole of North Pembrokeshire including Mynydd Preseli.

Carreg Coetan

 

Origins of Newport

The area abounds with evidence of its early inhabitants. Carreg Coetan Arthur is a Neolithic burial chamber or cromlech. Both Carn Ingli and Carn Ffoi show abundant traces of Iron Age forts and hut circles, but some features are probably much older. In the 6th century Saint Brynach (the local saint) is said to have climbed Carn Ingli often, to ‘commune with the angels’. The Welsh name for Newport is Trefdraeth — ‘the township on the shore’. This early Celtic settlement was at Parrog on the Nevern estuary, and the Normans founded the garrison town of Newport many centuries later. 

Newport Castle

Newport Castle & Barony

Newport was incorporated as a Norman borough, in the Lordship of Cemaes, in the early 13th century. A crescent shaped earthwork, known as Hen Gastell on the estuary to the north of Newport Castle is probably the site of the first wooden stronghold of William Fitzmartin. It was used after he had been ousted from Nevern by the Welsh Prince Rhys ap Gruffydd in 1191. His fort was destroyed by Llewelyn the Great in 1215. Rebuilt, it was again destroyed, along with the town, by Llywellyn ap Gruffydd in 1257. Rebuilt this time in stone, it was later attacked and destroyed by Owain Glyndwr during the Welsh uprising of 1400 to 1409. Famous Elizabethan antiquarian George Owen was Baron of Cemaes during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A private residence was incorporated into the ruined gatehouse in the 19th century. The Court Leet of the Barony continues to meet today, the present Lord Marcher exercising the privilege of nominating the mayor of Newport every 2 years. In August the beating of the bounds takes place, when a procession of local people ‘perambulates’ the boundary of the parish. (The castle is not open to the public except on very rare occasions).

Agriculture

Newport was originally made up of burgages with narrow frontages along the streets of the town. Each burgage plot had a dwelling built from a mixture of clay and straw and was long enough to grow crops and keep a few animals. Many plots extended to hand hewn water channels running parallel to the north-south streets giving Newport its distinctive mediaeval layout. Burgage holders, called burgesses, were required to attend the Court Leet (being fined for any absence), to grind their corn at the Castle Mill and, for a toll, they were allowed to sell their produce at the town market. In 1434 there were 233 burgages but by 1594 only 50 of those were habitable. Sheep farming had always been important in the area but with the General Enclosure Act of 1801 people lost their rights to graze animals. Poor harvests led to a shortage of bread and many inhabitants emigrated to America. Later in the 19th century Newport began to prosper again with the rise in importance of coastal trading.

Parrog and Sea Trade

Records show Newport was a trading port in the 16th century, with wool and cloth making up two thirds of all exports. At this time slate was quarried from the sea cliffs and exported. In the 1740s herring was exported to Bristol, Wexford, Dublin and as far as the Mediterranean. Herrings from Newport and Fishguard fed the armies of Queen Elizabeth in Spain. Ships would come in on a high tide and settle on the shore as the tide went out. Old photographs show cargoes being loaded into horse-drawn carts. In the 18th & 19th centuries shipbuilding took place along the estuary. The single-mast sloop and the two-mast brig were the most common types of vessel. Imports in the 19th century were primarily of limestone, coal and culm. Storehouses were built to accommodate this trade. The only one to survive now houses Newport Boat Club. From the 1850s many ports in Pembrokeshire were in decline as a result of the coming of the railways. But because Newport had no rail connection, coastal trading continued until 1934 when the Angus, carrying a cargo of coal, was the last ship to use Newport harbour. 

Parrog steps

Limekilns

The soil in Pembrokeshire is extremely acidic. Farmers spread lime on their fields as early as the 16th century. Limestone was brought by sea from the south of the county, burnt in kilns over a culm fire, cooled and carted to the farmland. Culm, also originating from the south, is a mixture of anthracite coal dust and clay, mixed with water and moulded by hand into balls. This burnt in domestic fireplaces as well as kilns. Originally, there were many lime-kilns in the Newport area but only 2 remain, both double-kilns. One can be found opposite Newport on the north side of the River Nevern and the other on Parrog, next to its limeburner’s cottage.

St Mary’s Parish Church

Newport's Parish Church was built in the 13th century by William Fitz Martin, grandson of the first invader of Cemaes. By the middle of the 19th century the church was in a very poor state of repair. By 1879 it had been restored and rebuilt to its present state. All that is left of the Norman building is the sturdy tower, a fine Norman cushion-type font and a holy water stoup. Attractive Victorian stained glass windows commemorate former Rectors and John Morgan, master of Madam Bevan’s School for 47 years. The extensive graveyard holds over 1000 memorials of which more than 200 have references to the seafaring families of Newport. An upright stone near the west door is inscribed with an early Christian cross, probably 6th or 7th century. This stone was found in use as a gate post near Cnwcau Farm.

Church Door

 

Chapels of Newport

There are four chapels in Newport. The oldest is the Ebenezer, the Congregationalist Chapel in Lower St. Mary Street, established in 1743 and rebuilt in 1844. The Church Chapel of St. Mary's Church in Upper St. Mary Street was built in 1799, for the use of Methodists and non-Methodists alike. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, preached at St. Mary’s Church several times. In 1811 the Methodists separated from the Anglican Church and they built their own, Tabernacle Chapel, in Long Street in 1815. The Baptists held services in a private house in Upper Bridge Street in the mid 17th century. In the same street in 1789, the Bethlehem Chapel was built. Sixty years later it was rebuilt with its tall Gothic windows that remain today.

Education

The first school in Newport was established in College Square in 1809, funded by and named after Madam Bevan of Laugharne. It was part of the nationwide ‘Circulating Schools’ movement, which was set up to give children in rural communities the opportunity to receive an education and maintain the Welsh language. It was also used as a base to train teachers. Madam Bevan's Central School continued until 1870 when the Education Act was passed. It is now a private residence. The Board School (now used by the YHA and as a small business centre) was opened in 1875 on Lower St Marys Street and was enlarged in 1914. The present school, Ysgol Bro Ingli, in Long Street was opened in 1993.

Memorial Hall and its Medieval Pottery Kiln

The Hall was built as a memorial to the men of Newport who had given their lives in The Great War. Dr David Havard, the Mayor of Newport, 1917-1920, established ‘Our Boys Fund’ to raise money for its construction. The site was given by his mother Mrs Margaret Havard and the ladies of Newport raised additional funds to add a library and reading room. The Hall was opened in 1922. While preparing the foundations in January 1921, builders found two 15th century pottery kilns, which are now understood to be the only medieval pottery kilns to be discovered in nWales. One of the kilns is still intact under the stage of the hall, and can be seen through a glass screen, following a major restoration project.

The Iron Bridge

A stone bridge with 6 arches was constructed here in the 13th century. This was demolished in the 16th century during an epidemic, probably to stop infected people entering Newport. A ford and an alternative stepping stone crossing, which can still be seen at low tide, were used for almost 300 years. The original ‘iron bridge’ was built in 1890 and replaced in 1998. This has always been a popular place to admire the views and watch the estuary birds. 

Stepping stones

Fairs, Markets and Traders

A right to hold fairs and markets in Newport was granted by the Norman Lords who benefited from the tolls payable on every beast sold and stall erected. The main fair of the year was Ffair Curig, St Curig’s Fair, at the end of June, and that time of year is still Newport's annual fair week. In the middle of the 16th century, Newport was exporting principally wool and locally woven cloth, its harbour providing a haven for the small coastal trading vessels. The cloth trade declined for a number of reasons, including a smaller population (probably due to disease) and competition from cheaper goods in England, but the export of the wool fleeces increased. By the 19th century, the maritime trade was flourishing and flannel cloth was again an important export. Many of the larger houses in the town were built at this time by sea captains and merchants. The 1875 Directory of England and Wales listed 28 farmers in the parish of Newport and over 70 different trades including bakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, drapers, ironmongers, maltsters, a manure agent, millers, milliners, weavers, etc. and even a photographer, and a further 17 inns and public houses. Many of the latter would open only when a ship came to port! Today Newport has more shops and cafes than many communities of its size.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Acknowledgements: The Ancient Borough of Newport in Pembrokeshire, by Dillwyn Miles

Text researched and written by Newport Heritage Group

Illustrations: Roger Hill

First published by PLANED

(21.10.2021. Needs more editing………..)

Newport and the Burgage Plots

 

The oldest part of Newport.  Castle, Church, The Cross (where there was at one time a market cross), very wide Market Street (where there had to be enough space for stalls and animals), and the pattern of elongated burgage plots.  Following the founding of the town there were ambitious plans -- but they were slow in coming to fruition, and in 1434 there were 233 burgage plots but only 76 burgage holders.  In 1594 things were even worse -- 211 plots and only 44 occupied.   Travellers recorded that Newport was a miserable place.  But around the Regency period the town began to thrive, and many of the neglected or derelict burgage plots were brought into use, and houses built on the street frontages.  At first, many of them were no better than hovels, but by late Victorian and Edwardian times, as wealth came into the town from the coastal shipping trade,  many had been improved and extended, so that the town took on something of the appearance that we see today.

https://dyfedarchaeology.org.uk/HLC/newportandcarningli/newport.htm

This new map of part of the town shows the "medieval core" with the main streets and the pattern of burgage plots.  Between Market Street and Scholar's Brook (near the right edge of the map) the long strips are remarkably well preserved, with buildings on the street frontages.  But many of these buildings were not put up until the nineteenth century -- before that, many of the plots were under-used or derelict.  Dwellings are marked red, and commercial premises are yellow.

Newport Town Trail

Town Trail route.  Start and finish at the Post Office on the crossroads.  Click to enlarge.

NEWPORT TOWN TRAIL

Newport (Trefdraeth) is an Ancient Borough with a rich history extending back to the Norman Conquest. This leaflet contains a list of interesting places in and around the town. All of the sites can be reached in the course of a couple of hours of leisurely walking. The sites listed will give the visitor a glimpse of the “built heritage” of which the community is so proud; we hope that you will enjoy exploring our streets and open spaces, and that your walk will encourage you to discover more about our history and traditions.

The sites are listed in order, starting from “The Cross” in the town centre, by the Post Office. The sketch map shows all of the locations mentioned. The route description is as follows:

Walk up Market Street and then turn right along Upper Bridge Street. Near the chapel turn left and walk up Mill Lane. Turn left across the bridge, passing in front of the Castle. Then turn right to College Square and bear left along the Cilgwyn Road. Take the second left down Feidr Bentinck, passing the new housing estate, and then turn left into Goat Street. Continue to the Church Chapel and then walk down Upper St Mary Street. Cross the main road and continue down Lower St Mary Street. At the bottom of the street, take the footpath to the right, crossing the old school playing field and emerging onto Feidr Pen-y-Bont. Turn left and walk down the road. Take a short detour into the Carreg Coetan Housing Estate to see the cromlech. Continue down to the road bridge. Turn left and follow the path along the south side of the estuary all the way to Parrog. Turn right to the car park and Boat Club. If you have time, continue along the sea front to Cwm. Retrace your steps to the Parrog car park and then continue up Parrog Road to the main road. Turn right and continue to the Memorial Hall. Then return to the town centre.

Interesting Places

1. Market Street. This is where the town market used to be held. Originally it was a very wide street, catering for market stalls (and animals!) on both sides. Later on some front gardens were enclosed; but the wide pavement in front of the shops still gives a clue to the original purpose of the street. Ffair Gurig and other fairs for the sale of horses and cattle were also held here up until about 1939.

2. Bethlehem Baptist Chapel. The Baptists started preaching near here as early as 1675, but the first meeting house was built in 1760. This was enlarged as “Capel y Bont” in 1789, with further rebuilding work and enlargement in 1817 and 1855, to accommodate a congregation of 600. The Baptistry used for baptisms is up Mill Lane, a short distance above Pont Henrietta Mair.

3. The Woollen Industry. Newport was once a well-known centre for the woollen industry, producing flannels and other rough cloth. The building on the left was the biggest mill in Newport, and the machinery was run by water power. The overshot mill wheel was driven by the small stream called Afon y Felin, alongside the building. There was another, somewhat smaller, woollen mill on the western side of Mill Lane, which operated until around 1924. A water wheel on the eastern side of the lane turned a shaft which ran overhead across the lane to drive the machinery (via belt drives etc) in the factory.

4. Castle Mill. This old mill, now renovated and converted into a dwelling, was owned by the Lord Marcher and operated by a tenant corn miller. Under the feudal system the occupant of Newport Castle, as Lord of the Barony of Cemais, controlled much of the agricultural production of the neighbourhood and he had a monopoly on corn milling. The corn mill continued to operate until about 1934. It was unusual in that the water power needed to drive the big wheel came from the castle moat, which served as a millpond. Water came not just from the small stream but also from an elaborate herring-bone water-collecting system in the fields above the castle.

5. Newport Castle. The castle was built by William Martin, the Norman Lord Marcher of Cemais, around the beginning of the thirteenth century. The stone fortress, dating from about 1260, probably replaced an earlier wooden stockaded structure. It was defended by a moat and by a curtain wall, which has now virtually disappeared. There was a massive gatehouse flanked by two circular towers, and three other towers. By the mid-1500s the castle was in ruins, and so it remained until 1859 when Sir Thomas Lloyd converted the gatehouse (overlooking the town) into a Victorian residence. The castle is owned by the current Lord Marcher of Cemais, and is not normally open to the public.

6. St Mary’s Church and Churchyard. There was a church here in the early days of the Norman settlement, probably dedicated to St Curig. In the thirteenth century it was rebuilt and re-dedicated to St Mary; but only the tower remains from this period. The church was greatly enlarged in 1835, and it was rebuilt and restored to its present state in 1879. The feature of greatest interest is the massive squat Norman-style tower, and in the spacious and airy churchyard the gravestones tell us a great deal about the family histories and professions of Newport people over the centuries.

7. Madame Bevan’s College. Here, on College Square, in the colour-washed houses on the right, was one of the foremost educational establishments of nineteenth-century Pembrokeshire. It was set up as part of the Circulating Schools movement led by Griffith Jones, and the main benefactor of the Newport school was Madame Bevan of Laugharne. It provided a sound education for local children between 1804 and 1875, and was also used for the training of hundreds of teachers. John Morgan (1786 - 1865), master of the school for 47 years, lived in the cottage on the left.

8. The Church Chapel. This simple building was built in 1799 by the Bowen family of Llwyngwair for the use of Methodists, who were at that time still looked upon as part of the Anglican communion. It was used for prayer meetings and other services until the Calvinistic Methodists seceded from the established church in 1811, and since that time it has served as a church hall and meeting room for the parish. The “Plygain” service is always held here in the early hours of Christmas morning.

9. Ebenezer Chapel. The Independents were active in Newport from about 1700 onwards, worshipping first of all in private houses. Around 1743 an L-shaped chapel was built here, and for about a century it was simply known as “Capel-L”. But then a growing congregation demanded larger accommodation, and around 1844 the present chapel was built with room for 750 worshippers.

10. The Old Primary School. This typical Victorian school was built in 1875 as the “Board” School for children of all ages; but later it became the Newport County Primary School. In 1993 it was abandoned with the opening of Ysgol Bro Ingli in the town, and in 1995 it was converted by Preseli Pembrokeshire District Council for use as a Business Centre and Youth Hostel. The old caretaker’s house was converted by the West Wales Energy Group as the Newport Eco House in conjunction with Eco Centre Wales. The  PV installation on the roof was the first in the British Isles to be connected to the grid, in October 1996 — from small beginnings, great things can grow. 

11. The Street Pattern and Burgage Plots. The old town of Newport had a north-south axis, with the main streets running from the castle down to the estuary. The lower part of Long Street and the lower part of Lower St Mary Street are “abandoned streets” which were once bustling with life. The elongated gardens running perpendicularly to these streets show the outlines of the burgage plots held by the original burgesses or settlers in the town in the Middle Ages. In 1434 there were 88 on Long Street alone.

12. Carreg Coetan Arthur. This is the most easily accessible burial chamber in the Newport area, located in a small enclosure in the Carreg Coetan housing estate. Like Pentre Ifan, it dates from the Neolithic period, about 3500 BC. It was excavated in 1979-80. There is a massive capstone balanced on just two of the four uprights. The name (King Arthur’s Quoit) is somewhat fanciful.

13. Pilgrim’s Stepping Stones. If you stand on the bridge and look upstream you can see (except at high tide) a series of fine stepping stones over the river. Traditionally these are associated with the medieval pilgrims who were travelling to St David’s via Nevern. There was a bridge here in the Middle Ages, but according to tradition it was removed in the 1600’s to prevent an epidemic from reaching the town from Nevern parish. Until 1894, when the present bridge was built, the stepping stones were used at low tide and a ferry boat operated when the tide was high.

14. Birdwatching Paradise. The estuarine habitat on both sides of the bridge is a varied one, perfect for the birds which feed and roost here in large numbers, throughout the year. The birds are most abundant at low water. Gulls, Canada geese, small wading birds, mallards, shelducks, swans, little egrets and curlews are frequently seen. Near the gate, a seat and interpretive panel.

15. Shiphill Lime Kiln. This is a large and spectacular lime kiln (also referred to as the Bryncyn kiln or the Sheephill kiln) on the northern shore of the estuary. Limestone fragments and culm were carried to the adjacent little creek by sailing vessels which came in on the tide. The kiln may well have been built in medieval times, and it was used to provide lime for the castle “grange” at Berry Hill. There was also a small shipyard here, owned and operated through most of the nineteenth century by the Havard family. The lime kiln was renovated by volunteers some years ago.

16. Estuary Walk. The walkway along the estuary towards Parrog has been designed for ease of access, and is suitable for wheelchair use. Most of the route is quite sheltered, with willow glades and tall trees. At extreme high tide, parts might be flooded. It was not always this pleasant — the area around the discharge of Scholars Brook was once the location of the town mortuary, slaughterhouse, and rubbish dump. This was the “Morfa Quarter’ — the poorer end of town.

17. Yr Hen Gastell. The innocuous mound adjacent to the tennis courts marks the site of Newport’s first Norman castle. It was a circular earthwork with a palisade and a wooden fortress on top. It was built in 1191 by William Fitzmartin, and attacked and destroyed several times by the Welsh princes in the early thirteenth century, before being abandoned when the stone castle was built in 1260 above the town.

18. The Parrog. This is the “new port” which gave the town its English name. For 500 years after the conquest there were few port facilities here, and herring fishing smacks and trading vessels were simply beached and then loaded and unloaded at low tide. In the 1700's trade was increasing rapidly, and the Court Leet allowed local merchants to extend and raise a spit of land at Parrog and to build storehouses and trading quays. In the early 1800’s several dry-stone quay walls were built of slate slabs from the “sea quarries” beyond Pen Catman. There were at least four lime kilns on the Parrog, two of which remain. The largest warehouse has been converted by the Boat Club as its headquarters. One other little storehouse remains, together with the old Parrog mortuary.

19. The Seaside Houses. Along the seaside between the quays and the Cwm there is an attractive jumble of little salty cottages and more substantial houses served by small tracks and lanes. Some of them have walled gardens. Originally there must have been a small fishing community here, and some of the cottages are probably more than 400 years old. Other cottages were built later by the merchants and mariners of the port. In the1800's, with the development of the early tourist industry, a number of substantial lodging-houses were built; and from 1850 onwards many of the Parrog holidaymakers came from the South Wales mining valleys.

20. The Lifeboat Station at Cwm. This is a classic example of a white elephant. It was built in 1884 for the Newport lifeboat “Clevedon”, but abandoned in 1895 because of the difficulty in launching the lifeboat at certain states of the tide and because of the dangers associated with the bar at the mouth of the river.

21. Newport Pottery. This substantial building was at one time a malthouse, but it was later bought by the Cardigan and District Agricultural Co-operative Society and used as a depot. It sold coal, culm and other goods imported by sea and landed at the Parrog, and also corn and agricultural implements. After standing empty for many years it was converted for use as a pottery, and more recently into accommodation units.

22. Memorial Hall and Medieval Pottery Kiln. The Memorial Hall was built in 1922 by public subscription to honour the local people who fell in the First World War. It also included a library and reading room. Work on the foundations revealed two 15th century pottery kilns — the only ones surviving in Wales. One of the kilns is revealed through a glass screen, following a major restoration project.

23. Cotham Lodge. Next door to the hall is a fine old house surrounded by tall trees. This was originally the dower house belonging to the Bowen family of Llwyngwair — traditionally it was set aside for the use of the widow following the death of the estate owner, when the heir and his family took over the mansion. About 50m away, on the other side of the road, Ffynnon Cotham is a spring of clean water contained within a masonry arch.

24. The Newport Inns. At the beginning of this century there were 24 inns in Newport, but most of them closed as a result of the temperance movement associated with the religious revivals or because of increased excise duties on alcohol. Today only four remain. The Golden Lion Inn is a very old coaching inn, known as The Green Dragon before 1830. The Royal Oak is also very old, and is named after the oak tree in which Charles II hid in 1651. The Castle Hotel is a spacious and more recent building, known for about a century up until 1970 as The Commercial Hotel. The Llwyngwair Arms is another old coaching inn, with a coaching and stabling yard approached through an arch on the north side of the main road. It is the meeting place of the Court Leet, an ancient institution which keeps alive the traditions of the Ancient Borough of Newport. The Lord Marcher attends some of its meetings, and the annual mayor making ceremony is held here in November each year.

========================

The first edition of this leaflet was written by Brian John and was first published by the Newport Town Twinning Association. This version is published by Canolfan Croeso, Newport.

Medieval Pottery kiln

The old Pottery

Tap at the top of Feidr Bentinck

Stepping stones

Identifying estuarine birds

Baptistry, Mill Lane

Street nameplate on the last of the old mill buildings

Parrog steps made of slate slabs

Ffynnon Cotham and its arch

Carreg Coetan

Newport and District: Top Fifty Heritage Sites

 I have revisited an old document created 25 years ago with the help of Carningli Rural Initiative -- focussing on the most interesting "heritage" features in the town and surrounding area.  Fifty sites are included -- I could have gone on, but one has to stop somewhere........

These sites are my personal choices -- others would have made different lists, had they been asked!

Jano and the committee members of the Newport Visitor Centre can now decide what to do with this, but for the moment I have parked it here in the hope that it may bring some pleasure to visitors and locals over the winter months, when Canolfan Croeso is closed.  

http://www.marthamorgan.co.uk/top-fifty-sites.html

If some funding can be found, we hope that this document may be published as a small leaflet, which can be given free of charge to visitors who come to Newport in the 2022 holiday season.

A strange thing happened on the way to the sun

STRANGE -- IF NOT SPOOKY

A few days ago I had a long chat with a fellow author, and we got to talking about the creative process. She asked me how I had created the character of Martha Morgan and the complex narrative of the 8-novel Angel Mountain Saga. She was somewhat taken aback when I explained that I had not needed to "create" either the heroine or the story, because they had been given to me. She was even more gobsmacked when I told her about the circumstances.

This is what happened. In 1999 my wife and I flew to Gran Canaria on holiday, and en route I was struck down by aerotoxic syndrome. I felt sick before we landed, but then I experienced classic flu-like symptoms. I went straight to bed when we arrived at the apartment, and spent the night wide awake, feeling very ill indeed. One hears about "a fevered imagination" and now I know what it means. Anyway, a story came into my head - of a feisty woman called Martha Morgan. It was "narrated" -- I can still recall the female voice. Dates, places, characters, and a storyline covering the greater part of her life from 1796 to 1855. Individual episodes came into my head, and I even "heard" key conversations.

In the morning, not having slept a wink, I felt better, but the story was fixed firmly inside my head. I told my wife about this strange experience, and she said “Well then, you’d better start writing!” So I did..... and I knew that the story had to be told in Martha's own words, with immediacy, through diary entries.

Twenty-one years later, I still do not know what to make of that episode. l think that the story was “given” to me, and that in order to keep faith I had -- in the beginning -- to try and put into words the emotions and experiences of a pregnant, suicidal 18-year-old female who lived more than 200 years ago.

The narrative extended, eventually, across eight novels; and I can honestly say that the only one of those that involved the "invention"of characters and narrative was "Guardian Angel". The reasons for that will be obvious to the loyal readers of the Saga.

Have I kept faith with Mistress Martha, or with whoever made the gift? That's for others to judge......

"The name's Morgan -- Martha Morgan"

Martha Morgan, alias secret agent 006.  Beneath that affable facade there lurks a trained killer, 

driven by an implacable determination to save the world from megalomaniacs and psychopaths......

What with all the fuss about the new James Bond film, it is worth reminding ourselves that before secret agent 007,  there must have been 006.  Not a lot of people know that 006 was actually a woman -- Martha Morgan of Plas Ingli, called upon at the personal behest of the Prime Minister to abandon her mundane "normal" life and become embroiled in some very complex skulduggery involving a number of life and death confrontations.

It was all to do with the safety of the nation and the need to bring to justice an evil genius called John Wesley Jumbie before he managed to assassinate the military hero Sir Thomas Picton.  If the evil genius had succeeded in his cunning plan, the noble cause of the abolition of the slave trade would have been set back by decades.  And of course the safety and security of the nation -- and indeed the planet -- would have been destroyed at a stroke.  And did Martha succeed in averting global disaster by ridding the world of the evil genius?  Need you ask?

It's all there, in the pages of "Conspiracy of Angels".  As far as letting on about whatever else happens in the story, I am sworn to secrecy...........   Official Secrets Act and all that jazz.

The real Joseph Harries

I have had a fascinating chat with Hywel Bowen-Perkins about the case books of the REAL Joseph Harries -- chemist, physician and (according to legend) wizard of Werndew. I have of course fictionalised him and made him into one of the heroes of the Angel Mountain saga. He lived a bit later than the fictionalised character -- he was born in 1830 and died in 1890. He lived in Werndew and Glan y Mor at the eastern end of Dinas. Hywel has in his possession some of the case books, literally rescued from a skip. They are quite amazing!! And Hywel (who is a doctor himself) is quite convinced that JH was a sincere and very clever physician who worked very closely with the other doctors in the area. And yet, during his life and especially after his death, the myth of his contacts with the spirit world grew and spread across N Pembs. Why and how did that happen? That's something I am looking into........

Conspiracy of Angels -- publication 1st December

The publication of the audiobook version of "Conspiracy of Angels" has now been set as 1st December 2021.  That will complete the collection of all 8 of the titles in the saga.  Congratulations to Bolinda for getting the books out efficiently and on time.  Now they just have to sell enough copies to make it all worthwhile..........

 https://www.bolinda.com/uk/search/results.aspx?/1/0F2189CA-1A7B-457C-A4CB-876B6512DBFD/1/14/1/1/1/1/1/3/Brian%20John