I love Victorian advertisements. They are so different from what we read today. They have more words, more elegance, and more style. They are less strident than our own – and more entertaining as a result. Here are two fantastic examples from The Cambrian newspaper from 1865. When I read that Madame de Winton’s Turkish…
Author: gbadmin
Sin Eaters
The term “Sin Eater” does sound like the title of a dodgy horror film. In fact perhaps it is. I wouldn’t know. But I came across it in a news item on the BBC last month (September 2010) It is a fascinating idea and perhaps you will not be surprised to learn that this ancient…
Contact concerning Sarah Jacob
I have had another one of those occasions when additional information about one of the stories I have covered appears suddenly, as if from nowhere. This time it is additional background information about Sarah Jacob, the tragic story which features in Volume One about the little girl who starved to death surrounded by nurses who…
Victorian Cemeteries
The word cemetery comes from Greek, meaning “sleeping place.” But the history they contain should not be allowed to rest. It should be repected and restored, just like the cemeteries themselves. The public cemetery was a Victorian invention. Previously under common law, every parishioner and inhabitant of a parish had a right to be buried…
Hywel Sele and the Demon Oak
My grave this time is, oddly enough, a wooden drinking vessel which you can find in the National Museum in Cardiff, one of many such objects apparently, made from a great oak tree which blew down in a storm in 1813. The tree was called Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyll – the Hollow Tree of the …
The Coachman’s Cautionary
On the A40 at halfway between Llandovery and Brecon there is a memorial to a stage coach disaster. If your speed is as unrestrained as that of the coach driver you could miss it. There is an obelisk enclosed by iron railings, next to a busy road. At the bottom of a steep slope on…
The Story of Gelert
Gelert is the name of a legendary dog which has become entwined with the village of Beddgelert in Gwynedd. And if you don’t already know it, the knowledge that the name of the village has been translated as “Gelert’s Grave” might give you some clue where this story is going. The inscription on the tomb…
Why you should never kick a horse
Once again I was searching about in Robert Chamber’s Book of the Days from 1869 when I came across this story. It has nothing to do with Wales at all but I liked the story and felt I wanted to bring it to wider attention. Perhaps it is a well-known story, but I have never…
The Resurrectionists
I found a very interesting piece by Robert Chambers from 1869 about body snatching. When I find a grave I just try to take away the story. But in the past there was a much more sinister trade – the work of the body snatchers, or as they were sometimes known, The Resurrectionists. And yet…
Halloween in Wales
Halloween. It is one of the oldest festivals of all, and represents a curious mixture of many different traditions. The Celts called it Samhain, a festival that provided a boost for people as they entered the long dark winter months when the countryside seemed dead and the days seemed so short. Over time it became…