ALARMING SCENES here in the Morriston Opium Fields, though to be honest, things have been a bit weird for a few days. It started with squirrels, but then it often does. They have been nibbling away at the poppy heads in the garden, and that never ends particularly well. I knew Monday was not going…
Author: gbadmin
The Killing of Charlotte Hopkins 1893
Casual, unplanned, actions can have awful consequences which can never be undone. Think for a moment about Edward Fitzgerald and only then tell me that I am wrong…. This story has now been moved to the Flip Book page. So if you want to read it, find the link in the menu and scroll through…
Improved website
We have made some alterations to the website in order to make the shopping experience clearer and more straightforward. Movement between pages has been simplified too, by the removal of a number of pop-ups. The hope is that the website will be easier to use especially for those visitors who use a phone rather than…
Audio Extract from Our Lady of Mumbles
Here is the second extract from Our Lady of Mumbles that I recorded at the Rhondda Street Studios. Click on it to listen on YouTube.Here, Elsie Smith from Mumbles has been taken to the police station following the death of William Bartlett at Langland
The Dunvant Explosion of 1902
I have made a slight change to this page. If you want to read about the unexpected Dunvant Explosion in 1902, then click on the link below. You can then read it as a flip book, and if you so wish, you can download the article, though you will lose the clever flip book effects.…
The Rodney Street Wellness Centre – 1877
Isaac Alger was a naval veteran, a man of wisdom and experience, who knew exactly how the fearless Jolly Jack Tar preferred to relax. So he opened a brothel at 104 Rodney Street in Swansea. And as a result of that, he got himself into difficulties when he was arrested for attempting to murder…
The Unsolved Murder of Ernest Melville
MY HAPPINESS- 1949 Post war Swansea provided plenty of exciting opportunities for the children at play. There were ruins and bomb sites to explore. But on Saturday 22 January 1949 two girls playing hide and seek on Croft Street at the top of High Street made a gruesome discovery – the body of a man…
Grave Tales from Wales – New Title
I am delighted to say that I have signed a contract with Cambria for my new book, called Grave Tales of Wales, which will be published in the summer of 2021. The book explores the stories represented by thirty gravestones from across the whole of Wales, from Anglesey to Cardiff, from Llangrannog to Newport. It…
The Sketty Lane Stabbing – 1909
Today I think we should talk about Ben Evans. No, not that one ,not the department store, known as the Harrods of Wales. No, the other one. You know. The Burglar, the one who described himself as a milkman and lived on Scyborfach Street. That one. Which, of course, is the reason why this…
The Blackpill Sensation 1907
Let’s pop over to the other side of Swansea this week, for a change, and think about what the local press called the ‘Blackpill Sensation’ in November 1907, which began when William Griffin was rushed to the Swansea Hospital after being poisoned. He was a young married man of 22 who worked the…