Now available as a Flip Book Yes I have a new toy – a Flip Book programme If you would like to see how it works, then please click on the link below. This one is about Martha Nash, who was murdered in 1885 by her father. It is taken from my book, Swansea Murders,…
Category: Blog
Black Bart – Flip Book now available!
I am exploring the magic of Flip Books! In preparation for the release of my next book, Grave Tales From Wales Volume 2, I am releasing some examples of my work in flip book form. This is a clever little e-reader that operates like a book and is especially good on smart phones but it…
Grave Tales From Wales – Update 2022
The book has been selling well in recent months and so we now have new stock available. It examines the stories represented by 30 significant graves from across the whole of Wales, from Anglesey to Pembrokeshire and many places in between You can find out more information about the book by clicking on this link…
Bread of Heaven
I found this story hidden away in The Cambrian newspaper of 6 January 1821. I love it – though it does have the air of an urban myth and, as you know, you can never be completely confident when a story begins in such an imprecise way. We are told that this happened in Reading…
How Things Do Prosper – 1850
The stories about children are always the most moving; they are always the hardest to write about. This one is no exception. A young boy of 11, John Ace, was sent down to Swansea beach at St Helens to collect sand for his father. He was digging at the very top of the beach, near…
Shot at Dawn
We have our own familiar history of the First World War. Ypres, The Somme, trenches – and bewildered distressed young men with “shell shock” shot at dawn for desertion. Other countries have different stories from the war, their own horrors, their own shame. If you travel north east of Paris towards Soissons, you will find…
Swansea Soup Kitchens
There was a great need for such provision across Swansea at the end of the nineteenth century to try and alleviate serious poverty especially in winter. Places like St Marks and Trinity Church were always appealing for funds.W. Watkins Edwards of St Marks Vicarage established a soup kitchen in Waun Wen in 1894. ‘For some…
The Bagged Fox
I offer you this story with no commentary. Theses are the words as they appeared in the Cambrian Newspaper published in Swansea on 28 January 1843. I have tidied up the paragraphing and the punctuation, that’s all. No other comments are required. Three bag foxes were brought by the coach from London to this town…
The Cadoxton Murder Stone, Neath
The Murder Stone is a remarkable thing for a number of reasons. But for me, the most striking thing about it are the words – and the depth of the emotion they represent. It is the anger of it that grabs your attention. It speaks of “murder”, “violence”, “savage” “outcry”, “blood” and “judgement”. The words…
The Uplands Cinema
The Uplands Cinema is a representative of those suburban cinemas which sprang up all over Swansea and then disappeared just as quickly. At one time almost every community had one, like the Manor Cinema which was in Manselton or the Maxine in Sketty. Morriston had the Gem and the Regal and in St Thomas you…