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Recent Posts
- Plant a tree in ’73 – View the scene in 2016
- Surprise visitor
- Undergrounding
- Red Kites in Dinas
- Our Aunt Emily
- Truly free range eggs in Dinas
- The Frenchman’s Feet
- Mudlarking at Newport
- Bara Brith – 5* review
- Sneak Preview
- Gedeon
- What would John James Esq think?
- Strung along in Dinas
- Threads
- A scattering of sheep
- Ty Twt: a little museum in Newport
- The best of all possible worlds
- At anchor on the heavenly shore
- Part 7: Unknown lives. Guesses, Slivers of Information and Cul-de-sacs
- Part 6: Friends
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Author Archives: bookvolunteer
A rarity
The Perennial Centaury (Centarium scilloides), which flowers in June, was thought to have only one native habitat in the UK – Newport Dunes. It has recently also been seen in Cornwall but it remains an exciting find. It grows on the Atlantic coasts … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Sea, Walking, Wildlife
Tagged Dinas, Dinas Cross, dunes, Newport, wild flowers
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Teachers in the family
The first was Paulina George who was employed as a pupil-teacher at Dinas County School. By 1903, aged 19 she had been promoted to ‘assistant’ and earned £35 per annum. She made a significant contribution to the school by introducing Welsh-medium education to the Infants. This was one of many … Continue reading
Down to the sea
Each of Dinas’ beaches is fed by a stream that rushes water down from the mountain. This torrent ends up in Aberbach whereas if you follow the valley to Aberfforest you’ll find that the water drops from a rocky height to the … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Sea, Walking
Tagged Aberbach, Aberfforest, beaches, Dinas, Dinas Cross
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All in black and white
The run-away marriage of Stephen George and Mary George in 1866 produced a large family of seven girls and three boys. This photo was probably taken about 1914 at Bank House, Dinas, and David George (died at sea), Hannah Jane (died of … Continue reading
Glorious colour
Posted in Nature, Walking
Tagged Blue bells, Cwm yr Eglwys, Dinas, Dinas Cross, Dinas head, National Trust
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Frozen to death
Many of Dinas’ young men were employed on tramp steamers – ships that had no fixed schedule or itinerary but were chartered to carry goods as and where needed. David George, from Hescwm, made his final voyage at the age of 25 … Continue reading
Help me discover why 1897 has disappeared.
I want to know what happened in 1897 in Dinas. It was Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Year and the year that Hannah Jane George died of typhoid but the whole year is missing from the archived back copies of our … Continue reading
4d to save a life.
On September 5th 1897, Hannah Jane George (my great-aunt) died at the age of 24. She had contracted typhoid from drinking water from a well. I don’t know what other sort of water she could have chosen to drink as there … Continue reading
Built with a tiny carbon footprint
The old houses in Dinas were built with local materials. The stone came from quarries in the village and the the roof slates didn’t travel much further as there were slate quarries within a few miles. Sand came from local beaches … Continue reading
Pwnc (to rhyme with Nunc)
Being the child of a mixed marriage – mother from a Catholic background and father from a Protestant, non-conformist, family – I had thought that those two versions of Christianity were at opposite ends of a very broad spectrum. But Whitsun … Continue reading
Posted in History, Religion, Welsh language
Tagged Baptist chapel, Dinas, Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire
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A farmer at Hescwm
This is the only photo I have of my great-grandfather, Stephen George, standing alone, in his soft, comfortable, everyday clothes. The other photos that have survived show him as a ‘pillar of the community‘ or ‘pater familias’ – his place in the group … Continue reading
Posted in Farming, History, Nature, Walking
Tagged Bank House, Dinas, Dinas Cross, Hescwm
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From Hescwm to London via Swansea
This photograph comes from a period of my grandfather’s life that I knew nothing about until recently. I had always assumed that Evan George went straight from Hescwm Farm, Dinas to an apprenticeship on the barque ‘Glance’ at Swansea and then, when … Continue reading
Posted in History, Transport
Tagged Dinas, Dinas Cross, Hescwm, London Fire Brigade, SS Highland Glen
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Tegfan, Dinas Cross 