FollowLynne Jones of Putney, southwest London, knew little of Llanwrtyd Wells other than that her mother was born prematurely and unexpectedly, in the summer of 1924 while her parents were holidaying in the town. Here, Lynne describes her journey to Llanwrtyd to mark what would have been her mother’s centenary, in which she discovered the background to her mother’s birth – and what turned out to be a surprising link to the Heritage Centre.
“My family has always known the of my mother’s premature arrival in the summer of 1924 while her parents were on holiday in Llanwrtyd Wells, a small town ‘somewhere in mid-Wales.’ However, I had never been there so at the start of 2024 it occurred to me: why not go and find this spot to mark her 100th anniversary of her birth?
Thanks to the internet I could do a little research, find somewhere to stay and discover a little of the area in advance. And this is how I came to be in Llanwrtyd Wells in the late afternoon on Wednesday 28th August 2024, knowing at that point, next to nothing of the history of this idyllic place.
One hundred years previously my grandparents, Reginald and Violet Williams, were also staying in Llanwrtyd. My grandmother’s family, who lived in Cardiff, had holidayed in Llanwrtyd in many previous years. There is a wonderful photo taken there by a street photographer, P B Abery of Builth Wells. It shows my grandmother, born in 1896, as a child probably about 7 years old – she has a missing front tooth! – second from the left between her father and grandmother. Also in the photo are her mother, second from the right, and other people from the house where they were staying. I wonder if it might have been taken somewhere near the then Dol-y-Coed Hotel?
Occasionally, my grandmother would say little things about their times there, but on reflection I knew next to nothing about those holidays. How did they travel there from Cardiff? What did they do there? Why was a street photographer there? I don’t know how frequently they visited but certainly it was a reoccurring event from the early years of the 1900s if not before. My grandfather, Reginald Williams, came from Dukestown, Tredegar, though I never knew him as he died in 1941, long before I was born. His family took some holidays in Llanwrtyd. Both Reginald and Violet were members of the Congregational Chapel and without doubt would have attended services while in the town. Is that perhaps where they first met? Anyway meet they did and on Boxing Day 1923 they married and before long, a baby was on the way.
In the summer of 1924 they again went to Llanwrtyd, with the baby not due until mid/late
October. However in the early evening of Friday 29 August fate intervened: My grandmother had stomach pain – having over indulged on plums that afternoon – and went to her bed. Just two hours later my mother had arrived. The doctor had been called and delivered the baby, but the ensuing chaos must have been interesting! Were they due to go home the following day as it was a Saturday? My grandmother wouldn’t have been allowed to get up, let alone travel for a few weeks I’m sure. And what of baby clothes, nappies and so on? All questions that occurred to me only after my grandmother had died. If only I’d thought to ask her back then.
Ten days after my mother’s arrival they were certainly still in Llanwrtyd as my grandfather’s
mother had then arrived, found Charles Martin, the doctor, and on 8th September had him write a note to say he’d delivered a premature baby on 29th August – just in case, presumably, anyone ‘did the maths’ given that they were such staunch chapel goers!
One hundred years later, on arriving on 28th August 2024 I missed the turning into Ardwyn House, the lovely B&B I’d booked into, and carried along the road, which is how I found the station, opened in the 1867. I live in Southwest London and there wasn’t a station here in Putney until 1880! None of this made sense; what on earth were they doing in this quiet little place in mid-Wales that had a station before an area of London which is less than 15 minutes by train from central London?
That evening, looking through a fascinating history of Llanwrtyd at Ardwyn House, I began to understand – this was a town that could attract 1000 visitors a week during its heyday as a spa resort! A real holiday centre, not a small forgotten place but, presumably for several months each year, a thriving town full of excitement, fun, enjoyment – and I’m sure many ‘holiday attachments’ just like that of my grandparents. Suddenly things were looking very different. My mother’s place of birth is given on her birth certificate and the following morning, pretty much right in the centre of town, it was so easy to find the house with its stone set in the wall by the front door, proudly announcing: ‘4 Irfon Terrace, Apartments, Mrs Price.’
Then on to the Heritage Centre with such lovely welcoming people, especially Susan Price and Anthony Smith. I found myself telling the story and in turn learning so much more about Llanwrtyd and understanding even more why my grandparents would have been so drawn there. They would have been there in that chapel – now the Heritage Centre – for services on Sundays, and I found myself wondering whether my mother might have been taken there as a tiny baby before they eventually returned home? It’s just a stone’s throw from their lodging house.
In the afternoon I took the Heritage Trail ‘country walk’ along by the river; so atmospheric I could easily imagine myself there 100 years earlier. I felt I was walking with my grandparents, and so many other visitors, under the trees along that river.
So many questions still remain, but I really understand why my grandparents and their families were so drawn to Llanwrtyd, returning year on year through the first quarter of the 20th century, though not again after that summer of 1924, only because holidays would then have been visiting my grandmother’s family in Cardiff. Llanwrtyd Wells, I know, was never forgotten.”
This post is available in Welsh by clicking on the link below.
