Author Topic: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew  (Read 49552 times)

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Offline Hugo

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #15 on: October 28, 2015, 12:22:03 pm »
It would be nice to find out a bit of the history of the Swan and also Bryn Pydew.   It's a place I've liked for a long time and that's why I wanted to buy Granllyn but there were a number of factors that made me change my mind.
I have two distant relatives living in the village who were born and bred there but sadly I don't see them often or otherwise I could ask them too.
Bryn Pydew has changed a lot over the years but once it was a very close community and those people would be able to tell you every thing.
It was about 1978 when I visited Granllyn but with my job I travelled in that area for nearly 40 years so I can't be definite when or even if I saw that notice in the window but if it did happen like Chris Draper has said then it must have been in the latter part of the 20th century.

Didn't the Powell's also live at Islwyn  (Red Lion) at one time?

I hope that my Pydew friend can tell me the answer on Tuesday

Offline Bri Roberts

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #16 on: October 28, 2015, 12:44:18 pm »
With regard to Chris Draper, the local author and historian, I would be extremely surprised if his facts were wrong.   From reading  six of his books on local history and speaking to him in Llandudno Library he seems a stickler for details. 

Hugo, in his book ‘Walks from Llandudno’, Chris Draper acknowledges the help and support of Enid Powell of Bryn Pydew, Glenda Watson ex Bryn Pydew, John and Dorothy Owen of Bryn Pydew.

Maybe, one of his contributors made an error and not Mr Draper.


Offline squiggle

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #17 on: October 28, 2015, 12:52:14 pm »
Yes, Pydew has changed.  I think when we first moved there, it was still a bit of an odd place to be.  These days, I gather it is "desirable".

I think if I had my own time back, I'd go back to my first time round Pydew but wouldn't so much want to be in the modern version.  I've changed as I've got older though and am far convinced I anything like appreciated what we had back then - maybe it's taken a head now in its 50s to think this way...

Yes, there was a close community.  They had concerts in the village hall, I remember seeing Hogiaur Wyddfa there. And there was Pydew Rovers...

Islwyn in my early time was owned by a Mrs Jones. She was the mother of Mrs Powell, Maelgwyn Farm.  They are not related to the Powells who had the shop.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #18 on: October 28, 2015, 02:08:13 pm »
With regard to Chris Draper, the local author and historian, I would be extremely surprised if his facts were wrong.   From reading  six of his books on local history and speaking to him in Llandudno Library he seems a stickler for details. 

Hugo, in his book ‘Walks from Llandudno’, Chris Draper acknowledges the help and support of Enid Powell of Bryn Pydew, Glenda Watson ex Bryn Pydew, John and Dorothy Owen of Bryn Pydew.

Maybe, one of his contributors made an error and not Mr Draper.

Thanks Bri, that is a possibility and it'll be interesting if anyone can throw some info on the matter.    I believe that you belong to the  Deganwy History Society,  do you know if they have anything about Bryn Pydew on their site?

Offline Bri Roberts

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #19 on: October 28, 2015, 06:06:05 pm »
Not to my knowledge, Hugo, but please feel free to peruse the site yourself.

http://www.deganwyhistory.co.uk/

BTW, you will find my ancestors mentioned under the "Deserving Poor" of Eglwys Rhos.


Offline Hugo

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #20 on: October 28, 2015, 11:02:28 pm »
Thanks very much Bri,  it's a fantastic web site and I'll enjoy looking through it.    $good$

I'll have a look for your ancestors under the "Deserving Poor"     :o    and I'll look for mine there too.    There is a ruin of an old cottage on the Vadre where one of my ancestors lived so I'll look for that too

Offline Bri Roberts

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #21 on: October 29, 2015, 08:34:32 am »
Hugo, if the former home of one of your ancestors on the Vardre was called something like Fatw then you may wish to consider contacting the site’s webmaster because Gwyn has already researched that particular property and has a collection of photographs and/or paintings of the house.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #22 on: October 29, 2015, 10:42:47 am »
Thanks Bri,  I'll have a look at that site.  I don't know the name of the property but all that remains of it now are the foundations.    If you are looking at the Vadre from the bowling green area the ruins are on the skyline in one of the dips on that ridge.
The ruins can be seen in the fenced off area in the photo.

Offline Bri Roberts

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #23 on: October 29, 2015, 01:09:36 pm »
Hugo, I recommend you download:

http://www.deganwyhistory.co.uk/research-articles/walk-around-vardre/

Scroll down to pages 16 and 17.

Is that the former home of your ancestor?

Offline Cambrian

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #24 on: October 29, 2015, 08:11:38 pm »
Just a note regarding Chris Draper's Walks books.  Unfortunately there are some errors to be found in these.  For example, the structure at the roadside south of Pydew near Pabo bach(below the obelisk) is described as a WW2 gun emplacement.  In reality, it was a small reservoir or tank built for the Rural Sanitary Authority around 1887! The same contract also included the roadside tank near the road leading to Wiga.

I know Hugo is a useful guy when it comes to what is in the Archives and I wonder whether they have any returns from the Justices as regards licensed premises. If not they may be in Caernarfon. These may shed light on the dates that premises were licensed and, equally important, their names.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #25 on: October 29, 2015, 10:25:24 pm »
You are correct in your comments Cambrian and I've found also another discrepancy today.  In his walking book though he correctly describes the water tank above Wiga Farm, but as Bri Roberts has said Chris Draper acknowledges the help and support of Enid Powell of Bryn Pydew, Glenda Watson ex Bryn Pydew, John and Dorothy Owen of Bryn Pydew.  Maybe, one of his contributors made an error and not Mr Draper.
I don't think that the fact that the Swan was a pub is disputed, it's the suggestion that it was a shop and Post Office that is disputed.  I'll ask that local resident on Tuesday because if the Swan was ever a shop or Post Office it would have been in my friend's lifetime and he should be able to remember that.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #26 on: October 29, 2015, 10:32:55 pm »
Hugo, I recommend you download:

http://www.deganwyhistory.co.uk/research-articles/walk-around-vardre/

Scroll down to pages 16 and 17.

Is that the former home of your ancestor?

Thanks very much for that Bri,   I'll look at the article tomorrow when I can spend more time viewing it.     $thanx$

Offline squiggle

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #27 on: October 29, 2015, 10:53:04 pm »
I don't think that the fact that the Swan was a pub is disputed, it's the suggestion that it was a shop and Post Office that is disputed.  I'll ask that local resident on Tuesday because if the Swan was ever a shop or Post Office it would have been in my friend's lifetime and he should be able to remember that.

Hmm to clarify:  I'm debating whether Swan was ever a shop. It did take on the Post Office duties and I think also did the news papers but I doubt anything more than that.  The door to the post office was what was our front door when we lived there. When it was the post office, you stood inside the porch and if I  remember correctly, there was a counter just inside the house or maybe even that took up part of the porch.  Thinking of when I lived there, the stairs were pretty much opposite the porch, to the right there was the door to our living room and to the left was our dining room.  I've having a hard time working out much space there.

I suppose what I first picked up on when I made my first post was my reading that there put a pretty much straight transition from pub to shop (perhaps with Post Office) and then to Post Office, presumably as it was at the time of the publication of the guide book.  This I think we can all agree is certainly not the case.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #28 on: October 30, 2015, 07:56:29 am »
You are probably right about the shop aspect of the Swan and it may have just been a "picking up point" for small items like newspapers etc but it's the Post Office aspect that I've a very vague memory of.   I don't think that it was ever more than a sub Post Office but again I'll ask my friend and hope he can help.
In Mr Evans' day he ran a proper shop in the village and deliveries were made by his horse and cart.   I suppose that with people having cars and supermarkets opening,  a shop in the village became unsustainable and Glanwydden followed a similar fate as Pydew.
I would imagine that the Swan as a pub would have been in the 19th century rather than the 20th but again I don't know for certain.
Thanks again for posting those photos, the school and Chapel were demolished and new properties built in their place and one where the school was is up for sale and has been for a number of years now.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Old Public Houses in Bryn Pydew
« Reply #29 on: October 30, 2015, 08:27:26 am »
Hugo, I recommend you download:

http://www.deganwyhistory.co.uk/research-articles/walk-around-vardre/

Scroll down to pages 16 and 17.

Is that the former home of your ancestor?

Thanks very much Bri for posting that link, I would never have been able to find it without your help.   $good$
Fatw was definitely the place where I've been told my ancestors lived.  It must have been my Grandfather or even his father who lived there when they moved to Deganwy from Penmachno.