Author Topic: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!  (Read 4918 times)

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Offline Lilutro

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Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« on: October 31, 2017, 07:05:17 pm »
Hi - I posted on here last year just before a trip to Llandudno to do some family research (among other things) and folks were so helpful I was bowled over. Well I'm back on another fact-finding mission, so if anyone can throw any light on this one I'd be thrilled  :D With me I have a very yellowed newspaper clipping of my great-great-grandmother Mary Roberts celebrating her 90th birthday which states:

"At one time Mrs Roberts lived at "Holland Cottage" (quotation marks are in the article), one of the landmarks of Llandudno forty years ago. She can remember the old steamer "Columbus" bringing passengers to the Llandudno pier."

Frustratingly there is no date on the clipping - or indication of the publication - but it would be around the mid 1930's based on her date of birth.
Family tree research has also shown that in 1891 there were 3 separate but related Roberts and Davies families living next to each other (14 in total) - all apparently in Holland House which appears to be adjacent to Bodafan School House.
What I was wondering is why Holland House (or cottage or villa) was considered to be a landmark at the turn of the 19th century and how it could house so many people. Most of the residences I see listed on the census seem to be single properties housing one family - albeit sometimes very large ones  :o . Trawling the internet has not thrown up anything that would indicate a "landmark" called Holland Cottage so any ideas would be welcomed.
Also I'm hoping to visit the archives tomorrow or Thursday. Not quite sure where to start when I get there so would love any tips  8)


Offline Hugo

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2017, 07:24:16 pm »
Lilutro,    I've not heard of Holland House but Bodafon School House is in Bodafon Road and is next to Bodafon School.   There are a number of older properties nearby but I can't say that I've heard the name.

If you are going to the Conwy Archives on Thursday there is one thing that may help you and it's easy to locate where someone lived at the time.

Ask for the 1939 Llandudno Street Index and look inside for Residential index.    They list people there alphabetically and will tell you where that person was living in 1939

The indexes only list one person at the address and that is the householder or breadwinner so if you have a name of the husband or wife it should be easy to find.   The Archives may also have info on the property so just ask them and the staff are very helpful
Good luck      $good$

PS    I've just had a quick look on Google,   Put in Holland Villa Bodafon Road Llandudno and you can see more about the property


Offline Lilutro

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2017, 07:41:19 pm »
Thanks so much for that Hugo . I just had a quick look on Google Streetview and I think I was in the right area today when I was looking for it. It just looks rather small to be a Llandudno "landmark"  ;D Very baffling....perhaps the feature writer was getting confused.
Will definitely follow your advice for the archives. Watch this space  $thanx$

Offline Hugo

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2017, 10:39:05 pm »
I had a look at a photo of Holland Villa on Google and had a bit of a surprise.    Holland Villa is the old cottage and it has recently undergone a very modern extension and looks really nice

Now here is the coincidence because my friend lived there for many years and sold it to the present owner.    His surname was Jones though and unfortunately I have lost touch with him although I saw him last year in a cafe in Llandudno

Offline Lilutro

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2017, 11:54:27 pm »
Oh wow - that is beautiful. It's changed a bit from the Google street view days! It's a bit of a coincidence your friend living there and a shame - from a purely selfish point of view - that you've lost touch. Although it's probably unlikely that he'd know the history of previous residents going back to the early 1900's. Archives tomorrow I think......

Offline Hugo

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2017, 08:07:24 am »
I forgot to mention that I first met my friend about 1963 and he was living at Holland Villa then.    He was then aged about 20 and as far as I am aware had lived there all his life together with his sister and widowed mother.

Now you know the address as Bodafon Road the Archives have the addresses listed alphabetically too and have Street Indexes for 1911, 1914, 1922, 1926, 1929, 1939 and another in the early 1960's.  They show the names of one person in each household.

You can use computers there and if you use them look at find my past and the 1939 Register.   It's similar to the Census records.

Another thing you must look at is a booklet by the late Kenneth Dibble.  It's called Bodafon and Nant Y Gamar (I think)  and it lists the name of every house in that area and tells you abit about the history of the house and who has lived in the property.  This booklet is a fascinating read and even if you don't find what you are looking for it's still worth reading.

By the way the Archives also have records of old newspapers and the one's you need to look at are The Llandudno Advertiser or the North Wales Weekly News

Offline Hugo

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2017, 09:54:11 am »
It's just an after thought but when you go to the Archives if I was you, I'd look at Kenneth Dibble's book on Bodafon.   Just ask the people there to get it for you and read about Holland Villa and surrounding houses and you may get your answers quickly.

By the way in those old days people had large families and were often crammed together and had an outside loo as well.    :o

My father had 11 brothers and sisters and lived in a two up two down cottage so things were rather  "cosy" in those good old days

Offline Lilutro

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2017, 10:25:12 am »
Thanks so much for that Hugo - your're a star  :D I will definitely ask for Kenneth Dibbles book. Am I right in thinking he did one for Penrhynside as well? Last year you kindly found out the details of Gorphwysfa for me so I was able to track down the house. But it had shrunk from a fairly large farm to a very small house (probably housing about 30 people as well  :o). It would be interesting to find out a bit of background there as well. I need another week  ;D ;D

Offline Hugo

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #8 on: November 01, 2017, 12:50:16 pm »
You're welcome Lilutro,    Kenneth Dibble did a few books, either 3 or 4 and one was of Penrhynside and the Archives have a collection there of the ones he has done so there's a lot to read in the Archives.

Holland Villa was a private house and the Jones family must have owned it for a long time, possibly over 70 years but you can find out about previous owners from the Land Registry Office of Wales but hopefully that info will also be in Kenneth Dibble's book.

I've been inside the old cottage but I was impressed when I saw the new extension, apparently the old and new buildings are joined by some type of corridor.

Good luck tomorrow and I hope that you have some good results from your visit.    $good$

Offline Hugo

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2017, 11:31:39 am »
I was looking for something in Penrhynside and came across this article which I found interesting and amusing and it mentions a John Williams of Holland Villa who was having a drink at the Penrhyn Arms in Penrhynside.
 Z** Z**     Z**





https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjKmMT2j-HXAhVrCsAKHYwsAh0QFghGMAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewspapers.library.wales%2Fview%2F3835037%2F3835040%2F15&usg=AOvVaw0wiuq2aceNZUu056OE1Hit

Offline Cambrian

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2017, 05:23:17 pm »
Hugo - Bodafon Row was the original name for Bodafon Street so unless "Row" is a misprint for "Road" it may not be the same property.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2017, 06:51:59 pm »
That's interesting Cambrian and unless it was a misprint then it would have been a long way for John Williams to go for a pint when Bodafon Row backed on to a number of pubs.
I'll have a look in the 1911 Street Index in the Archives when I go there next

Offline Cambrian

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2017, 07:09:16 pm »
The other curious thing about the article is the reference to "Holland Arms" which is even further off the drinkers' route!  Wonder if the reporter had been on the crawl as well.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #13 on: November 28, 2017, 07:26:07 pm »
 _))*     sounds like the reporter was on the pop too.

It was a good place to go for a session in the old days.      Z**


Offline mull

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Re: Holland House? .....or possible Villa or even Cottage!
« Reply #14 on: November 28, 2017, 08:22:52 pm »
Makes a good read.
When reading the "modern print" of the paper made me laugh when the Penrhyn Arms was shown as "Penrifiyon ANUS" That must be incorrect surely.