The Local > Times Past

The very first printing press in Wales was on the Little Orme

(1/1)

SteveH:
The fascinating story of how the very first book in Wales was printed in a Llandudno cave
The background of the story lies in the religious conflict in this country in the 16th century

The story of Wales’ first printing press is a story complete with intrigue and adventure.

In 1587 even having a printing press in Wales could be seen as a traitorous act.

The background of the story lies in the religious conflict in this country in the 16th century.

After the demise of the Catholic queen Mary I, Elizabeth I attempted to reintroduce the Act of Supremacy making the Queen the head of the English church, not the Pope.

A Welsh Catholic called Robert Gwyn persuaded a fellow Catholic Robert Pugh of Penrhyn Creuddyn to set up a secret printing press in the cave to print Catholic materials. Incredibly Pugh and Gwyn as well as six others such as William Davies, a Catholic priest, lived in the cave for seven months publishing a Catholic work, Y Drych Cristionogawl (The Christian Mirror), urging Catholics to refuse to conform.

The work, the first book ever published in Wales tried to deceive the authorities. The title page states it is published in Rouen, dated 1585 although printed in 1587 and is prefaced with a signature of R.S. i.e. Rhosier Smith , a known Catholic author, who was known by the authorities to be in Europe at the time. This was in effort to try and hide the true location of the printing press.

cont  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/fascinating-story-how-very-first-22104544

Hugo:
I've attached a link to the Little Orme and it mentions the Printing Press Cave.        I believe that the cave is still there but dangerous to get to and is situated on the Llandudno side of the Little Orme.       In fact Lord Mostyn banned quarrying from that side of the Orme as they were developing Llandudno in the mid 1800's and he didn't want the quarrying to be seen from Llandudno
Even in the Angel Bay quarry Mostyn imposes restrictions on the work that could be done there
 

https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=the-little-orme

Navigation

[0] Message Index

Go to full version