What's Llandudno Like Right Now?

[wrex]

In the Happy valley this morning very early with the grandkids,beautiful,daffs are about to spring into colour and the cablecar people where busy working on the building.Things have gone very quiet on the shop front but at least that means no closing down premises.Station and Augusta are moving well,flat-pack flats opposite the Hospice already have roof trusses on,so although things have gone deadly silent we can still be positive for the coming season.

[DaveR]

In the Happy valley this morning very early with the grandkids,beautiful,daffs are about to spring into colour and the cablecar people where busy working on the building.Things have gone very quiet on the shop front but at least that means no closing down premises.Station and Augusta are moving well,flat-pack flats opposite the Hospice already have roof trusses on,so although things have gone deadly silent we can still be positive for the coming season.

I walked through Happy Valley as well this morning, cafe has reopened. Lovely crisp Spring morning.

[DaveR]

Thanks DaveR for putting the foggy photos on here. I've enjoyed looking at them. Have you put an album of them on Flickr?
I was wondering if I could choose a couple and buy the prints from you (Llandudno Emporium) like before?

Hiya H, I'm just in the middle of moving house, so am a little slower to respond to posts than normal. I will stick all the decent fog pics on Flickr (hopefully today) and you can take a look to see if there are are any you like maybe?

[DaveR]

Thanks DaveR for putting the foggy photos on here. I've enjoyed looking at them. Have you put an album of them on Flickr?
I was wondering if I could choose a couple and buy the prints from you (Llandudno Emporium) like before?

Hiya H, I'm just in the middle of moving house, so am a little slower to respond to posts than normal. I will stick all the decent fog pics on Flickr (hopefully today) and you can take a look to see if there are are any you like maybe?

I have put the best 48 fog pics up on Flickr here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/sets/72157632901759603/

 

[hollins]

Thanks DaveR. I've sent you an email.

[DaveR]

Thanks DaveR. I've sent you an email.

...that I have just replied to.   

[Jack]

Via David Powell's twitter feed:

Daily Post Conwy ‏@DPConwyNews

Possible new museum planned for Llandudno on maritime heritage. No building earmarked for it yet. More in tomorrow's Daily Post.

[wrex]

This would be nice,the town needs as many mueseums as it can,i know Barry Mortelock is supposed to be looking to re-house the Alice collection he bought.

[DaveR]

As much as I love Llandudno and its history, I cant honestly say that I think that a misshapen piece of sandstone that was once the base of a obscure fountain on the Prom really deserves to be in a museum...

Plinth found in Llandudno could go in new maritime museum
Mar 5 2013
 
A PLINTH uncovered on a beach during environmental work could eventually go in a new maritime museum.

The sandstone object, thought to be the base of a statue, is on Llandudno North Shore near the pier and is due to be removed by a JCB on Friday.

It will be put into safe storage while its origins are investigated

History buffs who want to set up a Ships’ Timbers Maritime Museum in or near the town are hoping to include it among exhibits.


Gwynedd Archeological Trust believe that the Victorian relic is a 19th Century architectural stone.

A shore attendant had spotted it last August during environmental work near the top jetty on the beach.

Debbie Wareham, a trustee/director of the Ships’ Timbers Museum project, said: “From our initial exploratory work our interpretation is that the object is a stone plinth. We think it could have been part of a 19th Century structure that supported a statue that once stood at the site of the Cenotaph.

“This statue was washed away during the Great Storm of 1859, the same storm that sank the Royal Charter, and which badly damaged Llandudno’s first pier. We have kept an eye on the object across the autumn and winter months as the action of the tides cause the object to become more exposed to the elements at various times.

Because the object is of such interest we thought it should really be removed from the foreshore, so informed Conwy Harbour Master’s office about the find.”

Ms Wareham also contacted Gwynedd Archaeological Trust (GAT).

Roland Flook, of GAT, made a site visit to see the object.

He confirmed that it is probably an architectural stone from the 19th Century.

Ms Wareham said: “We would like to have the object on display in the (future) museum.”

As for the museum project itself, there are four trustees and directors who are in the early stages of developing the project. They do not as yet have a building.

Ms Wareham added: “We have just registered our project with Companies House as Ships’ Timbers Maritime Museum with guidance from Conwy Business Centre and Wales Co-operative. We will function as a Social Enterprise and Charity.”

Llandudno has a traditional museum on Gloddaeth Street.

Landowners Mostyn Estates own the part of the beach where the plinth was found.

Spokesman Edward Hiller said: “Nobody really knows what it is. It’s thought it’s an old statue base. I am really encouraged that people are interested in maritime heritage around the coast and particularly in Llandudno. We are happy to store it in one of our yards in the middle of town pending further progress.”

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2013/03/05/plinth-found-in-llandudno-could-go-in-new-maritime-museum-55578-32925120/

[Ian48]

It's just occurred to me now that I've read a bit more about this plinth and where it was found that it hasn't been recently discovered at all.

That sandstone plinth used to sit bu the entrance to the pier, near the first kiosk and large sign, on the sea side. If you go there, you'll see a round stone section in the wall, shaped like a drum, which has a modern piece of pole in it put there a few years ago to make it safer as there was no railing (it just looks like a bit of scaffolding pipe).

This sandstone plinth used to rest on there, I remember it clearly. When they fixed that bit of pipe, the workmen must have just pushed it over the ledge as I remember seeing it on the beach and thinking what a shame it was that they had just tipped it like that as I have thought it might be significant at the time.

In my innocence I thought it looked very, very similar to the sandstone column bases that they have in Llandudno Museum, which came from the Roman fort at Canovium (Caerhun) and half thought that they had put one by the pier as an antiquarian interest when they had been excavated in the 20s. Especially as it had been placed on a specific plinth by the pier. I must've been wrong though looking back. 

[DaveR]

You're right, Ian, I remember it myself now you mention it. In that case, surely it was just a decorative part of the original Pier wall built in  1884? Or did they incorporate the fountain plinth into the wall?

[Ian48]

I think it was probably part of the wall now thinking about it, put there as a decorative stop. It had probably just weathered heavily due to it being a piece of sandstone in a very exposed position. Weren't parts of the pier pavilion built in a similar kind of stone? I seem to think they were, but might be wrong.

[Ian48]

Isn't there a picture of that fountain in situ somewhere? I seem to recall having seen it at some point recently.

I've always wondered about the statue that was in one of the first ever images of Llandudno from about 1860. I think it was in a book called 'Llandudno as it was'. You can see visitors standing in the area of the present promenade with the buildings of North Parade in the background. The picture is taken from the direction of the beach (I would say somewhere near the Ted yr Ogo memorial) and in the background is a white stone figure on a plinth.

It would be interesting to know what happened to that. Llandudno didn't seem to go in for statuary in the same way as many other Victorian towns, bar the Victoria Fountain in the Happy Valley (no statues to the Mostyns for example).

[DaveR]

Yes, again, you're right. The surviving bases of the Pier Pavilion building visible from Happy Valley Road are of a similar design and stone.


Pillar Remnant - Pier Pavilion, Llandudno by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr

[DaveR]

That sandstone plinth used to sit bu the entrance to the pier, near the first kiosk and large sign, on the sea side. If you go there, you'll see a round stone section in the wall, shaped like a drum, which has a modern piece of pole in it put there a few years ago to make it safer as there was no railing (it just looks like a bit of scaffolding pipe).

This sandstone plinth used to rest on there, I remember it clearly. When they fixed that bit of pipe, the workmen must have just pushed it over the ledge as I remember seeing it on the beach and thinking what a shame it was that they had just tipped it like that as I have thought it might be significant at the time.

You're thinking of the round piece of wall visible at bottom left of this photo? That actually marks the end of Llandudno Pier Company property, so it would make sense that there would be a decorative stone stop there and it's just above where the stone was found on the beach.


Grand Hotel & Pier Entrance by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr