Three Towns Forum
The Local => Times Past => Topic started by: Olden on May 01, 2011, 08:59:46 pm
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Hello Llandudno. $walesflag$
I am hoping one of your residents can help a friend of mine who has lived in Australia for many years.
As a small child during WW2 (probably circa 1942) she lived in Llandudno with her father in the house which is shown in the attached photograph. They are portrayed at a garden gate through which she tells me they could walk down to the sea. Clearly the property is much more recent but it was always known to her as the "old manor" and was accessed up a steep track.
To quote her, "I've come to the conclusion the house must have been demolished for modern building, more's the pity. It must have been situated on the steep bit, west of the town. It looked out directly onto the sea, from quite a height, not over the town and no place for a road below, just a narrow steep footpath from the garden down to the water."
I recently visited your lovely resort for a short break and took the opportunity to look up at the cliffs and we have both searched Google Earth without result. :(
If anyone can identify this building either then or today, the information would be greatly appreciated.
All good wishes,
Olden $thanx$
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by your description the property sounds like it's on llys helyg drive
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I agree and judging by the incline of the road behind the property I would think it is one of the first ones you pass from West Shore.
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i think the property is called Plas Craig http://stwnsh.com/2pi (http://stwnsh.com/2pi)
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I could be wrong but I don't think it was on the Marine Drive but on Llys Helyg Drive past the Railway Convalescent Home. The road above the property follows the contours of the hillside whereas the Marine Drive would be on an incline right to left in the photo.
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Thanks so much all of you for your interest and local knowledge. $thanx$
I think dwsi's link is extremely helpful...........and the Llys Helig Drive (I've read the legend about Prince Helig) looks extremely likely. Ironically we passed by there on our coach tour recently and were told Cliff Richard was a former resident!! ;D
Only one thing troubles me and that is whilst the extension on the left of the photo and the two large gables match, the two smaller dormers in the roof are missing. However, if the property subsequently has been re-roofed, as would be reasonable in this exposed position and with the age of the structure, they might have been dispensed with. Sadly the definition on Google Earth is rather poor and Streetview makes me seasick!
My friend has read your comments and is very excited to track things down after all these years. She is hoping to register to comment further but I believe her computer is poorly and she likely has to wait for a repair.
But again, many thanks to you all. :)
Olden.
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Hello to you all. I am the little girl (considerably older these days) in the photo Olden kindly posted here, pic taken around 1942. Thankyou for the replies. I don't think the property is Plas Craig, does not look high enough above the water. There is a photo of a semi-derelict house, on this site re Great Orme, with a similar gateway down to the beach, now wondering if that could be the place. Living the other side of the world now, I'm very grateful for any info or photos. Also, anyone here old enough to remember my father filming a documentary with American Jeeps and Officers about the place, I've been told possibly something to do with practicing for Dunkirk, or similar. Sorry to be so vague. Again, thankyou you all for the replies. :)
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Morkins, I don't think that it is the semi derelict house that you mentioned but there may be a way of tracing the original house for you, but unfortunately I can't do anything about it next week. I'll check it out asap though.
I'm afraid that those garden gates may not be there any more as I walked along the beach a few weeks ago and there has been a lot of coastal erosion going on over the years
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I received some information today...from a mysterious source. (He who knows all things about Llandudno, but never posts on this Forum)
It says that the house in question is called Plas Bardd, owned by Len Maddocks (or is it Madoc's) ..owner of the Empire Hotel.
It has an extension added since that photograph,
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Plas Bardd http://stwnsh.com/2q6 (http://stwnsh.com/2q6)
I think it's bingo, the middle part of the building does match the photo.
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My goodness, the information is flowing in now, thankyou. Fester and dwsi, you seem convinced this place is Plas Bardd, I'll have to search, see if any photos are available. Fester, do you think your 'mysterious source' has info about what exactly was being filmed at the time in approx 1942? If it was for the AKC (Army Kinema Corp), the reason will be interesting, possibly no longer secret. Does anyone recognise my (now dead) father in the above photo, who was directing? Thankyou you all in Llandudno. :)
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Hi Olden,
I doubt if my 'mysterious fountain of knowledge' will have info about the 1940's ... he is a little too young for that!
I rather think that instead, he has probably done some work in Plas Bardd for the current owners.
But if any info comes forward from my mysterious source, I'm sure he will ask me to pop it on here.... he's good like that. (A Good Plumber Too L0L)
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Thankyou Fester :)
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Hi all,
I'm going to throw a wide ball here, How about this house as a candidate, basesd in it has four gables, and the paths in the background sort of match as so does marine drive's evevated position.
any thoughts.
Llandudno, UK - Google Maps (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Llandudno,+UK&aq=0&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=15.686479,46.538086&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Llandudno,+Conwy,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.329926,-3.863548&spn=0.000966,0.00284&t=h&z=19)
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If it's any help here are the listings for houses on Marine Drive in 1929 presuming the house was there before the forties!.Llys Helig Drive does not appear in the directory
West Lodge
Cleve Royd
Fron Gogarth
Fron Dawel
The Chalet
Old Abbey Private Hotel
Gogarth Lodge
The Mount
Hillside
Gogarth Farm
Pen-y-Fron
Plas Penmaen
Swn-y-Mor
The Outlook
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use www.old-maps.co.uk (http://www.old-maps.co.uk) for old OS maps
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Big thankyous to everyone, Olden, dwsi, Bri Roberts, Hugo, Fester, pkevin, suepp. In a short space of time, you have come up with good suggestions. The aerial shot I had initially discounted, but then again over the years, additions to the house might make it look like this now. Wish I was much closer than thousands of miles distant, to come look myself. Meanwhile, I will see what I can find amongst the list of property names. Cheers everyone :)
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Cannot help about the building, but one thing I am sure about. The jeeps etc were not practising for Dunkirk. Absolutely certain, there was no practising of anything for Dunkirk, it was just get out however you can, or die.
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In the 1969 Directory the listings are as follows:
Marine Drive:
St Petrocks
Y Fron
The Chalet
Hillside
Grey Gables
Coastways
The Outlook
Plas Penmon
Plas Craig
Monks Barn
Abbey Lodge
Old Abbey
Mentmore
Swn-y-Mor
Summer Place
Tinkers Revel
Orme's Head Lighthouse
Happy Valley Lodge
Llys Helig Drive:
Tides Reach
Plas Bardd
Broad Eaves
Provencal
Plas Lavan
Bron-y-Mor
Craig-y-Wylan
Nutcombe
Taybrock Moorings
Swn-y-Don
Plas Eithin
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If Brian says its Plas Bardd ..... its PLAS BARDD ! $welsh$ $welsh$
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Cannot help about the building, but one thing I am sure about. The jeeps etc were not practising for Dunkirk. Absolutely certain, there was no practising of anything for Dunkirk, it was just get out however you can, or die.
Thanks all of you for the continuing input on identifying Morkins' old home.
And Ormegolf you will understand she was only three at the time so she obviously got a bit muddled over her "D" words...........I think she meant "D" Day.....6th June. :laugh:
Her Dad became a successful film maker after the War but was engaged at that time in classified documentary work for the war effort :-X and she recalls being given fun rides in American Jeeps and US Officers were always around the place.
Are you or any members of this forum conversant with the Military History of Llandudno?.............on the coach tour I referred to above, we were told about German submarines which entered the Bay in an unsuccessful attempt to recover an escaped prisoner of war. Any information about what she and her father might have been part of would be fascinating. $thanx$
Good wishes,
Olden.
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this thread has a lot of info about the war
http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=150.0 (http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=150.0)
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The attempt to retrieve German POW's took place during WW1 in 1915
Two U Boats U-27 & U38 kept a rendezvous for three nights for the three men who escaped from Dyffryn Aled Llansannan. They made it to the rendezvous but unfortunately were in the next cove to the one in which they were being sought. The U-boats sailed away and the three men walked into town and were apprehended, due in no small part by local folk, one at the Tudno Hotel and the other two later on at the Pier gates where they were offered a cab and asked to be taken to the station, whereupon the cabbie drove them to the headquarters of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers where he alerted the sentry.
There is a full account of this in Ivor Wynne Jones' '"Llandudno Queen of the Welsh Resorts" (2002 ed.) the most comprehensive book ever written about Llandudno
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Hello everyone. Thanks Olden, you are correct, although it was an Aussie doctor who was in the Oz Army who supplied the info re Dunkirk, although maybe I have remembered the "D" wrong, he's no longer on the planet to confirm. Could have been officers planning campaigns, or similar? Hugo, I will PM you, thankyou.
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this thread has a lot of info about the war
http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=150.0 (http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=150.0)
Thanks Sue pp for the details of the U-boat story and the wonderful WW2 thread. Looks like the Americans featured fairly heavily in your town during WW2. Presumably mainly gunnery?..........or did it go deeper; I don't just mean the bunkers! :-X
Olden.
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this thread has a lot of info about the war
http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=150.0 (http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=150.0)
Thanks Sue pp for the details of the U-boat story and the wonderful WW2 thread. Looks like the Americans featured fairly heavily in your town during WW2. Presumably mainly gunnery?..........or did it go deeper; I don't just mean the bunkers! :-X
Olden.
Click this link for more info:
http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=150.0 (http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=150.0)
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it's the same link!
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it's the same link!
So it is. Sorry, it's been a long day. :-X
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Hello to you all. I am the little girl (considerably older these days) in the photo Olden kindly posted here, pic taken around 1942. Thankyou for the replies. I don't think the property is Plas Craig, does not look high enough above the water. There is a photo of a semi-derelict house, on this site re Great Orme, with a similar gateway down to the beach, now wondering if that could be the place. Living the other side of the world now, I'm very grateful for any info or photos. Also, anyone here old enough to remember my father filming a documentary with American Jeeps and Officers about the place, I've been told possibly something to do with practicing for Dunkirk, or similar. Sorry to be so vague. Again, thankyou you all for the replies. :)
I think that documentray may still be in existence. If you look for the Imperial War Museum on Google, you can ask the photography and film department. I think that Mr David Parry is the man you need to ask...