Miriam and Isaac Jones ( Yr Ogof)

[Hugo]

I saw these cuttings from the local press when I called at the Conwy Archives yesterday. I found them interesting as I had never seen them before.

[Nemesis]

V. Interesting Hugo-- hadn't seen the first one before-- fancy living in a cave with all those children !

[Hugo]

I went past the cave when I had a walk around the Orme on Friday, the remains of it are behind the garage door in St Petrocks.
What a wonderful view they would have had then, it would have nearly compensated for all those Westerlies that would have blown down the Straits!

[Trojan]

Nice one Hugo - Mike Cox will be pleased! 

Miriam Jones also ran the Gogarth Refreshment Room from her property.

[Trojan]

Note the horse-shoe hung upside-down above the door.

The horseshoe is considered very lucky and used to be hung in many homes to protect and attract good fortune for the family residing inside. As with many superstitions, there are contradictions to be found with the beliefs associated with the horseshoe. For instance, many believe that to hang it with the ends pointing upwards is good luck as it acts as a storage container of sorts for any good luck that happens to be floating by, whereas to hang it with the ends pointing down, is bad luck as all the good luck will fall out. Others believe that no matter which way you hang the horseshoe, good luck will come. According to this superstition, the ends-pointing-down display simply means that the good luck is able to flow out and surround the home. If the horseshoe is hung over a doorway, ends up will catch good luck and ends down will let the good luck spill over the door and stop evil from entering. Perhaps a combination of the two was used so that after a few days, when the horseshoe was filled with good luck, it would then need to be emptied so that residents could benefit from that luck and the process would be repeated until the end of time.

[Trojan]

V. Interesting Hugo-- hadn't seen the first one before-- fancy living in a cave with all those children !

Quote from the newspaper article:

The cave sheltered her 14 natural children and others that Miriam adopted.

[Trojan]

I went past the cave when I had a walk around the Orme on Friday, the remains of it are behind the garage door in St Petrocks.
What a wonderful view they would have had then, it would have nearly compensated for all those Westerlies that would have blown down the Straits!

The newspaper article states:

The old cave site no longer exists. It was destroyed when Marine Drive was built. 

[Trojan]

I always wondered what the cave was like inside. I always thought of the interior to be very spartan with everyone huddled together for warmth.

I found this excerpt interesting:

Miriam's cave was a haven, "it was lavish" says Apra. "It was a big long cave, a house within a cave". There were tapestries on the wall and furniture. An old stove sat in the corner, but much of the cooking and washing was done outside.
There was a big open area directly outside the cave, Apra tells me, "kids would be sitting helping to make the fishing nets and there would always be geese running around and a piglet to be fattened up.

[Hugo]

The cave is still there but not visible from the road and I tried peeping through the garage door letterbox but you can't see anything!
These two photos were taken of the ruins of her old cottage Gogarth Tea Rooms, the steps are overgrown now but still visible.

[DaveR]

Good article, Hugo, thanks for posting. 

[Trojan]

Thanks for the explanation Hugo. I remember now, those photo's you took near St Petrocks. 

[suepp]

  for posting

[Trojan]

One of the most famous of the Jones clan was Edward Goodey Jones, better known as Ted-yr-Ogof

His memorial can be seen on Llandudno's promenade near the jetty.

[Micox]

Hey. Some attribution to Davy Stallard who originally found where the cave behind St Petrocks was and took the original photos. My family too. With Alun Baines now of New Zealand - and largely thanks to him - I have a full Jones family tree. Dunno who 'Apra' is; she seems an interloper cashing in on the Miriam's legend. Davy and I did try to contact her to find out who she is when she published her article in the NWW but without success and without response. 

[Trojan]

Dunno who 'Apra' is; she seems an interloper cashing in on the Miriam's legend. Davy and I did try to contact her to find out who she is when she published her article in the NWW but without success and without response.

According to the above 2002 article, Apra - Amy Patricia Roberts, is Miriam's Great, Great Grandaughter.

A professional writer, who also runs her own entertainment company - Apra Entertainments.

Additionally, she performs fire breathing, fire eating, pyrotechnics, magician-ship, and singing & dancing.

However, I can't seem to find any trace of her on the world wide web.