The Denbighshire Archive Services Blog

[Trojan]

http://denbighshirearchives.wordpress.com/2011/02/

Initially the blog will focus on a travel journal, with contemporary photographs, following the 250 mile journey of holiday-makers from Manchester and Chester who visited North Wales in 1890. The diary provides a portrait of Denbighshire and North Wales over a hundred and twenty years ago and what holidays may have been like for some Victorians. The writers visit and describe areas in Denbighshire today, such as Llangollen, Corwen and Rhyl together with other areas of North Wales such as Snowdonia, Conwy and Llandudno. 'Two hundred and fifty miles through North Wales on a wagonette'

During the next few months the blog will be updated weekly. Each day of the diary will be spread over 3 or 4 posts, as every day is described in some detail alongside some wonderful illustration pages. Please note that we have not altered any of the spellings used although we have added the correct place-name spellings in square brackets where necessary.

(August & September 2011 entries to the blog takes the journey from Penmaenmawr to Conwy, then on to Llandudno)

[DaveR]

Good find! 

[Trojan]

Good find! 

Looks like there was a plague of flies that year.

We arrive in view of Llandudno as we drive on down the road, with the Little Ormes head on our right, and the town of Llandudno on our left.  We have a pretty view of the place, eventually arriving there at 2.15.  We put the horse up in the stables behind the Imperial Hotel, and find comfortable apartments close by at the house of Mrs W Lewis, Gloddaeth Cottages, Bodafon Row off Vaughan Street.  Here we find our first misfortune “dear ah me I have lost my umbrella”, first thing I telegraph where I think I had left it, but no go, it must have dropped out of the wagonette as we were travelling, it had gone, gone for ever, so farewell dear old gingham.  Well the next item in the programme was a jolly good tea, all very nice, but we were plagued with a swarm of flies, you could scarcely put a piece of bread to your mouth without meeting a blue bottle on the way.  The plague was dreadful, all through the town it was the same, I never saw anything like it, there were millions. 

[Trojan]

Castle Vice Inn? 

We pass over the beautiful bridge to the road, the railway on our right, the Bay on our left, we look back and get a fine view of the Castle and Bridge.  We drive over the rails at Llandudno Junction station, up the hill past Castle Vice Inn, past Mostyn Arms tea gardens and a very pretty Church on our right through the village of Tywyn and the ruins of Deganwy Castle.

[Bri Roberts]

I imagine Castle View Inn would have been Maggie Murphys and the Mostyn Arms was the inn near Llanrhos Church

[DaveR]

" A few yards further we come to the Happy Valley and it is a broad Green Vale slopping seaward and is protected on 3 sides by the Cliffs of the Great Orme.  All kinds of Games are carried on here, quoits, archery bowls etc etc it is the resort of the old and young, feeble and strong."