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WW2 Pillboxes and ATBs
My interest in the second world war started at a very young age. My father grew up living next to an RAF bomber airfield during the Second World War and his interest in WW2 aircraft eventually became my interest. He … Continue reading
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Bryn Oer Tramroad
If you are interested in walking disused railways then I recommend walking along a bridleway, at Talybont-on-Usk, that follows the route of one of Wales’ earliest forerunners of the modern railway. The Bryn Oer tramroad opened in 1815 as a … Continue reading
Posted in Railways
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Woollen Factory, Cardiff
Before the Industrial revolution and the extraction of the black stuff from the ground, the woollen industry in Wales was one of the country’s most important industry. The spinning and weaving of sheep’s wool in Wales dates back to prehistoric … Continue reading
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Taff Vale Railway headquarters
If you arrive at Cardiff Bay by train a derelict building greets you, Cardiff Bay railway station, the Southern terminus of the short Butetown Branch Line which runs from Cardiff Queen Street station. It’s sad to see this Grade 2* … Continue reading
Piercefield House, Chepstow
A simple dog walk at Chepstow racecourse led me to this wonderfull find, a Neoclassical Grade II*- listed ruined mansion called Piercefield House. This once fine Georgian building was commissioned in 1785 by a Durham banker named George Smith with … Continue reading
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Cardiff Railway Co.
The Marquis of Bute bought the Glamorganshire and Aberdare Canals in 1885, in order to close them both and build a railway to crush the Taff Valley Railway’s near monopoly of the railways and their transportation of coal to Cardiff. … Continue reading
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The Barry Graveyard
If you mention the name Woodham Bros in the railway world, then more than likely it would be associated with the locomotive graveyard in Barry. But the company actually started in 1892 as Woodham & Sons buying rope, wood and … Continue reading
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Porth y Nant, North Wales
When I was a child attending Bryntaf, a Welsh speaking primary school in Cardiff, I learnt about one of Wales’ most tragic and famous love stories, the story of Rhys and Meinir. Rhys and Meinir lived and grew up together … Continue reading
Posted in Other Then & Now
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TS King George V
TS King George V was a pioneering Clyde passenger turbine steamer, built in 1926 by William Denny & Brothers, specialists in cross-channel steamships, for the Turbine Steamers Ltd. She was a popular boat, with services to Inveraray and Oban, where … Continue reading
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Billybanks – a 1960s experiment for modern social housing
Over the years a lot of negative things have been said about the large ex-council estate called Billybanks that stood in Penarth. In it’s final years it had even been called the ugliest eyesore in Wales. By then it wasn’t … Continue reading
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