Tag: Rural Wales

• David Jenkins (1850–1891), A Quiet Life Broken by Misfortune

  In the upland districts of Montgomeryshire and southern Meirionnydd, the late nineteenth century was an age that demanded toughness and restraint. Men worked long hours in all seasons, living by the hard arithmetic of livestock, rent, weather, and market prices, and measured as much by reputation as by income. Within that world, David Jenkins, eldest…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  25/01/2026

  Uncategorized

  19th-century-wales, agricultural-labourers, ancestry, camlan-farm, cwmrhaiadr, david-jenkins, dinas-mawddwy, family history, farming-accidents, Genealogy, history, jenkins-family, llyfnant-valley, Local history, Machynlleth, maescelyn, meirionnydd-history, methodist-wales, montgomeryshire-history, Rural communities, Rural Wales, rural-labour-history, Upland farming, victorian-farming, victorian-wales, Welsh family history, Welsh genealogy, welsh-hill-farming, welsh-rural-history

• The Uncrowned Kings: How the Preacher Ruled Victorian Wales

  Imagine a Sunday evening in November 1880. Outside, the valley is pitch black, hammered by rain sweeping down from the mountains. But inside the gas-lit chapel, the air is thick with damp wool, peppermint, and anticipation. Five hundred people sit shoulder to shoulder in a silence so taut it hums. They are not waiting for…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  05/12/2025

  Articles

  19th-century-wales, Blue Books, Chapel Revival, Christmas Evans, Coalfield History Wales, Cymraeg, Hwyl, Liberal Wales, Methodist History, Nonconformist Wales, Rural Wales, Slate Quarrying Wales, victorian-wales, Wales Social Change, Welsh Chapels, Welsh Communities, Welsh culture, Welsh heritage, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh Language History, Welsh Literacy, Welsh Nonconformity, Welsh politics, Welsh Preachers, Welsh Pulpit Tradition, Welsh Radicalism, Welsh Religion, Welsh Revivalism, Welsh Social History, Welsh Theology

• “My Relations Are Part of a Rich Tapestry of Welsh Heritage” — My Feature in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine

  I’m delighted to share that my family history research has been featured in the latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine. The article, written by Claire Vaughan, explores my decades-long journey tracing my Welsh roots — from hill farmers and Calvinist ministers to a musical icon and a self-taught solicitor — all…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  04/11/2025

  Articles

  ancestry research, Antony David Davies, Arthur Owen Jones, British history, Caeadda, Calvinistic Methodists, Charles Shorto, Christ Church Oxford, Davies family, Edwardian Wales, Elinor Bennett, family, family history, family tree, Genealogy, genealogy research, heritage writing, historical biography, history, Llanwrin, magazine feature, Mid Wales history, Montgomeryshire, Oxford archives, Rural Wales, Shorto family, Shropshire history, travel, Trevor Owen Davies, Victorian Wales, Voices from the Uplands, WDYTYA, Welsh ancestry, Welsh culture, Welsh farming families, Welsh heritage, Welsh identity, Welsh language, Welsh music, Welsh Nonconformity, Who Do You Think You Are magazine

• Tea and Waterfalls: John and Jane Waters of the Llyfnant Valley

  By Antony David Davies FRSA John and Jane Waters, my grandmother’s aunt and uncle, stand with their daughter at the doorway of Tymawr in the Llyfnant Valley — welcoming Edwardian visitors to their farmhouse tea room, nestled in the peaceful hills near Machynlleth. In the remote folds of the Llyfnant Valley in north-west Montgomeryshire—where waterfalls…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  04/08/2025

  Uncategorized

  19th-century-wales, 20th-century-wales, ancestry, cwmrhaiadr, edwardian-wales, family history, farmhouse-tea-rooms, Genealogy, history, ireland, john-waters, llyfnant-valley, local-heritage, Machynlleth, Rural Wales, Social history, tea-rooms-of-wales, travel, tymawr, victorian-wales, waters-family, Welsh history, welsh-tourism-history

• When the Last Prince Hid in Our Hills: A Family Legend That Still Haunts Wales

  By Antony David Davies FRSA High in the forgotten uplands of Montgomeryshire, where bracken folds over ancient sheep paths and the hills roll unbroken into silence, there stands a farmhouse my family still speaks of in reverent tones. Its name is Esgair Llywelyn — Llywelyn’s Ridge. Even now, the place endures. Weathered, empty, but defiantly…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  29/07/2025

  Articles

  Aberedw, Antony David Davies, Builth, Cilmeri 1282, Cultural survival, Dulas Valley, Dyfi Valley, Edward I, Elinor Bennett, Esgair Llywelyn, family history, Family legend, Forgotten voices, FRSA, Heritage preservation, Hidden history, Historical memory, Historical storytelling, Identity and place, Legacy of the past, Llanwrin, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Lost Wales, Machynlleth, Medieval Wales, Mid Wales, Montgomeryshire, National memory, Nonconformist Wales, Owain Glyndŵr, Powys heritage, Prince of Wales, Resistance and survival, Rural Wales, Welsh ancestry, Welsh culture, Welsh diaspora, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh legends, Welsh nationalism, Welsh rebellion, Welsh storytelling

• Saving the soul of Wales: why we must act now to preserve our family and chapel records

  By Antony David Davies FRSA It is hard to overstate just how close we are to losing the living memory of rural Wales. Across our hills and valleys — from the sheep farms of Montgomeryshire to the slate towns of Gwynedd and the quiet chapels of Ceredigion — traces of family and community life are…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  25/07/2025

  Articles

  Archive crisis, Call to action, Ceredigion, Chapel registers, Community history, Community memory, Cultural policy, Digitisation, Family archives, Family photographs, Farming families, Genealogy, Gwynedd, Heritage preservation, Historical advocacy, Historical memory, Historical records, Industrial heritage, Local history, Montgomeryshire, National memory, Nonconformist chapels, Oral history, Oral traditions, People’s Collection Wales, Public history, Rural Wales, Senedd, Slate industry history, Social history, Upland voices, Welsh archives, Welsh culture, Welsh Government, Welsh heritage, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh Nonconformity, Welsh storytelling