Trips

Friday, 5/24/13
        This morning we drove to Anglesey on an old "turnpike" road. The term derives from the pikes attached to the gate at a toll road. The gate was turned after paying to use the road. Since horsemen would try to jump the gate to avoid the fee, the pikes were added to make misery for the horse.
        We went through the towns of Bethesda (a slate town), and Beaumaris (meaning beautiful marshes), and on to the Penmon Priory and Church. In the 6th c. St. Seiriol established a monastery here by a remote well. By the 10th c. he had a wooden church at the site. After Vikings destroyed the church in 971, a stone church was built. The nave of the existing church was finished about 1140. The chancel and refectory were built later. The monastery was dissolved in 1537 during Henry VIII's fight with Rome over his divorce. The church remained in use and much of it was rebuilt in 1855. By the 1830's the church became Anglican with all the bells and rituals and smells and stained glass windows. Later, Puritans removed the colored glass and statues. The present church has two ancient Celtic crosses. They have a Celtic knot with no beginning or ending on the base and a circle in the center of the cross.
            We visited St. Seiriol's well, fishpond, and original gathering spot used for "church."

Penmon Abbey

(link 2)

Celtic Cross

Ancient fetish

St. Seiriol's Well

We drove back into Beaumaris to look at the 19th c. gaol (jail). We couldn't get in because it is closed on Fridays.

Instead we went into the 13th c. St. Mary's and St. Nicholas' Church, which again had gone through numerous religious variations. Of interest were the misericord benches that allowed the monks to rest while appearing to be standing throughout the long services. This is now a choir area.

Oldest house in Great Britain

National School

Street scene

St. Mary's and St. Nicholas' Church

Tomb of Princess Joan of Wales, daughter of King John of England (12th century) and wife of Llywelyn the Great

Misericord benches

1620 Welsh Bible

Shopping area

Welsh bilingual sign

We went back to Betws-y-Coed and had lunch on our own - soup in a pub and then listened to two lectures by Conway, our tour director. He gave us some history of ancient Welsh life and then told the Welsh version of the King Arthur legend.

Countryside from the bus

Sat., 5/25/13 - Betws-y-Coed
           This morning we joined Conway for an informal walk in town.
           Our first stop was the old, 14th c. church, St. Michael's, through the Lych Gate of the Dead. Corpses were laid here until the vicar verified that it was wrapped in a proper wool shroud. Burials only occurred on Saturdays.
            The graveyard is enclosed by a circular stone wall. Inside the wall was where town sports were played, fairs were held, and the May pole was used.
            We left the group and walked up to the stone bridge at Pont-y-Pair, built in 1340. It has a nice "waterfall" - more like a cascade flowing beneath it. We walked the town shops and then back to the hotel for lunch.

We are in the Park

Graveyard and church

Lych Gate

Foot bridge and reflection

Betws-y-Coed was established for the lead mines in the surrounding hills. The Telford Road running through town allowed the transport of lead and slate to other markets. The mines were also the main reason for the railroad spur here. The railroad station is now a museum with a dining car cafe and tracks for two cute mini-steam engine trains.

Railroad Station

Cute sign

Steam train for kids and others

Steam train

Old rolling stock

1340 Pont-y-Pair Bridge

Cascade

       This afternoon, the coach took us north to visit the Orme Copper Mine in Llandudno. The LL in Welsh is pronounced by putting your tongue on the roof of your mouth, behind the front teeth, and blowing air out the corners of the mouth, sort of, but not quite, a th sound – Welsh is a nearly impossible language. A further comment about the language: There are eight volumes to the Welsh dictionary. New technology and science words are translated into Welsh rather than incorporating a foreign word into the language. For instance, the Welsh word for "computer" is cyfrifiadur or a "counter of numbers." Many of the towns (suburbs) around Philadelphia have Welsh place names which we pronounce in our American fashion, not proper Welsh, e.g., Gwynedd, Bryn Mawr, Gladwyne, Tredyffryn, Llanerch, St. David’s, etc.
          At the town beach and promenade we were stuck in traffic and watched a Spitfire Air Show.
          We took the cable tramcar halfway up the hillside. Some of the slope was 20°.
          The Great Orme Bronze Age Copper Mine is thought to be at least 4,000 years old. There are about five miles of tunnels in the limestone dating back to 1800 BC. The copper was originally dug out using bone scrapers and rocks. Copper ore was carried to the surface and crushed, washed, and smelted. The mines were abandoned in 600 BC and then worked again between 1692 and 1881 AD. It was covered in rubble until 1979 when the mines were rediscovered and saved as an historical site. Visitors were allowed into part of the mines in 1991 and excavation is still taking place. After a short video we put on hard hats and walked through some of the narrow tunnels.