Cardiff & the Museum of Welsh Life, 2004

St. Mary's church is located just across the street from the Museum of Welsh Life, and was an extra treat to get to see. St Mary’s, a grade B listed building of Norman foundation, is a beautiful parish church with an interesting co-mixture of architectural styles, and is greatly in demand by wedding couples, who love to be pictured in a pony and trap outside the lych gate, with the church tower in the background. Text of the second paragraph from: mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/stfagansparish

St. Mary's church is located just across the street from the Museum of Welsh Life, and was an extra treat to get to see. St Mary’s, a grade B listed building of Norman foundation, is a beautiful parish church with an interesting co-mixture of architectural styles, and is greatly in demand by wedding couples, who love to be pictured in a pony and trap outside the lych gate, with the church tower in the background. Text of the second paragraph from: mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/stfagansparish

St. Mary's church is located just across the street from the Museum of Welsh Life, and was an extra treat to get to see. St Mary’s, a grade B listed building of Norman foundation, is a beautiful parish church with an interesting co-mixture of architectural styles, and is greatly in demand by wedding couples, who love to be pictured in a pony and trap outside the lych gate, with the church tower in the background. St Mary’s well kept churchyard is closed to new burials, apart from the reopening of existing graves where appropriate. There is also limited space for the burial of cremated remains on the north side of the church. Text of the second and third paragraph from: mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/stfagansparish

The St Fagans National History Museum (Welsh: Amgueddfa Werin Cymru), commonly referred to as St Fagans, is an open-air museum chronicling the lifestyle, culture and architecture of the Welsh people. Located in the grounds of St Fagans Castle near Cardiff, the museum is part of National Museum Wales, formerly the National Museums and Galleries of Wales. It is also one of the most popular tourist attractions in south Wales. The museum was started in 1946 following the donation of the castle and lands by the Earl of Plymouth. It opened its doors to the public in 1948, under the name of the Welsh Folk Museum. The museum's name in Welsh (also meaning "Welsh Folk Museum") has remained unchanged since that date, whereas the English title has been modified once to Museum of Welsh Life, and again to its current nomenclature. The brainchild of Iorwerth Peate, the museum was modelled on Skansen, the outdoor museum of vernacular Swedish architecture in Stockholm. Most structures re-erected in Skansen were built of wood and are thus easily taken apart and reassembled, but a comparable museum in Wales was naturally going to be more ambitious as much of the vernacular buildings in the country are built of masonry. The museum includes over forty buildings which represent the architecture of Wales, including a Celtic village, a nonconformist chapel (in this case, Unitarian), a school house, a tollbooth, a cockpit and even a cow shed. Apart from the Elizabethan manor house of the castle and the Celtic village and 'House of the Future' (a Millennium project), which were built from scratch, all the buildings have been transported from various locations around Wales and painstakingly reconstructed on the site. With the reconstruction of the medieval church of Saint Teilo formerly at Llandeilo Tal-y-Bont in western Glamorgan (restored to its pre-Reformation state), all that is missing from the Museum as Peate envisaged it is a pub. Though the museum was intended to preserve some of Welsh rural life, it now includes several buildings that depict the industrial working life that succeeded it, itself almost extinct in Wales. There is a row of workmen's cottages from Rhyd-y-car, near Merthyr Tydfil, as well as the pristine Oakdale Workmen's Institute. A post-war prefabricated bungalow has even been erected on the grounds. Especially on weekends, the museum holds displays of traditional crafts with a working blacksmith's forge and a cooper. Other buildings are staffed by people in period costume. All staff are required to speak Welsh. Part of the site includes a small working farm which concentrates on preserving local native breeds of livestock. Much of the produce from the museum is available for sale. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Fagans_National_History_Museum

The St Fagans National History Museum (Welsh: Amgueddfa Werin Cymru), commonly referred to as St Fagans, is an open-air museum chronicling the lifestyle, culture and architecture of the Welsh people. Located in the grounds of St Fagans Castle near Cardiff, the museum is part of National Museum Wales, formerly the National Museums and Galleries of Wales. It is also one of the most popular tourist attractions in south Wales. The museum was started in 1946 following the donation of the castle and lands by the Earl of Plymouth. It opened its doors to the public in 1948, under the name of the Welsh Folk Museum. The museum's name in Welsh (also meaning "Welsh Folk Museum") has remained unchanged since that date, whereas the English title has been modified once to Museum of Welsh Life, and again to its current nomenclature. The brainchild of Iorwerth Peate, the museum was modelled on Skansen, the outdoor museum of vernacular Swedish architecture in Stockholm. Most structures re-erected in Skansen were built of wood and are thus easily taken apart and reassembled, but a comparable museum in Wales was naturally going to be more ambitious as much of the vernacular buildings in the country are built of masonry. The museum includes over forty buildings which represent the architecture of Wales, including a Celtic village, a nonconformist chapel (in this case, Unitarian), a school house, a tollbooth, a cockpit and even a cow shed. Apart from the Elizabethan manor house of the castle and the Celtic village and 'House of the Future' (a Millennium project), which were built from scratch, all the buildings have been transported from various locations around Wales and painstakingly reconstructed on the site. With the reconstruction of the medieval church of Saint Teilo formerly at Llandeilo Tal-y-Bont in western Glamorgan (restored to its pre-Reformation state), all that is missing from the Museum as Peate envisaged it is a pub. Though the museum was intended to preserve some of Welsh rural life, it now includes several buildings that depict the industrial working life that succeeded it, itself almost extinct in Wales. There is a row of workmen's cottages from Rhyd-y-car, near Merthyr Tydfil, as well as the pristine Oakdale Workmen's Institute. A post-war prefabricated bungalow has even been erected on the grounds. Especially on weekends, the museum holds displays of traditional crafts with a working blacksmith's forge and a cooper. Other buildings are staffed by people in period costume. All staff are required to speak Welsh. Part of the site includes a small working farm which concentrates on preserving local native breeds of livestock. Much of the produce from the museum is available for sale. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Fagans_National_History_Museum

Museum of Welsh Life, St. Fagans Maestir School. In use from 1880 to 1916; re-erected at the museum in 1984. The school was originally the St Mary's Board School at Maestir, Lampeter, Cardiganshire. It was a small rural school typical of the period when elementary education became compulsory for all children in England and Wales. Maestir School was in use from 1880 until 1916. Pupils were taught by a teacher (right), sometimes assisted by a pupil-teacher or a sewing mistress. The speaking of Welsh was often banned in an effort to improve the children's examination performance in English, even though they spoke only Welsh at home. In 1847, in what became known as the "Treachery of the Blue Books", a Royal Commission reported that: The Welsh language is a vast drawback to Wales and a manifold barrier to the moral progress and commercial prosperity of the people. Because of their language the mass of the Welsh people are inferior to the English in every branch of practical knowledge and skill ... Equally in his new or old home his language keeps him under the hatches being one in which he can neither acquire nor communicate the necessary information. It is the language of old fashioned agriculture, of theology and of simple rustic life, while all the world about him is English ... He is left to live in an underworld of his own and the march of society goes completely over his head. Source: Report of the Royal Commission of 1847 (Part II page 66) At the time, the resulting anger in Wales centred on the attack on the moral life of the inhabitants, but the attack on the Welsh language was equally important, having long term repercussions. When a system of elementary education was developed (Education Act of 1870) the Welsh language was totally ignored. The number of pupils at Maestir School varied from 47 when it opened, to about 20 in the 1890s. The ages of the pupils ranged from five to fourteen, all of whom were taught in the single classroom. Text from: myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wfha2000/walespic/050123-3.htm

This Grade I listed building is one of the finest Elizabethan manor houses in Wales. In 1946, the Earl of Plymouth donated the castle together with eighteen acres of land to the National Museum of Wales as a site for a national open-air museum. The Museum of Welsh Life opened its doors in 1948. Its outdoor section now features over forty original buildings moved from various parts of Wales and re-erected to show life through the centuries. text (including a great panorama) from: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/panoramics/pages/welshlife_...

This Grade I listed building is one of the finest Elizabethan manor houses in Wales. In 1946, the Earl of Plymouth donated the castle together with eighteen acres of land to the National Museum of Wales as a site for a national open-air museum. The Museum of Welsh Life opened its doors in 1948. Its outdoor section now features over forty original buildings moved from various parts of Wales and re-erected to show life through the centuries. text (including a great panorama) from: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/panoramics/pages/welshlife_...

This Grade I listed building is one of the finest Elizabethan manor houses in Wales. In 1946, the Earl of Plymouth donated the castle together with eighteen acres of land to the National Museum of Wales as a site for a national open-air museum. The Museum of Welsh Life opened its doors in 1948. Its outdoor section now features over forty original buildings moved from various parts of Wales and re-erected to show life through the centuries. text (including a great panorama) from: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/panoramics/pages/welshlife_...

This was photographed at the Museum of Welsh Life. Stryd Lydan barn originally stood at Penley, Flintshire. It was built c. 1550 and was re-erected at the Welsh Folk Museum (now the Museum of Welsh Life), St. Fagans, in 1951. Text from: www.gtj.org.uk/item.php?lang=en&id=23087&t=1

Museum of Welsh Life, St. Fagans This smithy was originally located in the village of Llawr-y-glyn, Montgomeryshire. It consisted of a shoeing area, the smithy itself, and a stable, which originally housed horses awaiting shoeing. The Llawr-y-glyn smithy ceased working in 1963. Until the mid 20th century, every rural community depended heavily on its smithy. Horses were shod, household items made and mended, and metal tyres applied to wooden wagon wheels. Many blacksmiths manufactured ploughs and other farm implements as well as domestic utensils, tools and nails. Text from: myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wfha2000/walespic/050123.htm#1

Esgair Moel, an 18th-century woollen mill, originally stood at Llanwrtyd, Breconshire, but was re-erected at the Welsh Folk Museum (now the Museum of Welsh Life), in the early 1950s. Text from: www.gtj.org.uk/item.php?lang=en&id=23000&t=1

Esgair Moel, an 18th-century woollen mill, originally stood at Llanwrtyd, Breconshire, but was re-erected at the Welsh Folk Museum (now the Museum of Welsh Life), in the early 1950s. Text from: www.gtj.org.uk/item.php?lang=en&id=23000&t=1

This photograph was taken at the Museum of Welsh Life. This farmhouse was originally built in 1470 at Llansanffraid Cwmteuddwr, near Rhaeadr, Radnorshire. It was rebuilt there in 1734 and re-erected at the Museum of Welsh Life in 1959. This type of farmhouse with the cattle at one end and their owners at the other, with a door between them is known as a long house and was once common in mid and south Wales. This building contains a stable and room for twelve cattle with a hayloft above them. Text from: www.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/28917

This photograph was taken at the Museum of Welsh Life. The tollhouse was built in 1772 and originally stood at Penparcau, near Aberystwyth. It consists of a single room as seen in this photograph, one end being used for the collection of tolls and a single fireplace at the opposite end for heating and cooking. The house has been furnished to around the year 1843, the period of the Rebecca Riots when many tollgates were destroyed. Text from: www.gtj.org.uk/item.php?lang=en&id=27203&t=1

Museum of Welsh Life, St. Fagans. Nant Wallter Cottage. Built circa 1770; re-erected at the museum in 1993. This cottage was originally located at Taliaris, Llandeilo Fawr, Carmarthenshire. It is the only building in the museum which has walls constructed of clay or mud. The clay was dug on the site of the building and mixed with straw and stone dust. It was then laid in layers which were allowed to dry for several days before the next layer could be added. The straw thatch on the roof is laid on gorse and wattle on a timber base. The original occupants of the cottage worked on the Taliaris estate. Text from: myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wfha2000/walespic/050123.htm#1

Built in 1610, this building is a typical farmhouse from Gower in South West Wales. The red colour of the walls was thought to protect the house against evil spirits. The house was re-erected in its current place in the museum in 1955. Text from: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/panoramics/pages/welshlife_...