Dennis,
Yes, well, it's not always feasible for a local community to undertake such a project
-- we have similar places here, including the Henry Ford Museum and attached Greenfield
Village (Dearborn, Michigan) which holds, in addition to the obvious autos, for instance,
the chair in which Abraham Lincoln sat when he attended the theatre and was assassinated
-- one would think it would be in Washington, D.C., in the Smithsonian, but it isn't!
Greenfield Village is similar to St. Fagans and includes the actual workshop of Thomas A.
Edison and many other buildings (including the requisite blacksmiths shop) from all over
the U.S.
The railroads employed their own blacksmiths so I don't think the village smithy
received much of their work -- he was kept pretty busy with local customers as he repaired
many of their common household items as well as farming implements, shoes, etc. Andrew
Humphreys' account books make no mention of commercial work -- all local names and
items repaired are listed.
Being related to David Davies of Llandinam, I am very aware of the railroad links in
Mid-Wales and the spur to the Van Mines. Also, my CGN ancestors worked at the Cwmystwyth
Mines and my cousin purchased the book you mentioned.
I have "Peacocks in Paradise" about Hafod and have it listed for lookups on the
South/West Wales Lookup Pages -- no one ever inquires, though! ;-)
Thanks for thinking of me, Dennis!
Best,
Julie
juliefpreston(a)sbcglobal.net
----- Original Message -----
From: DCLEATOND(a)aol.com
To: POWYS-L(a)rootsweb.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 4:21 PM
Subject: Re: [POWYS] Variants of Smithy's, etc.
Julie,
It is a pity all the best Smithy's and Long Houses, etc, in MGY and RADS
went to St Fagans, they would have been a very good local tourist attraction
here now. Cardiff gets it all in Wales!! In the Mid and late 1800's the nearby
Van Mines were still working, with a railway link to Newtown, and the
Smithy,etc, would have been very busy I think. The 1881 census listed many still
there.
See that also in the Devils Bridge area, where the tourist narrow guage
railway still runs to Aberystwyth, and was once used by the Mines in that area at
Cwmystwyth, etc. And the very detailed A4 book ' Wallers's Description of
the Mines in Cardiganshire' by David Bick, published by Black Dwarf
Publications at £10-00. See website _www.lightmoor.co.uk_ (
http://www.lightmoor.co.uk)
for more info re the Mines books. The book ' Peacocks in Paradise' tells of
the grand old house called Hafod and the life of the Jones family and others
then.
Best regards,
Dennis Cleaton
Rads, Powys
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