Thursday, 10 May 2012

Monday 7th May – Newborough, Anglesey


Strong wind and showers greeted us this morning and, mixed with sunshine, this was the pattern for the day. Late morning we chose a lull in the showers to take the short walk to the local church, St. Peters, next to Llys Rhosyr that we visited on Saturday. The church was locked but we took a walk around its cemetery and found gravestones of at least 20 captains dating from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century. Newborough was obviously an important seafaring town. If there were that many captains, many of the other men must have been sailors. We also found the grave of David Williams (died 1935), a pilot from Llanddwyn Island and a sailor who had 'served aboard a man of war for 18 years'. It was interesting to see that surnames of Williams, Jones and Thomas accounted for the majority of people buried in the churchyard.
The afternoon was spent watching the snooker world cup and we were impressed that when this finished earlier than expected, the BBC put on an episode of Coast that covered Anglesey!
Photos: St. Peter's church with a captain's grave on the left – note the anchor and chain carved out of stone; The family tomb made of Welsh slate and listing three captains.


No comments: