Evan Jenkins built this small commercial bakehouse in the garden of Derwen House. Thespian Street, Aberystwyth. His daughters, Catherine and Mary, ran the business. They worked from 6am to 10pm.

Home ovens were too small to bake enough bread for large families. People prepared their dough in tins and took it to be baked in commercial ovens. Successful bakehouses expanded their operations, delivering their own bread to wide areas.

The oven takes 3-5 hours to heat up from cold, and will take about 220 loaves of bread.*

*from a signboard next to the bakehouse

Workmen’s institutes, or ‘Stutes’ as they were fondly known, were once common sights in Welsh industrial towns and villages. Groups of coal miners and other workers built them to provide educations and leisure facilities for them and their families.

This one contains a library, reading room and a concert hall upstairs. The institute played an important role iin the welfare of workers during the 1926 General Strike and the 1930s Depression.*

*from a signboard next to the building

Luther Burbank

The mill has three storeys. Grain is stored on the top floor, ground into flour on the middle floor and bagged on the lowest floor. Because of the wet climate, farmers would often harvest corn before it was thoroughly dry. The miller then had to dry the grain before grinding it. This was done on a drying-floor on the upper level, heated by a fireplace.*

*From the St Fagans National Museum of History guidebook

World Book Day coincided with my volunteering day in my local school. I wore my recently purchased dress which was a perfect choice for helping children with their reading. The children choose the books they would like to read with me each week.

Later I went out for an evening meal with Mr C. I swapped my sensible flat ankle boots that I wore for my walk to and from the school to the more dressy shoes seen in this photo.

These roundhouses have been reconstructed based on archaeological remains excavated in Anglesey in the 1980s. The original dwellings would have been built aroundx 2,300 years ago.

During the Iron Age people lived in circular houses with thatched roofs. Most had walls of stone ore wattle and daub. We know from archaeological evidence that these examples were made from ‘clom’ which is a mixture of clay, stone and straw.*

*from a signboard next to the roundhouses

When the house was built in 1508, it was a luxurious house by Tudor standards. We know that by 1754, Robert and Ann Foulkes lived here. The last of the family to live at Hendre’r-ywyd, Mary Elizabeth Foulkes, died in 1912.

The family shared their home with the cattle which were kept in the two lower bays. The three upper bays formed the family home.

Originally, there was no chimney – the smoke from the fire would escape through the open windows and the rood.*

*from a signboard next to the farmhouse

Albert Einstein

At one time roads were built and maintained by Turnpike Trusts. They placed toll gates, barriers ofr chains across popular routes. These roads were used by poor farmers who often got charged several times a day.

This unfairness made people angry. The ‘Daughters of Rebecca’ led the protests: these were mostly men who wore women’s clothes to disguise themselves. They attacked 250 tollhouses between 1839 and 1844.

Some leaders were sent to Australia as punishment. However, tollhouses remained for another 20 years. *

*from a signboard next to the tollhouse

Circular pigsties like this one were common in South Wales.

Pigs love to dig, especially in corners. This is why this sty is circular, so it’s harder for them to dig their  way out.*

*from a nearby signboard