Oakdale Workmen’s Institute
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
Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.
Luther Burbank
Tags: Cherie's Place Thought
Melin Bompren Corn Mill
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
Tags: Melin Bompren Corn Mill, St Fagans, Vacation, Wales
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.
Tags: Popsy, School Readers, Shropshire, Tresta, Volunteering, World Book Day
Bryn Eryr Iron Age Roundhouses
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
Tags: St Fagans, Vacation, Wales
Hendre’r-ywydd Uchaf Farmhouse
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
Tags: Cardiff, St Fagans, Vacation, Wales
If you want the answer to anything, go sit in Nature for awhile
Albert Einstein
Tags: Cardiff, Cherie's Place Thought, Rest a while with me, St Fagans, Vacation, Wales
