WEEK FIVE AND WE ARE STILL ALIVE AND KICKING

There is so much happening each week it is hard to actually remember if someone asks "what have you been doing this week?" But we are so grateful to be here. The research is coming along slowly and we have learned that others have also found some of what we are finding. So, much of our time is spent verifying and preparing to correct errors we are finding. But we need this foundation to be able to learn more.

This week we went to Neath hoping to find out more about the Jenkin connection there. It was a good visit but seemed a dead end as far as what we needed. Yet further research indicates that we need to return for records only they have in the collection. The will we found from 1738 has been such a HUGE help but we are having trouble finding the actual records of some of the beneficiaries because parish records do not begin soon enough. So we must now resort to land records, lease records, etc. which we hope will help us.

We have also spent time in the West Glamorgan Archive which is in Swansea. Each archive has its own collection and thankfully there are computer indexes and helpful staff.

We  had the opportunity to go with the missionaries to teach a young single mother. What a delight that was. She is totally amazing and has such a great desire to learn truth. Her life experiences have been horrific but she is determined to move forward and care for her two lovely children. The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly will heal if only people will allow it.

Steve's sister and her husband have come for a visit. He can only be here for a week but JoLynn will stay an additional week to help with the research. But we have also spent a little time being 'tourists' for a few days.

We had waited for Steve's sister and her husband to come before meeting with Jeff Childs. He is the author of the  book they are holding - The Parish of Llangyfelach, Landed Estates, Farms and Families. The book is 340 pages long and is chock full of information about the Llangyfelach parish where the Davies and Hopkin ancestors of Steve and JoLynn lived. We are finding information specific to the families and the lands on which they lived. So grateful for his 30 years of work to write this volume.

It was an overcast day but lovely enough for us to eat lunch outdoors right by the bay.

A lovely restaurant with a delightful wait staff!

The bay at Penarth.

Love these old buildings!

An awesome fence, and who knew that this part of the world was temperate enough for palm trees!

A lamp post.

View of Cardiff Bay from the balcony of Jeff Child's home.

The four of us just after lunch. Look at the amazing trees that frame us.

Loved these blue doors of the Yacht Club.

Cardiff Bay again.

An interesting juxtaposition of old and new.

I had to climb the stairs to see the church which turns out to be an old Catholic church there in Penarth.

Street in Penarth.

I just love the bluebells and kept wanting to get up to those behind where we lived. So, one evening on our way home from the archive I tried to find way to walk amongst the bluebells. But I could only get a little closer as my way was barred but many blackberry plants. But I did manage to get a little closer and they were lovely. Now they are beginning to fade.

The bluebells were so amazing!

This is in a field sort of above where we are living.

I have always loved oak trees for their distinctive leaves and these new leaves just looked so fresh and green.

Looking back down the trail I had to hike to get closer to the bluebells.

It was nice to go to Neath even though we did not find much in the way of further information we did find the church in Llantwit-juxta-Neath. Ironically it is less than 2 miles from the Neath church. The parish is long and extends many miles to the north but the church was quite south.  It lies just along side of the road and it was a quick stop to get there. Lots of head stones but none with Steve's family names.

St. Illtuds' Church. Just try to say that knowing that the "ll' has a 'cl' sound!

Such a beautiful and peaceful little church where many of Steve's ancestors were christened,
married and buried back in the  1700's.

Detail of the cross design on the front of the church.

Each stair leading down to the church had inscriptions  honoring the dead. It was like the steps were the tomb stones.

Many tombs stones were just standing against the wall.

A sign denoting Wind Street [which is said like winding a clock]. this was a historic street on which Steve's 7 times great uncle had a tailor shop. It is now a pedestrian shopping street.

This map shows where the tailor shop probably stood.  There is a little blue rectangle between the letters B and C which was owned by Lord Vernon who owned the Briton Ferry Estate. In the early 1700's it was owned by Bussy Mansell who leased it to Evan Jenkin who turned it into a tailor shop and residence. Present day it has been torn down to make way for a busy street so it is no more. The 'moiety' part, half of it, was left to Steve's 5th great grandfather Jenkin David in the will of 1738. Evan Jenkin also left £20 to Evan Jenkin David, the son of Jenkin David, who was Steve's 4th great grandfather. It is through this remarkable will that we have proof that this line of the family used patronymics which helped us find some further ancestors.

If you look closely at this computer image you will see what is believed to be the ruins of Blaen-cam-goed which means "end of the crooked road". This property was also leased to Evan Jenkin by Bussy Mansell who in turn rented it to someone else.

The tower of the church in Neath where Steve's 5th great grandparents were married.

The church door.

Once there was a castle in Neath but now there is only this shell which has been
preserved in the middle of  town.

There are castles and then there are castles. We had the chance to go back to Caerphilly again. There was an annual festival put on by Historica Normannis https://normannis.co.uk/wp/

This group is a huge club with many people who love the 1200's and live their lives around this hobby. They create and wear authentic costumes, train through the winter months and then perform throughout the UK during the summer. It just made being at the castle so much more interesting. The castle truly is amazing and took only 3 years to build.

Caerphilly Castle

Festival day at Caerphilly Castle

Steve by the front door.

The woman on the left is explaining the costumes. This was a group of peasants in original costumes. She said that peasants were not the ragged people often portrayed but that they took great care to look their best. the wraps around their legs are to protect their legs as they work.

This is a group of the merchant class. Note the embroidery and the color of their clothing. And the little pouches which held a knife necessary for eating and a wide variety of other things.

The lady who had been explaining the costumes and the man in the front next to her sported clothing authentic to Scotland. His outfit was the precursor to the kilt.

And these were the upper class, nobility and royalty. Note their even brighter  colors and the swords the men carried. The green cape was dyed with goose 'poo'.

This was the announcer and later the judge in court. A great loud voice which kept us informed.

A court was held in the great hall. Three cases were tried which were incidents from the history of the area. We learned that according to Welsh law  if a beggar had asked for sustenance  in three places the council MUST provide him with food even if he had stolen to eat. This was much  more  humane than English
law which may have cut off a hand for stealing food.
There was also a case of a shop owner accusing a fellow shop owner of bullying and stealing his goods. When it was determined that the accused shop owner was guilty he was fined 50% of his earnings for 2 years.
And the third case was of a knight who charged at and cut off fingers of a peasant. During the course of the trial the knight's bad attitude and witnesses to the event led him to being fined 16 pence, the value given of the fingers was 8 pence. He was upset because he said he was English and should not be held to Welsh law so he threw the coins at the judge which angered the judge who then determined the knight would lose one of his fingers which was carried out behind the room as evidenced by the screaming of the knight.
The actors did a great job and gave us an interesting insight into Welsh law back in the 1200's.

An interesting mallet cut from a tree. We watched as another similar mallet was used to pound stakes into the ground. This group uses everything as original as they possibly can.

Festival participants pitch their tents and live on the site while performing. Their tents were meticulously designed and manufactured to their specifications. The manufacturing company now also sells them as there has been an interest shown by the general public.

This court yard also had tents and some of the people talked about their crafts. We spoke to a young lady who did embroidery. They barter with each other for clothing, swords, helmets, etc depending on which skill they each have.

There were several narrow windows which I assume were  wide enough that arrows could be shot through.

Then there are stairs. It was so cute when I was walking down these stairs a young mother was coaching her son to walk on the 'wide part of the pizza'. Every step she would say "walk on the pizza" and then congratulated him when he made it down.

Just an interesting view. What stories these walls could tell.

Furniture in one of the rooms. I found the colors interesting but after the fashion show which indicated that the richer you were the brighter colors you wore - because you could- it made more sense.

The four of us in front of the door to the great hall.

Steve in stocks at Caerphilly Castle.

Liz in stocks - yes, I know it is cheesy but part of the experience!

As we left the castle we saw these cute little goslings. The mom was VERY aware of us and we almost wondered if we were in danger of being pecked.

Across the road from the castle.

Statue honoring Tommy Cooper who was a comedian some years back.
The statue was unveiled by Anthony Hopkns.

We ended our day with dinner at a carvery and also  treated ourselves to dessert.
 

The adventure continues. The time is swiftly passing and somedays I wonder if there will be enough time to do what we need to do. We have already been here almost 5 weeks and had wonderful experiences.