Letters to the Editor

THE WORKHOUSE REMEMBERED

Sir,
Thank you for the Carmarthenshire Historian. I always find them most interesting.

The Workhouse memories of Mr. D. J. Evans, in Volume XV, remind me that, as a boy in Carmarthen, I remember standing outside the Workhouse and seeing a stone fall onto a small pile on the road (a consequence of the stone-breaking that tramps were required to carry out). I knew what was going on and decided to wait. I waited and waited but nothing else happened. Perhaps it was dinner time? Or could it have been 'industrial action'!

W. G. LUTON,
Nuneaton.

OUT OF PRINT

Sir,
Thank you for sending me the latest volume of The Carmarthenshire Historian. I'll take this opportunity to ask you whether it is possible to get Volumes Nos. 1, 2 and 4, and to congratulate you on the excellent and interesting annual publications. Diolch.

M. E. EVANS,
St. Leonards-on-Sea,
East Sussex.

(Unfortunately, Vols. I to V are now out of print. Other volumes are available, though some are low in stock. — Editor).

GLYNHIR AND THE Du BUISSONS

Sir,
I understand that the The Carmarthenshire Historian, in Volume X, gave details of a certain Thomas Jenkins of Llandeilo. Apparently Thomas Jenkins was well-renowned for his woodwork and it seems that he carried out certain repairs to the house of Glynhir, Llandybie, which was my family home from 1770. Part of the house dates from the Queen Anne period and part was built during the Napoleonic Wars.

I am, at present, collecting material for a history of my family, which would also include Glynhir, and I would therefore be very grateful to obtain a copy of the publication mentioned above.

W. A. Du BUISSON,
Holmbury St. Mary,
Surrey.

(The reference is to Thomas Jenkins (1813-71), whose remarkable diary, kept between 1826 and 1870, was published in abridged form under the title 'The Footprints of a Master Craftsman'. — Editor).

ARTHUR MEE'S MARRIAGE

Sir,
I refer to the ninth in the series on Carmarthenshire historians, in Vol. XIV of The Carmarthenshire Historian, namely Arthur Mee (1860-1926).

During research into the registers of Capel Ifan Church, which stands outside the village of Pontyberem, I came across the entry recording the marriage of Arthur Mee, 27, Bachelor, Journalist, 8 Mina Street, Llanelly, the son of George Samuel Mee, Journalist, and Claudia Thomas, 31, Spinster, Pontyates, the daughter of David Thomas, Cooper. The marriage was solemnized on 22nd September 1888 at the Church of St. John, commonly known as Capel Ifan, and was the first to take place there after the church was assigned to the Parish of Holy Trinity, Felinfoel, following parish reorganization. Previously, the church was in the Parish of Llanelly, as the entry in the register, immediately before that of Mee's marriage, shows.

The old church of St. John (Capel Ifan) was licensed for marriages in 1837, whereas the new church of St. John in the village of Pontyberem was licensed in 1897. When the new ecclesiastical parish of Pontyberem was formed in 1934, the Vicar was directed by the Registrar General that in future the old church should be described as St. John (Capel Ifan), Pontyberem, and the new church as St. John, Pontyberem, which thus became a parish church. The first marriage in the old Capel Ifan Church after the formation of Pontyberem Parish took place on 4th August 1934.

A. D. G. WILLIAMS,
Secretary, Gwendraeth Valleys Historical Society
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