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Newcastle Emlyn History Society

Old Library

Market Hall

Market Square

Newcastle Emlyn

SA38 9AQ

 

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Hanes Emlyn

 

Town Bridge 1790

 

Market Hall

 

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About Us

 

Hanes Emlyn was formed after a public meeting in the Church Hall, Newcastle Emlyn on Thursday April 29th 1999. The initial aim was to prepare an exhibition to be called “Emlyn 1900–2000” to celebrate the new millennium.

That exhibition was held in August 2000 and attracted well over 1200 people during the two weeks.

 

Ken Jones, the exhibition co-ordinator had over 800 photographs lent to him by townspeople to build up the archive. Today that total stands at around 2000 and photographs are still appearing.

 

Apart from the exhibition which is on-running the society has several further aims, one of which is to establish a Heritage Centre to act as a focus for the study of local history and to gather, preserve and display material relevant to the area. Another is to further interest in local history by putting on talks and arranging visits to places of local interest.

We are often asked to carry out research into either properties or people and we find the local Trade Directories and Census extremely useful.

We have been gifted many things during our short life, one of the most interesting being day-books for a local ironmongers spanning over 50 years and we have on display the 1907 Town Band big drum, in need of restoration, gifted by James Jones of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA .

We havehad sight of an inn sign from the town that had been used to repair a loft floor. A bit of research showed that it was dated around 1875. Last summer an earthenware wine jar was excavated intact by a JCB, from a garden in the town. This had belonged to Evan Williams a wine and spirit merchant in the main street.

During the same week we were loaned an advertising card for 1873, for the same merchant but also added that he sold tea, was a seedsman and a chemist. Diversification was nothing new even then.

We rely heavily on Local Record Offices and reference libraries for a lot of research and there is no better place to while away a day than Ceredigion Record Office in Aberystwyth perusing the Tivyside or Carmarthen Reference Library for the Carmarthen Journal, the Welshman or the Times which had great accounts of the Rebecca Riots.

 

We have several new projects in the pipeline and a full complement of speakers until May 2003.