Showing 2 results

Archival description
Only top-level descriptions File Cadair Idris (Wales)
Print preview View:

Journals of tours of Wales and Devon

  • NLW MS 24067A
  • File
  • 1812-1813

A volume containing journals of tours through parts of Wales, [27] July-11 August 1812 (ff. 1-45), and along the South Devon coast, 9-[20] August 1813 (ff. 46-71), by W[illiam] Evill of 12 Devonshire Buildings, Bath.
The Welsh tour consists of a journey from the New Passage, Monmouthshire, through Abergavenny, Brecon and Rhayader to Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, northwards through Talyllyn, Harlech, Maentwrog and Bala, all Merionethshire, on to Llangollen, then south through Shropshire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, crossing the River Severn at the Old Passage. The Devon tour consists of a journey from Bath, via Glastonbury and Exeter, to Plymouth, Devon, followed by the journey along the coast from Teignmouth, Devon, to Weymouth, Dorset. The writer describes becoming lost on the roads to and from Builth Wells (ff. 8 verso-11), climbing Cader Idris (ff. 19-21), the rivalry of innkeepers in Barmouth (f. 23 recto-verso), the sights of Llangollen (ff. 30-33), and visits to Mount Edgcumbe, Cornwall (ff. 54 verso-56 verso), Devonport Royal Dockyard (ff. 57-59) and the partly completed Plymouth Breakwater (f. 59 recto-verso). There are also a few comments on French prisoners seen at Abergavenny (f. 7) and Oswestry (f. 34). Three hand-drawn maps showing the itinerary of the tours have been tipped into the volume (ff. 2 verso, 16, 47 verso). Engravings depicting English and Welsh views have been pasted into the volume; a minority of these relate to the tours (ff. i verso, 3, 43, 45 recto-verso, 72).

Evill, William, 1790-1877

Tours of England and Wales

  • NLW MS 24097B
  • File
  • 1835-1837

Tour journal, 1835-1837, of Joseph Gurney Barclay, banker and astronomer, containing accounts of tours of parts of England, 1836, and of North Wales, 1837.
The English tour, 16 March-7 April 1836 (pp. 1-33), consists of Barclay's journey from London, via Matlock and Wakefield, to Darlington, mostly in the company of his second cousin Samuel Gurney, mainly to visit members of their extended, interlinked families of fellow Quaker bankers and philanthropists, the Leatham family in Wakefield, including the brothers William Henry and [John] Arthington Leatham (pp. 14-24), and the Backhouse and Pease families in Darlington, notably Jonathan Backhouse and Joseph Pease, MP (pp. 26-31). On the Welsh tour, 26 [recte 25] July-[9] August 1837 (pp. 33-106), Barclay travelled with his father and four sisters in a Britzka from London to Gloucestershire, explored the lower Wye Valley (pp. 45-47), then journeyed north via Brecon, Rhayader, Aberystwyth, Machynlleth, Dolgellau, Harlech, Tremadog, Llanberis, Bangor and Beaumaris, ending in Conway (pp. 103-106). Barclay describes the scenery of Matlock, Derbyshire (pp. 6-9); a visit to the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton at Walton Hall, Wakefield (pp. 16-19); a railway journey from Darlington to Middlesbrough with his uncle, Joseph Pease (pp. 29-30); a visit to Devil's Bridge, Cardiganshire (pp. 53-57); the ascent of Cader Idris (pp. 61-69) and an excursion to see waterfalls on the River Mawddach (pp. 70-77), both in the company of local guide Robert Pugh; and the ascent of Snowdon (pp. 93-97). Also included is a short account of the wildlife of Wales, as described to him by Robert Pugh (pp. 169-172). A small pen and ink sketch of the summit of Snowdon is on p. 95. An almanac for 1835 is bound into the volume (pp. 181-196, inverted text).

Barclay, Joseph Gurney, 1816-1898