The Chapel of Ease at Penllyn – Photographs taken by Edwin Miles of Bridgend

The photographs featured this week are of St John the Evangelist Church at Penllyn. However, when the photographs were taken it was known simply as the Penllyn Chapel of Ease – in essence, a chapel built within the boundaries of a parish for the convenience of those not able to travel easily to the main church.

The chapel is thought to date back to the seventeenth century. By the 1840s, however, it had fallen into disrepair and was described as in a …very unprotected state with …the exterior semblance of a white washed barn. Initial repairs to the boundary walls began on 25 January 1842 to mark the christening of the Prince of Wales. Newspaper reports, however, suggested that the work was soon overtaken by the celebrations with …long life and happiness to the Royal Infant …drunk amidst enthusiastic cheers and firing of guns by the villagers and neighbours collected upon the spot.

The chapel was eventually saved and renovated by John Homfray, who bought Penllyn Castle in 1846. At its reopening, on 13 January 1850, the chapel was praised as having been transformed into a handsome gothic structure with …windows of beautiful stained glass… and …an altar of polished stone. Homfray also laid out the grounds around the chapel with shrubs and evergreens to complement the ornamental gardens at Penllyn Castle.

Renovation of the chapel was one element of a significant programme financed by Homfray that included the construction of the lodge seen in the second photograph, and described as “Tudorbethan” in style. It no doubt suited Homfray and the locals to avoid what was described as …a most inconvenient journey… to the church at Llanfrynach, particularly in the winter months. Major services and funerals, however, would still have been conducted at St Brynach’s. As a result, the paths across the fields, between the chapel and Llanfrynach, had three stone piers at each field boundary so that coffins could be rested while the party crossed the stile.

In dating the photographs, we are fortunate in that the People’s Collection Wales has a postcard version of the picture of the Church and the Lodge. It is thought to have been sent by a member of the Homfray family to a relative in Australia around 1910. The two photographs are, therefore, almost certainly early examples of Edwin Miles’ work and date from 1901 to 1910.

The photographs of Penllyn Chapel and Penllyn Chapel and Lodge can be found at Glamorgan Archives under references D261/M402 and M410. We plan to feature more photographs from the Edwin Miles collection over the coming months. The main collection can be seen at Glamorgan Archives or online in the catalogue at http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/ under reference D261. The postcard held in the People’s Collection Wales can be seen by searching for “Edwin Miles” at www.peoplescollection.wales.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer

The Nash Point Lighthouses: The Last of their Kind in Wales – Photographs taken by Edwin Miles of Bridgend

The scenes in the photographs selected this week will be familiar to many who walk the coastal paths of South Wales and enjoy the beach and view at Nash Point. They are pictures of the lighthouses that have provided shipping with a warning of the dangers of the Nash Sands for 190 years.

The construction of the two lighthouses was a response to one of the worst disasters in the Bristol Channel when, on the night of 17 March 1831, the paddle steamer Frolic, with 78 crew and passengers, sank in a storm off Nash Point. Building work began later the same year, with the lighthouses completed in just under 12 months. The lanterns were first lit on 1 September 1832 and could be seen for over twenty miles.

If you look closely at the photographs you can see several changes made over the years. The most obvious is perhaps the loss of the black and white banding on the larger tower that is quite prominent in the photographs. In addition, the shorter lighthouse in the photographs still has its upper layer and lantern. The original design had the two lighthouses working in unison to provide ships with warning of the dangers off Nash Point. In the 1920s, when this was no longer necessary, the lantern in the smaller lighthouse was decommissioned, and removed some thirty years later in 1955.

The third photograph is another well-known sight, the Fog Siren positioned between the two lighthouses.

This was a relatively late addition. Notice was first given to mariners in December 1903 that the siren was operational and would give four blasts every 90 seconds during poor visibility. Although it proved an invaluable boon to shipping, it may well have received a more circumspect reception from local residents in earshot of the siren. The siren is still tested every month but is no longer in general use.

The Nash Point lighthouses have a notable “first” and “last” in their records. In 1924 Nash Point was the first lighthouse in Britain to successfully test the use of a wireless beacon installed by the Marconi company to aid navigation. Seventy-four years later Nash Point was the last lighthouse in Wales to have a lighthouse keeper. It was, therefore, the last of its kind. Since 5 August 1998, the lighthouse has been fully automated with the light monitored and controlled by the Trinity House team in Harwich, Essex.

Placing a date on when Edwin Miles took the photographs is difficult. Our best guess is that it was in the decade from 1904 to 1914, but it could possibly have been in the 1920s. The key probably lies in identifying whether the Marconi aerial erected in 1924 can be seen in the photographs. If there are any lighthouse sleuths out there who can help with this, please let us know.

The Nash Point lighthouses continue to play their role helping mariners navigate the South Wales coast, but they have also acquired new functions. You can hire one of the former lighthouse keepers’ cottages for a holiday break. There is also a visitor centre, and you can even hold weddings in the lighthouse. Who knows, possibly you could arrange for the newlyweds to be greeted with four blasts from the siren rather than the traditional bells!

The photographs of the Nash Point lighthouses and the Fog Siren taken by Edwin Miles can be found under references D261/M143-M145. Glamorgan Archives also holds additional material on the lighthouses, including the Trinity House Records for both Nash Point and Flatholm for 1958 to 1998 (ref. D576).

We plan to feature more photographs from the Edwin Miles collection over the coming months. The main collection can be seen at Glamorgan Archives or online in the catalogue at http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/ under reference D261.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer