'Nauseating ales' and 'filthy inns'

A view of Llangollen from Pugh's Cambria Depicta, a town where the growth of the tourist industry led to improvements in inns such as The Hand.

The accounts of tours of Wales undertaken by well-to-do Englishmen in the late 18th and early 19th centuries have always been a major source of information for studying early modern Wales. The descriptions of towns and antiquities, regional costumes, customs, industries and the state of communications can prove very helpful and informative. The nature of the inns and hostelries encountered on the travels is yet another aspect full of interesting detail.

A warm Welsh welcome

When J.T. Barber published details of his tour of south Wales in 1803, among the inns at which he and his friend stayed was the Green Dragon at Carmarthen. It was described as 'comfortable', as was the Bridgewater Arms at Pontypridd and the Red Lion at Llanrhystud, which was a 'tolerably decent ale­house'.

However, not all the inns encountered by Barber and his companion provided pleasant memories. On reaching Carew, having got lost, the first inn he tried had no decent accommodation, nor stable for the horses. The second inn had even less, so the travellers returned to the first inn where at least a bed could be had.

'Nauseating ale'

The interior was discoloured, the landlord and his wife looked care-worn, and the meal consisted of hard barley bread and salt butter with 'nauseating ale'. The bed consisted of a bag of straw in a recess in a room the travellers shared with two of the landlord's children. The sheets were very damp, and the exhausted travellers found they were also sharing the room with fleas and rats.

Some of the inns on the main routes taken by the English tourist were excellent, particularly the one at Pile built by the Talbots of Margam. Barber's opinion of this inn was that it 'might be mistaken for a nobleman's seat', and that it catered well for all tourists. Henry Skrine's account of his tours in Wales, published in 1798, also mentions the inn at Pile, stating that it 'rather resembles a palace than an inn'.

North Wales

The Reverend W. Bingley's account of his 1798 tour of north Wales mentions the inn at Caernarfon built by the Earl of Uxbridge, stating that it had good views from its premises and excellent accommodation, and that few establishments in England could rival it.

A guide to the area published in 1827 confirms that this inn, the Uxbridge Arms, was 'large, handsome, and commodious', meeting all the needs of travellers at a reasonable cost. Bingley also refers to the Eagles Inn at Llanrwst as being comfortable and the only place there where post horses were kept. The disadvantage of the inn was that it was too popular, summer tourists making the atmosphere crowded and unpleasant.

It is apparent that the main hostelries on the tourist routes in Wales were, or had become out of necessity, suitable places to stay, notably those on the roads used by travellers heading for Ireland, such as The Hand in Llangollen, described by Bingley as tolerable, but too crowded and with an uncivil landlord. The Reverend G. J. Freeman who toured in the 1820s noticed the considerable changes The Hand had undergone since he had first visited Llangollen a year before Bingley.

Exceptions, such as the inn at Carew, were usually those where the tourist would not be expected to stop; for instance, the town of Tenby would have had the necessary hotels for this area of south-west Wales. However, there were occasions when travellers visiting towns were disappointed in the accommoda­tion that they found.

Filthy Inns

E. D. Clarke visited Haverfordwest in 1791 and commented that he had 'never felt more disposed to quit any place than Haverford', a feeling exacerbated by the filthy state of the inn.

He compared his room to a sty. The sheets were damp, and as the bed had not been changed since the last visitors it was full of sand from people's feet! Worse was to follow, for in the morning Clarke found that his carriage had four horses attached to it, not the two he had requested. He had no alternative but to take all four — 'Any inconvenience was better than staying with Pharaoh and all his host'.

Clarke was not alone in his experience of Haverfordwest, for Henry Penruddocke Wyndham tells a similar tale in his account of his travels made in the 1770s.

The ichthyosaur specimen before conservation (1750 mm by 720 mm by 70 mm)

Ichthyosaur after conservation showing head from separate individuals, and paddle bones set in plaster

Press coverage of the story

Routine conservation of the fossil collections at Amgueddfa Cymru, revealed a specimen that, on first examination, appeared to need a small amount of remedial work. What was to have been a small job turned into a major conservation project which attracted international media interest.

The ichthyosaur

The specimen in question is an ichthyosaur, a marine reptile that lived during the Mesozoic Era, 65-200 million years ago - the same time as the dinosaurs. They are similar to dolphins, with large eyes and distinctive long jaws with sharp teeth and limbs modified into paddles.

The specimen was donated to the old Cardiff Museum in the 1880s and subsequently became part of the National Museum collections. It was originally mounted in plaster with a surrounding wooden frame and then both the plaster and the specimen were painted.

The specimen was restored several times during the twentieth century, and this included new plaster and repainting. A label identified the species as Ichthyosaurus intermedius, collected from Street, Somerset, and described the skeleton as 'the greater part of a small individual preserved with but little disturbance of the bones' — a statement later found to be rather inaccurate.

A detailed investigation of the specimen was undertaken and extensive damage was discovered, with cracks running through it. The plaster and wooden mount were in poor condition so the decision was made to remove all restoration and paint, and to get back to the original skeleton and rock. It was not a decision made lightly because we knew that the whole appearance of the specimen was going to be radically altered.

Revealing the specimen

Removal of the paint layers revealed that the missing ends of the ribs had been moulded in plaster and then painted to match the rest of the specimen, giving the false impression of actual bones.

Study of X-rays taken of the specimen revealed an inconsistency in one section of the spine of the fossil; a dark shadow surrounded the bones. When the paint from this area was removed, it became clear that a channel had been carved in the rock and individual loose bones had been fixed into it with plaster.

Beneath the paint it was discovered that the bones of the single preserved front paddle were also set in plaster. Holes in the surrounding rock suggest areas from which bones may have been removed before being relocated, but it is possible that some bones had been taken from other specimens.

The biggest surprise came when the paint was removed from around the jaw; the rock was a totally different colour and type to the rest of the skeleton. Not only were there at least two individuals involved, but further study proved that the head and body were two entirely different species of icthyosaur! This was a specimen that had been considerably altered by the Victorian preparators.

Re-displaying the conserved fossil

Although the specimen was made up of two different species, it was decided that the head and the body should be kept together as originally intended. The plaster surrounding the paddle and a part of the ribs made from plaster were also left intact. A new light-weight support system was built. Instead of being displayed simply as a museum specimen, this ichthyosaur will be used to highlight the techniques used by some Victorian enthusiasts to 'restore', display and present fossil specimens and how painstaking conservation work today revealed the true nature of our specimen.

Intense media interest was sparked when the Museum announced a public talk on the conservation of the specimen. This resulted in the story being covered in the national and international press in addition to television, radio and the internet, and included a live interview with ABC Radio in Australia!

In 1994, forty pieces of pottery and porcelain were given to Amgueddfa Cymru.  They were the gift of W. J. Grant-Davidson a distinguished historian of the Welsh potteries. Amongst the collection were several unique and important items, manufactured in Swansea in the early 19th century.

The Swansea earthenware tankard by William Weston Young.

Generous gifts

One of the most interesting pieces is a large earthenware tankard. It was made at the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, in the opening years of the 19th century. It is decorated with the head and shoulders of a druid. We can tell from the inscription that this was painted by William Weston Young (1776-1847). The decoration is unique, though Weston Young also painted a plaque with a druid cutting mistletoe (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

William Weston Young

William Weston Young worked at the pottery from 1803 until 1806 as a painter and as assistant to the owner, Lewis Weston Dillwyn. A land surveyor by profession, Weston Young was subsequently a partner in the Nantgarw China Works.

A pictorial puzzle

Other household items in the collection include a milk-pan, egg cups and a jug inscribed 'John Jinken 1793'. There is also a punchbowl decorated with a swan and a pike. This may have been made especially for the Pike family, who came from Dorset and shipped clay to Swansea. An image used as a pun like this is called a rebus.

Pioneer potter

Mr Grant-Davidson was also interested in English ceramics. There are ten examples from the mid 18th century in the collection he gave to the museum. As well as three fine Staffordshire stoneware teapots, there are two documentary pieces of Josiah Wedgwood's creamware. The collection includes one of the four known pieces of manganese decorated creamware, made by the potter Enoch Booth. Made in the first half of the 1740s, these may be the earliest examples of an earthenware body which is one of Britain's principal contributions to ceramic history.

Historian and collector

W. J Grant-Davidson was a distinguished historian of the Welsh potteries. He collected British ceramics from the late Middle Ages to the early 20th century. His best known publications are the article 'Early Swansea Pottery, 1764 - 1810' and the book ‘The Pottery of South Wales’. These feature many pieces from his collection.

Amgueddfa Cymru has a number of pre-1701 books in the Museum's Library, including two incunables (books printed before 1501) of Pliny's writings on natural history from 1481 and 1487.

The cowsip as depicted in Fuchs's De Historia Stirpium

Part of an early German herbal annotated in Welsh and English, once in the possession of Morris Owen.

There are also a number of 16th- and 17th-century 'herbals' in the collection. Among these are examples of the works of three men who have been described as the 'German fathers of botany', namely Hieronymous Bock (1498-1554), Otto Brunfels (1489-1534) and Leonhard Fuchs (1501-1566).

Herbals

Printed herbals give details of plants along with what illness each one could cure. What made the work of these three men stand out in particular is that many of the descriptions and illustrations of the flowers in their books were, on the whole, based on first-hand evidence in the field, and not copied from other writers.

Hieronymous Bock (1498-1554)

As Bock's herbal of 1539 was unillustrated, it forced him to provide detailed and accurate descriptions. The Museum holds a later, illustrated edition, from 1552. Although the opening pages are missing, the main body of the text is complete, along with fine hand-coloured illustrations.

Most of the woodcuts simply show the plants themselves, but occasionally birds and man are shown, such as the rather crude depiction of the effects on eating a fig!

Otto Brunfels (1489-1534)

The work of Otto Brunfels in the Library is the second volume of Herbarum Vivae Eicones (1531). The title translates as 'living picture of plants' and the author was one of the first to turn to nature itself as the source of his illustrations for a book.

Leonhard Fuchs (1501-1566)

The Library holds two books compiled by Fuchs, namely De Historia Stirpium (1542) and Plantarum Effigies (1549). Although only some of the descriptions of the plants are by Fuchs, the majority being taken from other books, it is the quality of the illustrations that makes this herbal one of the great books of the 16th century.

The Plantarum Effigies is a pocket-sized version of the 1542 volume to be used in the field; it has very little text, apart from an index to the plants depicted, and with each woodcut the name of the plant is given in three or more languages, usually five (Greek, Latin, French, Italian and German).

Other great herbals of the same period are housed in the Library of Amgueddfa Cymru, notably the works of Rembert Dodoens (1516-1585) and John Gerard (1545-1612).

Rembert Dodoens (1516-1585)

Dodoens' herbal was published in Flemish in 1554. The Museum holds the first English edition of 1578 translated by Henry Lyte, including new material which Dodoens himself had sent to Lyte for incorporation in the new edition.

John Gerard (1545-1612)

One of the most famous herbals written in English is Gerard's The Herball (1597). Head gardener to many properties in and around the London area, Gerard was also responsible for the gardens of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth l's Secretary of State and Lord Treasurer, and it was to Cecil that Gerard dedicated his great work.

The Library has a copy of the 1633 edition, along with the original work itself.

Other herbals in the collection include an incomplete German example dating to the first half of the 16th century. It was once in the possession of a Morris Owen of Caernarfonshire who added in ink, around 1767, the names of the various plants in Welsh; the English equivalents are also given in most cases.

This book, and the other herbals, remain of great interest to this day, and are examined in particular by those who study the history of botany and pharmacy, as well as by students of the history of the printed book.