St. Mary's Church

Visit North Wales, Sacred Doorways, Churches & Chapels, Rural Conwy

Journey through the Sacred Doorways of rural Conwy. Explore the stories of our heritage, discover our architectural treasures, and experience the tranquility that is unique to our rural Churches and Chapels.

Follow the trail of the Welsh Princes; discover why Wordsworth spent time here; speculate on whether some of the church rafters are really from the Spanish Armada; and immerse yourself in our fabulous welsh tales and legends.

This exciting new project, supported by Conwy CBC's Rural Development Plan, is creating a trail which links 20 churches and chapels across rural Conwy. If you live locally, or are planning a holiday in North Wales, visit the nearest Tourist Information Centre or our website: sacreddoorways.co.uk (going online soon).

The Churches involved in the project this year are:
Llangelynnin; Rowen; Caerhun; Trefriw; Dolgarrog; Llanrychwyn; Llanbedr-y-Cennin; Capel Curig; Betws-y-Coed (St Marys & St Michaels); Llanrwst; Llanddoged; Llanrhos; Gwydir Uchaf; Gwtherin; Penmachno; Dolwyddelan; Ysbyty Ifan; Pentrefoelas; Cerrigydrudion; and Llanfihangel GM.

Ancient Chapels and Churches in Wales

Conwy Walls Walk

A walk around the castle walls in Conwy.

St Celynin's Well at Llangelynin Old Church

A peep at St Celynin's Well in North Wales, about four miles south west from Conwy.

Celebration - St John's Barmouth 28th August 2011 part 2

Sunday morning Celebration service from St John's in Barmouth, Wales. Broadcast on 28th August 2011

Wool industry in Wales | Wikipedia audio article

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:



00:02:12 1 Process
00:04:12 2 Prehistoric to early medieval times
00:06:36 3 Medieval period
00:11:39 4 Foreign trade
00:16:16 5 Industrial era
00:16:26 5.1 North Wales
00:19:16 5.2 Mid-Wales
00:24:16 5.3 South Wales
00:27:56 6 Today
00:28:57 7 See also



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I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
- Socrates


SUMMARY
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The woollen industry in Wales was at times the country's most important industry, though it often struggled to compete with the better-funded woollen mills in the north of England, and almost disappeared during the 20th century. There is continued demand for quality Welsh woollen products.
Wool processing includes removing the fleece by shearing, classing the wool by quality, untangling, carding and spinning it into yarn, which may be knitted or woven into cloth, then finishing the cloth by fulling, napping and pressing.
Spinning and weaving of sheep's wool dates to prehistoric times in Wales, but only became an important industry when Cistercian monasteries were established in the 12th century.
Water-powered fulling mills to finish the cloth enabled rapid expansion of the industry in the 13th century, although spinning and weaving continued to be a cottage industry.
In the early 16th century production shifted from south Wales to mid and north Wales. The Shrewsbury Drapers Company in England took a dominant role in distributing Welsh cloth. From the 18th century there was strong demand for cheap, sturdy Welsh material shipped from Bristol, Liverpool or the Welsh ports to clothe slaves in the British colonies of North America and the West Indies.
During the Industrial Revolution the Welsh woollen industry was slow to mechanize compared to the mills of northern England. When railways reached mid Wales in the 1860s they brought a flood of cheap mass-produced products that destroyed the local industry. However, development of the South Wales Coalfield opened a growing market for woollen products from water-powered mills in the south west, which prospered until after World War I. At one time there were more than 300 working wool mills. The industry went into steady decline after World War I, and only a few mills continue to operate.

Cadfael

Brother Cadfael is the main fictional character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name Ellis Peters. The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England, in the first half of the 12th century. The historically accurate stories are set between about 1135 and about 1145, during The Anarchy, the destructive contest for the crown of England between King Stephen and Empress Maud.
As a character, Cadfael combines the curious mind of a scientist/pharmacist with a knight-errant. He entered the cloister in his forties after being both a soldier and a sailor; this worldly experience gives him an array of talents and skills useful in monastic life. He is a skilled observer of human nature, inquisitive by nature, energetic, a talented herbalist, and has an innate, although modern, sense of justice and fair-play. Abbots call upon him as a medical examiner, detective, doctor, and diplomat. His worldly knowledge, although useful, gets him in trouble with the more doctrinaire characters of the series, and the seeming contradiction between the secular and the spiritual worlds forms a central and continuing theme of the stories.


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