Visit to Llandudno Museum

On July 18th, 14 members of Deganwy History Group visited Llandudno Museum. The Museum has benefited from a large Heritage Lottery grant of over £800,000, which they very successfully matched to develop the Museum, with work completed in 2019. It is now the only accredited Museum in Conwy county and as there is not one in Gwynedd they are entertaining many school groups from both counties.

The museum staff were incredibly welcoming, with lots of smiles and help when we arrived. We were very fortunate to be escorted round by Philip Evans and Judith Philips. They are both Trustees and very well respected members of our ‘local history’ community.

We started with Philip in the lower gallery which shows the development of Llandudno. There is a case of memorabilia with an elegant silver cup from Wartski’s of Llandudno.

We were shown two metal badges. One was a license badge granted to a ‘Donkey driver’, in allowing a ‘fit and proper person to conduct donkey rides on the beach’. The other was a Town Porter’s authorisation badge enabling the licensee ‘to ply for hire carrying luggage and parcels around the town.’ The Council published a list of rates for carrying between the various locations in the town.

Llandudno became an important retail site. There was mention of a number of retailers, Bunneys, (still called Bunneys corner by the older locals) and of course Wartski and an early Marks & Spencer store opened in 1932 on Mostyn Street. There was a Temperance Cocoa house, now the site of the ‘Town House’.

Queen Elizabeth of Roumania came to Llandudno, staying at the Hydro Hotel for five weeks in 1890. Having been thanked for her visit, she wrote back saying that Llandudno was a ‘beautiful haven of peace’. This was translated into Welsh and became the motto of the town and that of Llandudno Town Council, becoming ‘Hardd, Hafan, Hedd’. A number of roads in Llandudno are called after her: Carmen Sylva Road, (Carmen Sylva being the Queen’s nom-de-plume for her artistic compositions), Roumania Crescent etc.

We next learnt that Llandudno was an important stop for the railways. On the wall is a large nameplate from the steam locomotive ‘Llandudno’. We were told about the tramway, which was a ‘light railway’. There is an original seat which can tip both ways so that you could always face the way the tram was going, or get out of the wind! The pier was a starting point for the many passenger steam ships that left Llandudno for Liverpool and the Isle of Man. The SS Marguerite was very popular for her elegant dining facilities. She was replaced with the SS Tudno which was broken up in 1963.

Judith now took over and told us of the many entertainment venues there were in Llandudno, such as, the Pier Pavilion, the Grand Theatre, the Princess Theatre, the Winter Gardens, the Happy Valley open air theatre, the Arcadia theatre and this does not include the many cinemas. We were told about the visit of the Beatles to the Odeon in Llandudno and so many other stars over the years.
The skeleton of the pre-historic woman, the ‘Lady of the Little Orme’, called ‘Blodwen’ by those who care for her, was on show. She has only fairly recently returned to her home in Wales having spent many years in Bacup in England. She was a woman who had lived on the Little Orme about 5,500 years ago and who had probably died at about the age of 63, maybe of cancer.

We also saw the replica of a horse’s jawbone, which has very intricate carving on it. The original, which was 13,500 years old, was found by Thomas Kendrick in a cave on the Great Orme and is in the British Museum.

A cabinet in the same room contains the Roman artefacts from a dig in 1936 at Kanovium (Caerhun in the Conwy Valley). We saw, amongst other things, oil burners, a gaming board and counters, a small child’s footprint set in the ancient clay and a beautiful small glass blue amphora.

The most recent find in 2018, is some coins found by two metal detectors in a horde in a field locally. They are beautifully arranged in an old display cabinet which had been restored for the treasure. There is one coin with the image of Mark Anthony but there are also other Roman Generals depicted too.

We learnt about the Mostyn family and Deganwy Castle and then went into the ‘War Room’. Llandudno took more than its part during the wars, with men leaving to fight in conflicts from the Boer War onwards. Col. Arnold, whose family owned the store ‘Arnold’s’ on Mostyn Street, showed huge bravery. He served in both the First and Second World Wars, being decorated with the DSO in both. During WW2, the Inland Revenue was based in Llandudno, taking over the hotels and bed and breakfast businesses to accommodate their staff. Llandudno also had the Coastal Artillery School, where Artillery Officers were trained to be trainers. Llandudno is twinned with Wormhout, where during WW2 a mass execution of British soldiers took place in a barn outside the town. A Llandudno man, Richard Parry, was not killed, but injured. He pretended to be dead and survived the ordeal.

We all admired a beautiful model of the Minesweeper HMS Llandudno. She was in service from 1942 to 1945, however she never came in to Llandudno Bay. Her badge is in Llandudno Town Hall.

Tea and biscuits were well received by us all, but another surprise awaited us. The Director of the Museum, Dawn Lancaster, brought in the newest addition to the Museum for us to see, a stone carved head found in Tan y Refail, Deganwy. It is thought that she is dated from the mid-16th Century. A fortuitous find for the house owner who discovered her in their garden!

Thank you to all of the staff and Trustees for an excellent visit. We all learnt something new and enjoyed it immensely. Your knowledge is outstanding and the Museum should be on everyone’s ‘to visit’ list. Thank you!