Welsh Journals

castle, converting it into a noble residence stuffed with antiques and objets d'art of astonishing variety and value'. On the death of his sister it passed to a nephew, Admiral Algernon Walker-Heneage, and after his death was eventually purchased by the University College of Swansea as a hall of residence for students. The book records a slice of Swansea history, refers to the notabilities who visited Clyne, and reflects in words and superb illustrations the charm and elegance of the buildings, the furnishings and the gardens. It is a delightful book written by a meticulous scholar who can write history. R. BRINLEY JONES Llandovery College GWYNEDD ARCHIVES SERVICE BULLETIN, no. 2, 1975, pp. 91, 50p; A. Rhydderch (ed.), Dolgellau. Gwynedd County Council Archives Service 1976. These two books are among the many such publications of the Gwynedd Archives Service which bring to the attention of students of history and the wider community the kinds of records housed at the various records offices within Gwynedd. In this way a commendable attempt is being made to alert the general community to, and arouse its interest in, the happenings and personalities of the past. It is encouraging to see the stress laid on old photographs, for here we have a source which can immediately conjure up the particular flavour and 'feel' of the past in a way no other record can. This increase of historical awareness within the community in turn leads to the deposit of old records which might otherwise have simply disappeared. The 1975 Bulletin covers a wide range of events, drawing from the archives old photographs, private diaries and letters, newspaper cuttings, quarter sessions records, county council minutes, chapel records and the like. Thus, stimulating accounts are provided of Lloyd George's activities at the first year's session of the Caernarvonshire County Council, 1889-90, of the education of workhouse children at the Bangor and Beaumaris Union, 1846-80, of crime and punishment in nineteenth-century Anglesey, of sea-faring and slate-quarrying life, and of life at the gentry mansions and in the nonconformist chapels. Dolgellau, compiled by Anne Rhydderch, splendidly evokes the essential features of the social and economic life of this charmingly unique town during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. We grasp immediately the strongly Welsh nonconformist culture of the place and the great value its inhabitants placed upon education. The reader is reminded, too, of the importance of the woollen industry in the town's history and also of its fair, where the products of the surrounding countryside were bought and sold by farmers and dealers. The use of photographs and press advertise- ments is excellent throughout, although some such source might have been used to show the vital impact of the coming of the railway in the late-1860s on the life and development of the town. DAVID W. HOWELL Swansea