Abergavenny, Gwent

Town Hall

I think this a picture of Abergavenny Town Hall, but am not sure. When we were staying in Abergavenny we lived outside, in Albany Road, on the way to the Rholben and the Deri, which we often climbed and as we didn't go into the town awfully much, only when my mother needed something, I have only vague memories of it. My great-grandfather Williams was Mayor of Abergavenny in 1905, and he wrote an autograph in my grandmother's album, which I still have. My mother's mother's family originally came from Abergavenny, which is why my grandparents went to live there after my mother married in 1934.

Churchgoing in the 40's

My grandparents lived in Abergavenny since 1934 in a beautiful dressed stone house called Maisemore in Albany Road, and every summer after the war my family and I went to stay with them for a month, that is, until my grandfather died in March 1950, when this happy time came to an end. During the war my mother, brother and I were evacuated there, as our home was in Sunderland, which was a target for bombs, and if my grandparents hadn't taken us in, they would have had to put up evacuees from Cardiff. We used to go to this church in Llanwenarth on Sundays, and I can remember having to be taken out during the service one Sunday in 1949 because I wasn't feeling well.

Favourite outing

My family and I often walked to the River Usk, going down Pentre Road and crossing the Brecon Road. We used to have picnics on the side nearest St. Mary's church in Llanwenarth, and look in the water for tiny fish and insects. I particularly liked the flowers I found in the meadows nearby and picked large bunches to take back to my grandparents' house. On the banks grew quantities of a flower I now know to be called "Jumping Jack, "Touch-me-not" or "policeman's helmet", but which I called a "netflower". At one point there was a chain ferry, with a sort of flat punt-like boat, and it was fun crossing the river in it.

Frogmore Cafe

My parents Monica and Jack Garrett ran the Frogmore Cafe from 1954 until 1978 when it became a dry cleaners when  they then sold it to Sketchleys in 1980. I was their only son Richard.

Monmouthshire Photographic Memories

A panoramic view of the area, with Abergavenny in the somewhat hazy distance. Note the railway sweeping round towards the church in the centre of the picture.

Around Alton Photographic Memories

Here, from the Brecknock & Abergavenny Canal of 1812, Abergavenny can be seen in the distance. Between the new cemetery in the centre and the allotments and houses to the right, the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny railway line, opened in 1862, begins its climb of 1000ft to Brynmawr, a mere eight miles away.

Around Alton Photographic Memories

To the Romans the river was Isca, ‘a river renowned for its fish’. Certainly it is much loved by fishermen. The river has also been a popular play area for local children, as this late Victorian scene shows. Beyond the town, in the background, is the Little Skirrid mountain, the top of which is not quite as wooded as it is today.