Quest For Great Grandparents

A Memory of Llangedwyn.

I visited Llangedwyn church graveyard on 24 August 2009 with my cousin Gillian Harrington, nee Phillips, in search of the grave of our great grandparents, David and Mary Jane Phillips, who died in 1935 and 1945 respectively, before either of us were born.

We located the grave and also the grave of Ernest Phillips, who we think was also a family member. Our grandfather Walter Phillips, the son of David and Mary Jane, left Llangedwyn in around 1913/14, in his twenties, and moved to Hulme, Manchester in search of work. He met and married Emily Booth and they had two children, William (Gillian's father), and Edith (my mother).

Walter struggled to adapt to life in Manchester, but family folklore is that, when he did occasionally visit the Llangedwyn area subsequently, he was a different person, happy, chirpy and content. Walter died in 1965, and Emily in 1970.

Having experienced what a beautiful, peaceful and special place the whole Llangedwyn area is, it is impossible not to reflect with both sadness and admiration on Walter's struggles to adapt, given the enormous contrast with what industrial Manchester before World War One must have been like.

Many made a parallel journey around that time, from areas of outstanding rural beauty and tranquility to the very heartland of textile sweatshops, polluting factories and severe urban deprivation. We should respect their fortitude greatly, and be grateful that we in the baby-boomers generation have been spared anything that remotely compares to such a huge challenge.

A most enjoyable day and revealing glimpse into the past.

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