Rhyl
Rhyl maps (2 available)
Map of Clwyd
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Rhyl memories
Read and share memories of Rhyl and Clwyd inspired by Frith photos
Days Out
We would visit Rhyl quite frequently when my daughters were growing up. We enjoyed walking along the Promenade and occasionally going into the Amusement Arcades.
Contributed by Brenda Vanderwert
At the Skating Rink
I have a copy of this postcard and believe my sister and I are skating in the bottom left corner of the picture (unfortunately under the Frith logo on the image). The gentleman in the grey jacket leaning on the railings watching I believe to be my late father. Happy days! We were born in Rhyl and lived there until I was 10 years old. I still visit often but sadly the town is much changed - most of the beautiful prom is long gone - including the rink. However Rhyl still feels like home to me.
Contributed by Ann Hayes
Clwyd memories
Days Out
We would visit Rhyl quite frequently when my daughters were growing up. We enjoyed walking along the Promenade and occasionally going into the Amusement Arcades.
A memory of Rhyl contributed by Brenda Vanderwert
At the Skating Rink
I have a copy of this postcard and believe my sister and I are skating in the bottom left corner of the picture (unfortunately under the Frith logo on the image). The gentleman in the grey jacket leaning on the railings watching I believe to be my late father. Happy days! We were born in Rhyl and lived there until I was 10 years old. I still visit often but sadly the town is much changed - most of the beautiful prom is long gone - including the rink. However Rhyl still feels like home to me.
A memory of Rhyl contributed by Ann Hayes
Extracts From Rhyl & Clwyd books
The seafront itself is a noisy bustle of amusements, and has been for generations, providing seaside fun for the many. This early picture was probably taken to mark the pier’s opening in 1867, a time when the possession of such a structure was indispensable to a seaside resort. A poster on the pier pavilion proclaims that ‘Chris Reynolds and his Splendid Band’ are playing tonight. The pier was demolished in 1972.
An extract from from"North Wales Photographic Memories".
This is how a guide to seaside resorts of 1895 described Rhyl: ‘Not many years ago there was no town here at all, but merely a few fishermen’s huts upon the shore. The sands, which are extensive enough to give the full benefit of ozone to those who avail themselves of its health-giving properties, form an excellent bathing-ground, entirely free from danger. Hence Rhyl has become noted for the number of children that visit it, and these little ones find an inexhaustible fund of pleasure on its beach.
An extract from from"Times Gone By".
This is how a guide to seaside resorts of 1895 described Rhyl: ‘Not many years ago there was no town here at all, but merely a few fishermen’s huts upon the shore. The sands, which are extensive enough to give the full benefit of ozone to those who avail themselves of its health-giving properties, form an excellent bathing-ground, entirely free from danger. Hence Rhyl has become noted for the number of children that visit it, and these little ones find an inexhaustible fund of pleasure on its beach.
An extract from from"Countryside Poems".
Donkeys are awaiting the arrival of the day’s holidaymakers on the beach. A fisherwoman in a tall hat stands behind the donkey boys and their mounts. The Victoria Pier behind them cost £23,000 to build in 1867; in 1891 a grand pavilion was built at the entrance, capable of seating 2,500 people, and one of the largest organs in Britain was installed behind the stage. Rhyl Sands are famous as a great windy expanse of beach facing into Liverpool Bay. They were painted with vigour by David Cox in 1854, and were the inspiration in the 1870s for Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem ‘The Sea and the Skylark’.
An extract from from"North Wales Photographic Memories".
Rhyl is famous for its great windy expanse of beach facing Liverpool Bay. Here, donkey boys and their mounts are awaiting the arrival of the day's holidaymakers on the beach, watched by a fisherwoman in a tall hat. She would wander the sands hawking freshly-caught cockles and other shell-fish to the visitors.
An extract from from"Welsh Address Book".