Edward Melville Lawford and his Welsh Holiday 1843
AN ETON SCHOOLBOY VISITS THE AMMAN VALLEY: Diary of a Public Schoolboy (1843) Terry Norman and Nigel Lawford First published in the Carmarthenshire Antiquary Volume XL, 2004, pages 104 - 117 "The country was quite new to us, & the hats of the Welshwomen struck me very much" Those words represent the reaction of a sixteen-year old Eton schoolboy named Edward Melville Lawford on his first visit to Wales on Wednesday 12th April 1843. He spent the rest of the month in this country of quaint hats, most of it in the area around Carreg Cennen Castle, near Llandeilo, and Cross Inn (renamed Ammanford in 1880). More than the hats of Welsh women has changed since 1843, of course, but fortunately for posterity this young Etonian recorded his impressions in a diary. This article is indebted to Mr Nigel Lawford, a modern-day descendant of Melville's brother, Henry, who has kindly made the diary and his account of the family's history available, and it is from these t...