New Quay

Until the early 19th century, New Quay consisted of a few thatched cottages surrounded by agricultural land, the natural harbour providing a safe mooring for fishing boats and a few small trading vessels. The New Quay Harbour Act was passed in 1834 and a stone pier was constructed at a cost of £4,700. Trading activity increased and new houses were built as economic migrants arrived. As shipbuilding started up, the town increased in size with the construction of terraced housing up the slopes of the sheltered bay.Jenkins, J. Geraint. Ceredigion: Interpreting an Ancient County. Gwasg Careg Gwalch (2005) p. 63.

By the 1840s, more than three hundred men were employed in building ships in three centres: New Quay itself; Traethgwyn, a bay just to the north; and Cei-bach, a pebble beach further north below a wooded cliff. Here were constructed not only smacks and schooners for sailing along the coast, but also larger vessels for sailing to the Americas and Australia. At that time, as well as shipwrights, New Quay had half a dozen blacksmith shops, three sail makers, three ropeworks and a foundry. Most of the men of the town were mariners or employed in occupations linked with the sea.Jenkins, J. Geraint. Ceredigion: Interpreting an Ancient County. Gwasg Careg Gwalch (2005) pg. 64. Several of the old warehouses remain, having been put to new uses. Lengths of chain, metal rings and capstans, and a list of tolls for exports and imports can still be seen outside the harbourmaster's office.

By 1870, shipbuilding had ceased at New Quay but most of the men living there still went to sea. There were navigation schools in the town and many of the last square riggers that sailed the world were captained by New Quay men. Between 1850 and 1927, the Board of Trade issued 1,380 Merchant Master and Mate certificates to New Quay men compared, for example, with 21 certificates to Laugharne men and five to Ferryside men.Data from the National Maritime Museum, and available on Ancestry online, and reproduced at [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/Llareggub-and-the-1939-war-register?authuser=0 Llareggub 1939 War Register]

In 1907, a local newspaper noted that “New Quay... has more retired sea captains living in it than any other place of its own size in Wales.”Cambrian News 12 July 1907

At the 1939 War Register, there were 58 sailors living in New Quay (of whom 30 were master mariners), compared with four living in Laugharne and one in Ferryside.58 sailors active and retired. Data from the 1939 War Register and available online at Findmypast and reproduced at [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/Llareggub-and-the-1939-war-register?authuser=0 Llareggub and the 1939 War Register]

The New Quay historian, S.C. Passmore, has noted the “zeal for learning” that was present in New Quay. This was reflected in the opening of a Newspaper Reading Room in 1854, later incorporating a Lloyds Lending Library.S.C. Passmore (2012) Farmers and Figureheads: the Port of New Quay and its Hinterland, pp57 and 111, Grosvenor.

One of the first guides for tourists was published in 1885 by the Welsh Press: Guide to New Quay: Being a short description of New Quay as a Watering-place.Passmore op.cit. p110

The 1904-1905 Welsh revival began in New Quay.For helpful overviews of New Quay’s three chapels and two churches, see R. Bryan (2012) New Quay: A History in Pictures, pp77-83, Llanina Books and W. J. Lewis (1987) New Quay and Llanarth, pp28-31, Aberystwyth. The three chapels are Bethel, Tabernacle and Towyn; the two churches are Llanllwchaearn Church at the top of the town and St. Ina Church at Llanina on the eastern end of the bay.

Coronation Gardens, at the bottom of the town next to the pier, were created in 1911 to mark the coronation of George V.

A Memorial Hall was built on Towyn Road in 1925 in memory of those killed in the First World War.[https://nqmh.org.uk/?page_id=15 Memorial Hall Information]

Pupils from the London Nautical School were evacuated to New Quay during the 1939-1945 War, and billeted around the town in residents’ homes and hotels.[https://www.lns.org.uk/home/heritage-information-and-news/heritage/ Nautical School website]. See also a letter from Dylan Thomas to Donald Taylor, 26 October 1944, in the Collected Letters of Dylan Thomas in which he notes he had been asked to find films for the pupils. There is an extended online description, with photos, of the School’s time in New Quay in the School magazine.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lns.org.uk/assets/2020_2021_LNS-Content_Folders/Navigate/Navigate-November-2020_1A_1.pdf|title=Navigate, December 2020 pp11-13}}

There were 877 residents in New Quay shown on the Register of Electors in May 1945. Of these, 587 were women and 290 were men, figures that partly reflect the number of New Quay men, most of them sailors, who were killed in the First and Second World Wars.See [https://ww1.wales/ceredigion-memorials/new-quay-war-memorial New Quay War Memorial].

The post-war history of New Quay is largely that of the emergence of the town as an attractive holiday destination.

File:New Quay Memorial Hall, Ceredigion - geograph.org.uk - 5831659.jpg

There are two tiers of local government covering New Quay, at community (town) and county level: New Quay Town Council (Cyngor Tref Cei Newydd) and Ceredigion County Council (Cyngor Sir Ceredigion). The town council meets at the Memorial Hall on Towyn Road.{{cite web |title=About us |url=https://new-quaytowncouncil.co.uk/en/about-us/ |website=New Quay Town Council |access-date=29 December 2024}}

New Quay historically formed part of the parish of Llanllwchaiarn. A New Quay local government district was created in 1869, covering New Quay plus the old village of Llanllwchaiarn around the parish church, but excluding the more rural parts of the parish.{{London Gazette|issue=23476|page=1517|date=5 March 1869}} Such local government districts were converted into urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894.{{cite book |title=Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire and South Wales |date=1895 |pages=552–553 |url=https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/337915/rec/7 |access-date=29 December 2024}} The 1894 Act also directed that parishes could no longer straddle district boundaries, and so a new civil parish of New Quay was created matching the urban district, and the parish of Llanllwchaiarn was reduced to just cover the parts outside the urban district, despite Llanllwchaiarn village itself being within the New Quay urban district and parish.{{cite web |title=Diagram of Cardiganshire showing administrative areas, 1899 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/241241701 |website=National Library of Scotland |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=29 December 2024}}{{cite web |title=New Quay Urban District |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10288034 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=29 December 2024}}

New Quay Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. A community called New Quay was created instead, covering the area of the abolished urban district. District-level functions passed to Ceredigion District Council, which was in turn replaced in 1996 by Ceredigion County Council.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70|accessdate=6 October 2022}}{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government (Wales) Act 1994|year=1994|chapter=19|accessdate=9 October 2022}}

Key attractions for holidaymakers include the harbour and sandy beaches, as well as opportunities such as boat trips to see the population of bottlenose dolphins that lives in Cardigan Bay. The town has a heritage centre and marine wildlife centre. The outskirts of the town feature many large holiday parks and caravan sites.

The annual Cardigan Bay Regatta, usually in August, has been conducted since at least the 1870s. Events now include inshore sports (swimming, rowing, etc.) and dinghy and cruiser racing.{{cite web | url = http://www.nqyc.co.uk/regatta.html | title = Cardigan Bay Regatta in its 126th year | publisher = New Quay Yacht Club | access-date = 4 February 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120208053823/http://www.nqyc.co.uk/regatta.html | archive-date = 8 February 2012 | url-status = dead }}

There are beach walks and cliff walks along the coastal path, south to Llangrannog and north to Aberaeron.

The National Trust's Llanerchaeron estate is nearby,{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/llanerchaeron|title=Llanerchaeron | Ceredigion | Wales|website=National Trust}} as is the 18th century Ty Glyn Walled Garden in Ciliau Aeron. Less than an hour's drive away is the Neolithic Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber,{{Cite web|url=https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/pentre-ifan-burial-chamber|title=Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber | Cadw|website=cadw.gov.wales}} as well as the Castell Henllys Iron Age Village.{{Cite web|url=https://www.visitwales.com/attraction/historic-site/castell-henllys-iron-age-village-2042269|title=Castell Henllys Iron Age Village | VisitWales|website=www.visitwales.com}} Restored steam trains on the Vale of Rheidol Railway leave from nearby Aberystwyth,{{Cite web|url=https://www.rheidolrailway.co.uk/|title=What to do in Aberystwyth, Devils Bridge Wales, Vale of Rheidol Railway|website=Vale of Rheidol Railway}} on the scenic route to Devil’s Bridge.{{Cite web|url=https://devilsbridgefalls.co.uk/|title=Devils Bridge Falls|date=6 December 2016}}

As well as shops, restaurants and pubs, New Quay has a large primary school, a doctors' surgery, a small branch of the county library service, a fire station and a Memorial Hall.[https://ceredigionhalls.org.uk/directory/listing/neuadd-goffa-cei-newyddnew-quay-memorial-hall Memorial Hall website] There is also a public park at the top of New Quay next to the tennis court. New Quay Bowling Club is on Francis Street, at the top of the town. New Quay Golf Club first appeared in 1909, but closed in the 1920s.[http://www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/wales-64/1067-new-quay-golf-club-ceredigion "New Quay Golf Club"], "Golf's Missing Links". The nearest golf club today is Cardigan Golf Club.

In addition to the hospitality industry, there is still significant employment in sea fishing and fish processing.

New Quay Lifeboat Station, operated by the RNLI, houses two lifeboats: a Mersey class named Frank and Lena Clifford of Stourbridge in dedication to its main benefactors and an inshore inflatable D class.{{cite web|url=http://www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/west/stations/NewQuayCardiganshire/fleet|title=New Quay Fleet|publisher=RNLI|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928024245/http://www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/west/stations/NewQuayCardiganshire/fleet|archive-date=28 September 2008}} In 2014 the station celebrated 150 years of service, during which period it made 940 callouts.{{cite news|publisher=Wales Online|title=New Quay RNLI mark 150 years of service|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/new-quay-rnli-mark-150-7030219|access-date=4 July 2014}}R. Bryan (2014) The New Quay Lifeboats: 150 Years of Service and Courage, Llanina Books.

Public transport is provided by regular bus services to Aberaeron, Cardigan and Aberystwyth. The town has never had a train service, as schemes to open routes to Cardigan or Newcastle Emlyn were abandoned in the 1860s, and that from the Aberaeron to Lampeter branch line (the Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway) was never completed due to the First World War.

Dylan and Caitlin Thomas lived in New Quay from 4 September 1944 until July 1945,The dates are evident from Thomas' letters. renting a cliff-top bungalow called Majoda - there's a photograph here:

For photographs of Majoda, see [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/majoda-and-other-photos?authuser=0 Majoda photos]. There is an architect's drawing of the room plan of Majoda made in 1945 in D.N. Thomas (2002) The Dylan Thomas Trail, p98, Y Lolfa

It stood, said Thomas, “in a really wonderful bit of the bay, with a beach of its own. Terrific.” P. Ferris (ed.) (2000) The Collected Letters: Dylan Thomas, p. 581, and also see pp.582 and 583, Dent. Made of wood and asbestos, Majoda's facilities were basic: it had no mains electricity, gas or water, and the lavatory and a water tap were both outside.There is a more detailed description of Majoda and its facilities in D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, pp97-100, Seren. Thomas also

refers to his "wood-and-asbestos pagoda" in his letter-poem of 1 September 1944 in the Collected Letters. It was, wrote Caitlin, "cheaply primitive,"C. Thomas (1986) Caitlin: Life with Dylan Thomas, p.89, Secker and Warburg, and they were there during one of the coldest Cardiganshire winters on record.D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, p98, Seren.

There were several other families from Swansea living in New Quay, who had come after the bombing of Swansea in February 1941,{{Cite web|url=https://www.swansea.gov.uk/threenightsblitz?lang=en|title=Three Nights' Blitz|website=Swansea}} including the historian and artist, Myra Evans (1883-1972).Elmira/Myra Evans was the daughter of Captain Thomas and Mary Rees of New Quay. She was a local historian and artist, who had also written a children's operetta. Her portrait of Dylan Thomas can be found in D. N. Thomas (2000) Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow p104, Seren. Her husband, Evan Jenkin Evans (1882-1944), had been professor of physics at Swansea since 1920. For more on Myra and her work, see [https://www.google.com/search?q=Myra+Evans+New+Quay&sca_esv=568015810&rlz=1C1ONGR_en-GBGB977GB977&ei=LGgQZZnCA_C4hbIP6_K02AI&ved=0ahUKEwiZiKnM2cOBAxVwXEEAHWs5DSsQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=Myra+Evans+New+Quay&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiE015cmEgRXZhbnMgTmV3IFF1YXkyB Myra Evans] Thomas' Swansea friend and distant cousin, Vera Killick,{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomaspeninsularity/tom-williams-fernhill?authuser=0|title=Dylan Thomas: A True Childhood - Tom Williams, Fernhill|website=sites.google.com}} lived next to Majoda in Ffynnonfeddyg cottage, whilst her sister, Evelyn Milton, lived further along the cliff-top.Evelyn lived in Traethina. (Register of Electors, 1945). There is more on Thomas's friendship with Vera at [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandtheedgeoflove/dylan-thomas-and-the-edge-of-love-the-real-story?authuser=0 Vera and Dylan]. Vera and Evelyn's mother, Margaret Phillips, had been born in Llanarth, the next village to New Quay. See Thomas (2000) pp. 27–28. Thomas also had a Swansea aunt, and four cousins, in New Quay, who had lived there since the 1920s,The aunt was Elizabeth Ann Williams née Evans who had married John Williams (1864-1911), the brother of Dylan’s mother, Florence. Elizabeth left Swansea to live in New Quay in the 1920s, together with her daughter, Theodosia (b.1904), who was Dylan's first cousin. Theodosia married a master mariner, Thomas Legg, in 1930. Their three children, Margaret, Anne and George Legg (b. 1932), were brought up in New Quay, in a house called Wendawel, which is today part of the Dylan Thomas Trail around the town. Thomas Legg's parents, Captain George Legg OBE and his wife, Margaret, also lived in New Quay. George and Margaret are to be found in the 1945 Register of Electors for New Quay, as is their daughter-in-law, Theodosia. For more on Dylan Thomas' New Quay relations, see pp. 106–115 of D. N. Thomas (2002) The Dylan Thomas Trail, Y Lolfa.. as well as a more distant relative, the First World War fighter pilot ace, James Ira Thomas Jones, aka Ira Taffy Jones.He and his wife Olive lived in Tylegwyn, New Quay, for much of the 1939-1945 war. (Register of Electors, 1945). There’s an interview with Olive in D. N. Thomas (2004) p. 100 Dylan Remembered 1935-1953, vol. 2, Seren. For the family tree linking Dylan and Ira, see [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomaspeninsularity/tom-williams-fernhill?authuser=0 Ira and Dylan family tree] For more on Dylan and Ira Jones in New Quay, see the index of D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren. See also Dylan’s comment on Ira Jones in his letter about New Quay to Margaret Taylor, 29 August 1946 in Collected Letters

Thomas had previously visited New Quay in the 1930sD. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren pp. 45–49 and then again in 1942–43 when he and Caitlin had lived a few miles away at Plas Gelli, Talsarn.Plas Gelli is a Grade II listed building. The house was built in the 1680s, with a four-room cross-wing added in the late 18th century. Dylan and Caitlin lived in Plas Gelli with Vera Killick, Evelyn Milton and their mother, Margaret Phillips. For more on this, see D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren pp. 51–77, 79–80. See also Thomas' two letters from Gelli, August 1942, in the Collected Letters. His New Quay pub poem Sooner than you can water milk dates from this period,Sooner than... is reproduced on p. 189 of D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm etc. It can also be found on p618 of Dylan Thomas' Collected Letters in a letter of 28 May 1945 to T. W. Earp, where Note 1 confirms the dating of the poem to 1943. as does his script for the filming of Cardigan Bay for the final part of Wales - Green Mountain, Black Mountain.See D. N. Thomas (2000) p57 on Plas Gelli and the film crew at Gelli in August 1942. The film comes to an end with a panoramic sweep of Cardigan Bay from Pengraig cliff above New Quay, followed by a shot of Carreg Walltog rock on the shore below. You can view the film here: [https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060006280 Green Mountain etc]

One of Thomas's patrons was Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden, whose summer residence was Plas Llanina, an historic manor house perched on the cliffs at Cei Bach, just a short walk away from Majoda. He encouraged Thomas to use the old apple house at the bottom of the manor's walled garden as a quiet place in which to write.D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm etc. pp. 45–51 and M. de Walden (1965) Pages from My Life, Sidgewick and Jackson. It would have been an inspirational setting, and one Dylan Thomas scholar has suggested that the stories about Llanina's drowned houses and cemetery are "the literal truth that inspired the imaginative and poetic truth" of Under Milk Wood.J. Ackerman (1998) Welsh Dylan p. 127, Seren. Another important aspect of that literal truth was the 60 acres of cliff-top between Majoda and New Quay that fell into the sea in the early 1940s.Passmore (2012), p. 26 and Passmore (2015) p. 470, who gives a date of 1940.

New Quay, said Caitlin, was exactly Thomas's kind of place, "with the ocean in front of him...and a pub where he felt at home in the

evenings” C. Thomas (1986) Caitlin: Life with Dylan Thomas, p92 Secker and Warburg. The pub was the Black Lion and he was happy there, as his letters reveal.see, for example, his letter to Vernon Watkins, 28 November 1944 in The Collected Letters ed. Paul Ferris, 2000, Dent His ten months at Majoda were the most fertile period of his adult life, a second flowering said his first biographer, Constantine FitzGibbon, "with a great outpouring of poems."C. FitzGibbon (1963) The Life of Dylan Thomas, pp266-67, Little Brown. These Majoda poems, including making a start on Fern Hill, provided nearly half the poems of Deaths and Entrances, published in 1946.Started writing Fern Hill in New Quay: see (1) C. FitzGibbon (1965) The Life of Dylan Thomas, p.266, Little-Brown. (2) C. Thomas (1986) Caitlin: Life with Dylan Thomas, p92, Secker and Warburg. (3) P. Ferris (1999) Dylan Thomas: The Biography, p.4, J. M. Dent. Further work was done on Fern Hill in July and August 1945 at Blaencwm, the family cottage in Carmarthenshire, Wales. A draft of the poem was sent to David Tennant on 28 August 1945: see P. Ferris ed. (2000) The Collected Letters of Dylan Thomas, p. 629, J. M. Dent. Fern Hill received its first publication in Horizon magazine in October 1945. There were four film scripts as well,Our Country, Suffer Little Children, Twenty Years A-Growing and The Unconquerable People. and a radio script, Quite Early One Morning, about a walk around New Quay. This radio script has been described by Professor Walford Davies as "a veritable storehouse of phrases, rhythms and details later resurrected or modified for Under Milk Wood."Walford Davies, in W. Davies and R. Maud eds. (1995), Under Milk Wood: the Definitive Edition, p. xviii , Everyman. For example, the “done-by-hand water colours” of Quite Early One Morning appear later as First Voice's “watercolours done by hand” in Under Milk Wood. Not since his late teenage years had Thomas written so much. His second biographer, Paul Ferris, concluded that "on the grounds of output, the bungalow deserves a plaque of its own."P. Ferris (1997) Dylan Thomas: The Biography, p. 4, Dent. Thomas’s third biographer, George Tremlett, concurred, describing the time in New Quay as “one of the most creative periods of Thomas’s life.”G. Tremlett (1993) Dylan Thomas: In the Mercy of his Means, p. 95, Constable

New Quay is often cited as an inspiration for the village of Llareggub in Under Milk Wood.D. N. Thomas (2004) Dylan Remembered 1935-53, vol 2, pp. 285–313, SerenS. W. Rhydderch (2015) Ceredigion Coast: Llareggub and the Black Lion in A Dylan Odessey: 15 Literary Tour Maps, ed. S. Edmonds, Literature Wales/Graffeg. Walford Davies, for example, has concluded that New Quay "was crucial in supplementing the gallery of characters Thomas had to hand for writing Under Milk Wood."W. Davies and R. Maud, eds.(1995) p. xvii, Under Milk Wood: the Definitive Edition, Everyman.

FitzGibbon had come to a similar conclusion, noting that "Llareggub resembles New Quay more closely [than Laugharne] and many of the characters derive from that seaside village in Cardiganshire..."C. Fitzgibbon (1963) The Life of Dylan Thomas, p. 237, Little Brown. Writing in January 1954, just days before the first BBC broadcast of the play, its producer, Douglas Cleverdon, noted that Thomas "wrote the first half within a few months; then his inspiration seemed to fail him when he left New Quay..."D. Cleverdon (1954) The Radio Times, 22 January And one of Thomas's closest friends, Ivy Williams of Brown's Hotel, Laugharne, has said "Of course, it wasn't really written in Laugharne at all. It was written in New Quay, most of it."D. N. Thomas (2004) Dylan Remembered 1935–1953, vol. 2, p. 187, Seren. Ivy’s husband, Ebie, also recalls visiting New Quay on several occasions, staying in the Black Lion (p. 187). Jack Patrick Evans, landlord of the Black Lion in New Quay, has provided an account of Thomas gathering material for the play in the pub: “...he seemed to do his best writing among us local people – he was always with a pad on his knees...Always busy, making notes of any local characters who came in." D. N. Thomas (2004) Dylan Remembered 1935–1953, pp. 99–100, Seren.

Thomas's sketch of Llareggub is now online at the National Library of Wales.{{Cite web|url=https://www.library.wales/discover/digital-gallery/manuscripts/modern-period/dylan-thomas-and-the-map-of-llareggub#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-126,-9,5675,4819|title=Dylan Thomas and the map of Llareggub | The National Library of Wales|website=www.library.wales}} The Dylan Thomas scholar, James Davies, has written that "Thomas's drawing of Llareggub is...based on New Quay."J.A. Davies (2000) Dylan Thomas's Swansea, Gower and Laugharne, University of Wales Press. pp. 103–104. There's been very little disagreement, if any, with this view. A recent analysis[https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/dylans-sketch-of-llareggub?authuser=0 Analysis of Llareggub sketch], Google Sites. First published on Discover Dylan Thomas: the official Dylan Thomas website, September 2021. of the sketch has revealed that Thomas used the name of an actual New Quay resident, Cherry Jones, for one of the people living in Cockle Street.In 1933, Dan Jones, a general builder in New Quay, married Phyllis Cherry, the daughter of Walter and Edith Cherry of Margaret Street, New Quay (see Free BMD, June quarter). Dan, Phyllis and her parents are all in the 1945 Register of Electors for New Quay. Walter Cherry was a town councillor, magistrate and a Black Lion regular. Following the marriage, Dan became known as both Dan Cherry and as Cherry Jones - see D. N. Thomas (2000), Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren, p. 218. There’s more on New Quay's Cherry Jones and Llareggub’s Cherry Owen online here:Under Milk Wood

Thomas also drew upon other New Quay residents, including Mrs Ogmore Davies and Mrs Pritchard-Jones, both of Church Street, whose names when combined produce Llareggub’s Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard.Annie Davies was the wife of Thomas Ogmore Davies whose drapery shop, Bon Marché, stood at the top of Church Street, next to the Queens Hotel. There's a period photograph of Bon Marché here: [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/a-postcard-from-new-quay?authuser=0 Bon Marche]

Eluned Pritchard-Jones was the wife of Barclays bank manager, Richard Pritchard-Jones, Bank House, Church Street. (1945 Register of Electors.) There's more on her household fastidiousness in the Wikipedia entry for Under Milk Wood, which draws on an account of Mrs Pritchard-Jones provided by her daughter: C. Edwards-Jones (2013), New Quay Wales Remembered, pp. 60-61, Book Guild Publishing.

Jack Lloyd Evans, a New Quay postman and the Town Crier,The New Quay historian, S.C. Passmore, has noted that the “tradition of a town-crier persisted down to the 1950s, the last crier being Jack Lloyd.” Farmers and Figureheads, (2012) p75. In her book on New Quay, former resident, Catrin Edwards-Jones, gives examples of the local news that Jack Lloyd would cry out e.g. forthcoming local events such as a concert or a meeting in the Memorial Hall (New Quay Wales Remembered (2013), Book Guild Publishing, pp. 28–29). also lived on Church Street.He lived at Noddfa (now Trenova) at the top end of Church Street, opposite the Queens Hotel. See S. Passmore (2015)The Streets of New Quay, p. 199, Lulu Press, and the Register of Electors 1945. He provided the character of Llareggub's postman, Willy Nilly, whose practice of opening letters, and spreading the news, reflects Lloyd's role as Town Crier, as Thomas himself noted: "Nobody minds him opening the letters and acting as [a] kind of town-crier. How else could they know the news?" See Davies, W. and Maud, R. eds. (1995) Under Milk Wood: the Definitive Edition, p.xxxvi, Everyman. This work sheet note, together with our knowledge that Thomas knew Jack Lloyd ("an old friend"),"Jack the Post is an old friend...” Letter to Margaret Taylor of 29 August 1946, in the Collected Letters. make the link between Lloyd and Llareggub’s Willy Nilly.

There were also other New Quay people in the play, including Dai Fred Davies, the donkeyman on board the fishing vessel, the Alpha. He appears in the play as Tom-Fred the donkeyman.Dai Fred was in charge of the donkey engine, an auxiliary engine used for work such as lifting and pumping. He is mentioned in Thomas' letter to Margaret Taylor of 29 August 1946 (Collected Letters). For more on Dai Fred see Thomas, D. N. (2000), Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren, pp. 219–220.

There are, too, New Quay people who can be found in the play, but not by name. Fourth Drowned’s question “Buttermilk and whippets?” is a good example: Jack Patrick, landlord of the Black Lion, kept whippets and made buttermilk in his dairy next to the hotel.The information about Jack Patrick’s dairy came from his niece, Ann Brodie, and from a New Quay resident, Eleanor Lister. For a good deal more on Jack Patrick, consult the Index of D.N. Thomas (2000) Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren There’s a photo of Jack with one of his whippets here:D.N. Thomas (2000) Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, p.82, Seren

At the beginning of the play, Third Drowned asks: “How’s the tenors in Dowlais?” The question reflects the close relationship that once existed between New Quay and Dowlais, an industrial town in the South Wales valleys. Its workers traditionally came to New Quay for their holidays, and often sang on the pier on summer evenings. Such was the relationship between the two towns that when St Mair’s church in Dowlais was demolished in 1963, its bell was given to New Quay's parish church.For more on the special relationship between New Quay and Dowlais, see D. N. Thomas (2002) The Dylan Thomas Trail, p.73, Y Lolfa.

Other names and features from New Quay in the play include Maesgwyn farm,"Fourth Drowned: Who milks the cows in Maesgwyn?" Maesgwyn's fields were on the cliff-top between Majoda and New Quay. See S. Passmore (2012) Farmers and Figureheads: the Port of New Quay and its Hinterland p. 26, Grosvenor and S. Passmore (2015) The Streets of New Quay, p. 470, Lulu Press, with a photo of Maesgwyn on p. 468. There's also another photo of Maesgwyn on p. 213 of D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren. the Sailor's Home Arms,Always known as the Sailor's Arms locally, and in newspaper reports and in some census returns. See [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/Llareggub-and-the-1939-war-register?authuser=0 Sailor's Arms] See also D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow pp. 212-213, Seren, for more on the Sailor's Arms. the river Dewi,Ffynnon Ddewi (Dewi’s Well), supplied the town’s water until the 1930s. The river Dewi itself flows into the sea nearby. See W. J. Lewis (1987) New Quay and Llanarth p. 35 Aberystwyth the quarry,Frondolau quarry at the end of Rock Street and Neuadd quarry on the headland above. As with Llareggub's Mr Waldo and Mrs Beattie Morris up in the quarry, New Quay’s Frondolau quarry had long been a favourite spot for couples, as the New Quay Chronicle had once reported: “Should Cupid pierce the tender hearts of the lovely maidens and brave young men, the quarry and the lonely cliffs form an unapproachable fortress to guard their faltering confessions.” August 1902. the harbour,New Quay's harbour and pier date from the early 19th century. See chapter 2 of S. C. Passmore (2012) Farmers and Figureheads: the Port of New Quay and its Hinterland, Grosvenor. They are both still in use today (2022).

Laugharne's harbour had vanished under saltmarsh and silt long before Thomas' time. Ever since the 17th century, “…the incremental growth of the salt marsh deprived the town of both beach and harbour and landlocked its castle.” See S. Read et. al. (2021), The geomorphology of the Taf Estuary at [https://www.simonread.info/within-the-living-memory-of-the-dead/ Laugharne harbour lost to salt marsh] See also [https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=former-port-of-laugharne Laugharne harbour history] Manchester House,Manchester House on Margaret Street in New Quay was a draper and milliner’s shop, as it is in Llareggub but not in Laugharne, where it was a general store. Thomas mentions New Quay’s Manchester House in his broadcast, Quite Early One Morning. the hill of windowsFirst Voice: “The windy town is a hill of windows…..” See W. Davies and R. Maud, eds (1995), Under Milk Wood: the Definitive Edition, p59, Everyman. For two photos of New Quay as a "hill of windows", see [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/majoda-and-other-photos?authuser=0 hill of windows] with another photo in D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, p. 206, Seren. and the Downs.Llareggub had Donkey Down (as well as Donkey Street and Donkey Lane). In New Quay, the Downs was an area of steep grassland that stretched down from the Black Lion to the lifeboat station. It was used for grazing donkeys, including Maisie, the Black Lion’s donkey. Thomas refers to the braying of donkeys in a letter from Majoda of 21 May 1945. For more on New Quay’s donkeys, see Thomas, D. N. (2000), op.cit. p. 212, with a photo of a typical New Quay donkey cart on p. 53 of R. Bryan (2012), New Quay: A History in Pictures, Llanina Books. Walter Wilkinson also mentions the town’s donkeys in his account of a visit to New Quay in 1947. Puppets in Wales (1948), Bles, p. 131.For more on New Quay names in the play, see Thomas, D. N. (2000), op. cit. pp. 206–216, and online at [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/a-postcard-from-new-quay?authuser=0 New Quay names]

Llareggub's occupational profile as a town of seafarers, fishermen, cocklers and farmers has been examined through an analysis of the 1939 War Register, comparing the returns for New Quay with those for Laugharne, Ferryside and Llansteffan. It shows that New Quay and Ferryside provide by far the best fit with Llareggub's occupational profile.D. N. Thomas, (2019) Llareggub and the 1939 War Register, first published in 2019 on Discover Dylan Thomas, the official Dylan Thomas website. It's also online at [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/Llareggub-and-the-1939-war-register Llareggub/1939 War Register]

The writer and puppeteer, Walter Wilkinson, visited New Quay in 1947; his essay on the town captures its character and atmosphere as Thomas would have found it two years earlier.W. Wilkinson (1948) Puppets in Wales, Bles and online here [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/hand-puppets-in-new-quay-walter-wilkinson-1947?authuser=0 Wilkinson in New Quay] There is, too, an online 1959 ITV film of the town and its people during the summer holiday season.{{cite web |last1=Howells |first1=Myfanwy |title=Ceinewydd 1959 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpt8NgODHQY |website=YouTube |publisher=ITV Cymru/Wales Archive / National Library of Wales |language=cy |date=1959}}

Much of the location filming for The Edge of Love, a 2008 film based around Thomas and Caitlin's friendship with Vera Killick, was carried out in and around New Quay. It starred Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley, Matthew Rhys and Cillian Murphy. The film, said the scriptwriter, Sharman Macdonald, was a work of fiction: it was "not true, it's surmise on my part, it's a fiction… I made it up."{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/sharman_macdonald2.shtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106011342/http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/sharman_macdonald2.shtml|archivedate=6 January 2012|title=BBC Writersroom - Sharman Macdonald|website=BBC|date=6 January 2012}} One incident in the film that Macdonald did not make up was the shooting at Majoda in March 1945, after which Vera's husband, William Killick, was charged with attempted murder and later acquitted.For more on the shooting and the subsequent trial, see D. N. Thomas (2000) ch.4, with further information at D. N. Thomas (2002) ch. 4.

The Dylan Thomas Trail runs through Ceredigion, in west Wales, with a published walking guide available.{{cite book|author=David N. Thomas|year=2002|title=The Dylan Thomas Trail|publisher=Y Lolfa|isbn= 978-0862436094}} It was officially opened by Dylan and Caitlin's daughter, Aeronwy Thomas, in July 2003. The trail is marked by blue plaques, with information boards in New Quay, Lampeter and Aberaeron. Two photographic online guides to the New Quay section of the Trail are available.See R. Atrill in External Links below.{{cite web|url=https://www.cardigan-bay.com/pdf/DylanThomasTrail.pdf|title= Dylan Thomas - New Quay / Y Cei Newydd|website=cardigan-bay.com}} There are also a number of accessible day walks, including the Rev. Eli Jenkins' Pub Walk,See D. N. Thomas (2002) p. 85 The Dylan Thomas Trail Y Lolfa, for this pub walk. which follows the river Dewi to the sea, passing close to the farm of the Cilie poets.On the Cilie poets, see [https://biography.wales/article/s2-JONE-CIL-1855 Cilie poets and musicians]

Thomas and his family left New Quay in July 1945. By September, he was writing to Caitlin about finding somewhere to live, telling her he would live in Majoda again.6 September 1945, in Collected Letters He came back to New Quay at least twice in 1946, the first time in March, a visit he records in his radio broadcast, The Crumbs of One Man’s Year, in which he writes about the “gently swilling retired sea-captains” in the back bar of the Black Lion. Then, in early summer, he was seen in the Commercial pub (formerly the Sailor's Home ArmsBringing to mind the Sailors' Arms in Under Milk Wood: [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/Llareggub-and-the-1939-war-register?authuser=0 Sailor's Home Arms] and now called The Seahorse Inn) with jazz pianist, Dill Jones, whose paternal family came from New Quay.He was spotted in the pub by the author Jon Meirion Jones. For more on this, see D. N. Thomas (2002) The Dylan Thomas Trail, p. 102, Y Lolfa. For more on Dill Jones’ family and New Quay, see Thomas, D. N. (2002) Striding Dill Jones – Jazz with Black Hwyl, Planet, June/July. Thomas's letter in August 1946 to his patron, Margaret Taylor, provides a vivid roll-call of some of the New Quay characters that he knew.29 August 1946, in the Collected Letters. The people mentioned in the letter include Jack Patrick Evans, landlord of the Black Lion; David Frederick Davies, in charge of the donkey engine on board the Alpha; Dewi “Ianthe” Evans, an electrician in Aberaeron; Evan Joshua James, manager of New Quay’s quarry; Norman Evans, shopkeeper, London House; John (Jack) Lloyd Evans, postman and Town Crier; James Ira Thomas Jones, a retired fighter pilot; Alastair Hugh Graham, a reclusive aristocrat. For more on these, see Under Milk Wood.

Thomas also refers to New Quay in his 1949 broadcast, Living in Wales (“hoofed with seaweed, did a jig on the Llanina sands...”).R. Maud (1991) On the Air with Dylan Thomas: The Broadcasts, p201, New Directions. He was still in touch in 1953 with at least one New Quay friend, Skipper Rymer, who had briefly run the Dolau pub in New Quay.The Dylan Thomas Archive in the University of Texas at Austin has a list written by Thomas in June 1953 of people, including Rymer, to whom he intended to write. Capt. Walter Rymer's family lived in Sunnydale on Brongwyn Lane in New Quay (Register of Electors, 1945). He captained trawlers for Neale and West, fish merchants of Cardiff. For more on him, see Thomas, D. N. (2002) p. 49.

• Towyn Jones (1858–1925), clergyman, politician and MP for Carmarthenshire East and later Llanelli.
• John Tywi Jones (1870 - 1948), Baptist minister and journalist.{{cite web | url = https://biography.wales/article/s2-JONE-TYW-1870 | title = JONES, JOHN TYWI (1870 - 1948), Baptist minister and journalist | work = The Dictionary of Welsh Biography| access-date = 15 October 2024}}
• Elizabeth Mary Jones (‘Moelona’, 1877–1953), teacher, novelist and translator, including the works of Alphonse Daudet.
• Florrie Evans, (1884–1967) a local resident and daughter of a New Quay seaman, is reported to have started the 1904 Welsh Christian revival in New Quay. She went on to be a preacher and a missionary to India.{{Cite DWB |title=EVANS, ANNIE FLORENCE ('Florrie') (1884–1967), revivalist and missionary |id=s12-EVAN-FLO-1884 |access-date=4 September 2022}}
• Geraint Bowen, (1915–2011), Welsh language poet, academic and political campaigner.
• Dill Jones, (1923–1984), a jazz stride pianist.
• Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch (b.1966), poet.{{cite web | url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/samantha-wynne-rhydderch | title=Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch - Literature }}
• Francesca Rhydderch (b.1969), writer and academic.
• Ryan Andrews (b. 1981), film director, music video director and production designer.

Plas Llanina is a mile or so to the north of New Quay on the cliffs above Traethgwyn and Cei Bach beaches. It is considered a good example of a small-scale, post-medieval gentry house.{{Coflein|num=106511 |desc=Plas Llanina; Llanina House, Llanina}} It has a chequered history, including some interesting owners and various stories associated with them. It belonged to the Musgrave family from around 1630. By the end of the 18th century it had passed into the ownership of the Jones family, the last of whom was Edward Warren Jones. When he died, he left the Llanina Estate to his two godchildren, Mrs Charlotte Lloyd (of Coedmore) and her younger brother, Charles Richard Longcroft.Phillips-Evans, J. The Longcrofts: 500 Years of a British Family (Amazon, 2012) The house remained with the Longcrofts until about 1920, its last owner being Air Vice Marshal Sir Charles Alexander Holcombe Longcroft (1883–1958) who had been born and brought up at Llanina. He is considered a founding father of the Royal Air Force.{{Cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-founder-raf-you-probably-14482511|title=The Welsh founder of the RAF you have probably never heard of|first=Will|last=Hayward|date=2 April 2018|website=WalesOnline}}

Sometime in the late 1930s, the house and grounds were rented by Lord Howard de Walden as a summer residence.See D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm etc. pp. 45–51 and M. de Walden (1965) Pages from My Life, Sidgewick and Jackson. In the late 1940s, it was bought by Colonel J. J. Davis and Betty Davis, who later moved to Ty Glyn in Ciliau Aeron.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tyglyndavistrust.co.uk/history|title=Ty Glyn Davis Trust - Holiday Centre and Gardens|website=Ty Glyn Davis Trust}} By 1964, Plas Llanina was derelict.See See D. N. Thomas (2000) A Farm etc. p. 51 It was subsequently bought in 1988 and rebuilt by a London banker.P. David (1998) The Tide Turns at Llanina, in Welsh Historic Gardens Trust Bulletin, Winter, p. 6, and online at [http://whgt.wales/documents/bulletin/BulletinWinter1998.pdf Rebuilding Llanina]

The house sits next to the church of Saint Ina, with a public footpath to both the church and the beach.

• R. Atrill (n.d.) A Brief History of New Quay in Photos
• R. Atrill (n.d.) Then and Now: How New Quay Has Changed.
• R. Atrill (n.d) The Dylan Thomas Trail in New Quay
• R. Bryan (2012) New Quay: A History in Pictures, Llanina Books.

• R. Bryan (2012) New Quay: A History in Pictures, Llanina Books.
• R. Bryan (2014) The New Quay Lifeboats: 150 Years of Service and Courage, Llanina Books
• S. Campbell-Jones (S. C. Passmore) (1974/75) Shipbuilding at New Quay 1779-1878 in Ceredigion, 7, 3/4.
• J .A. Davies (2000) Dylan Thomas's Swansea, Gower and Laugharne, University of Wales Press.
• W. Davies and R. Maud, eds.(1995) Under Milk Wood: the Definitive Edition, Everyman.
• C. Edwards-Jones (2013) New Quay Wales Remembered, Book Guild Publishing.
• P. Ferris (ed.) (2000) The Collected Letters: Dylan Thomas, Dent.
• J. G. Jenkins (1982) Maritime Heritage:The Ships and Seamen of Southern Ceredigion, Gomer
• W. J. Lewis (1987) New Quay and Llanarth, Aberystwyth.
• S. C. Passmore (1986) New Quay at the time of the 1851 Census, Ceredigion, 3, 5.
• S. C. Passmore (2012) Farmers and Figureheads: the Port of New Quay and its Hinterland, Grosvenor.
• S. C. Passmore (2015) The Streets of New Quay, Lulu Press
• S. W. Rhydderch (2015) Ceredigion Coast: Llareggub and the Black Lion in A Dylan Odessey: 15 Literary Tour Maps, ed. S. Edmonds, Literature Wales/Graffeg.
• D. N. Thomas (2000) Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow, Seren.
• D. N. Thomas (2002) Dylan Thomas' New Quay in the New Welsh Review, Summer.
• D. N. Thomas (2002) The Dylan Thomas Trail, Y Lolfa.
• D. N. Thomas (2004) The Birth of Under Milk Wood in Dylan Remembered vol. 2 1935–1953, Seren.
• D. N. Thomas (2014) A Postcard from New Quay in Ellis, H. (ed.) (2014) Dylan Thomas: A Centenary Celebration, Bloomsbury
• M. de Walden (1965) Pages from My Life, Sidgewick and Jackson.
• W. Wilkinson (1948) Puppets in Wales, Bles.

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|New Quay}}

{{Wikivoyage}}

• Andrew Dally: An Early Morning Walk Around New Quay, 2016: [https://dylanthomasnews.com/2016/10/25/quite-early-one-morning-on-the-trail-of-dylan-thomas-in-new-quay. On the trail of Dylan Thomas in New Quay]
• D. N. Thomas: A Postcard from New Quay and other essays on Dylan Thomas, New Quay and Under Milk Wood: [https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/home A Postcard from New Quay]
• Dylan Thomas: A Sketch of Llareggub, National Library of Wales: [https://www.library.wales/discover/digital-gallery/manuscripts/modern-period/dylan-thomas-and-the-map-of-llareggub#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-126%2C-9%2C5675%2C4819 Dylan's Sketch of Llareggub]

{{Ceredigion}}

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Category:Towns in Ceredigion

Category:Beaches of Ceredigion

Category:Coast of Ceredigion

Category:Wards of Ceredigion

Category:Ports and harbours of Wales

Category:Seaside resorts in Wales

Category:Communities in Ceredigion