Force commerciale de la Grande-Bretagne: côtes et ports maritimes

Name of traveller

Charles Dupin (1784-1873)

Reason for travel

• survey of British infrastructure

Date of travel

1816, 1817, 1818, 1819,1820

Caernarvon, ville renommée pour la salubrité de sa position, et très-fréquentée durant la belle saison, par les baigneurs valétudinaires. On fait un commerce considérable dans le port de Caernarvon. (Dupin 139)

Content

• art: reference to harp music and bardic tradition
• customs: long-standing superstitions about healing qualities of holy wells
• industry:
  • mentions places of industrial interest further inland although does not visit them
  • slate mining, as well as coal, lead a copper noted in north Wales
  • significant lead mines in Aberystwyth area
  • coal, iron, lime, copper, porcelain noted in south Wales
  • importance of tourism noted for Caernarfon, Tywyn, Tenby
• terrain:
  • Anglesey described as barren and empty, Meirionethshire as infertile
• transport:
  • observes Thomas Telford's (1757-1834) Menai Suspension Bridge in construction
  • all ports described and contrasted; Holyhead, Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Milford Haven noted for their busy ports
  • notes canals and early railways for industry
• part of the series: Voyages dans la Grande-Bretagne entrepris relativement aux services publics de la guerre, de la marine et des ponts et chaussées, en 1816, 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820. 6 vols. Paris: Bachelier, 1820-24. Print.
• also available in various German and English translations and revised editions
• click here to read the full account

Nationality of traveller

French

Language of publication

French

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

report; travelogue

Citation

Dupin, Charles. Force commerciale de la Grande-Bretagne: côtes et ports maritimes. Vol. 2 Paris: Bachelier, 1824. 237-52. Print.