"L'Angleterre et la vie anglaise: XXVI. Le sud du pays de Galles et l'industrie du fer. Carmarthen, les eisteddfodau et les Iron-Works de Merthyr Tydfil"

Name of traveller

Alphonse Esquiros (1812-1876)

Reason for travel

• political exile and living by his pen in Britain

Date of travel

probably 1864

Au moment où j’étais dans le pays de Galles, un grand eisteddfod devait avoir lieu à Llandudno. Je m’y rendis, curieux d’assister à une des scènes les plus émouvantes chez un peuple si sensible à la poésie. (Esquiros 816)

Content

• agriculture:
  • finds similarity between Welsh and Breton cattle
  • Welsh sheep are about half the size of English ones
• clothing:
  • description of women's clothes and tall hats noted in markets, but in decline in towns
  • older women lament decline of costume, that represents their identity
  • notes women's wearing of hats indoors in rural areas
  • form of Welsh hat is explained by the rainy Welsh climate
  • notes lack of shoes and proper clothes on children in Merthyr, women there dressed like men
• customs:
  
  • description of Llandudno Eisteddfod 23 August 1864 and general history of eisteddfodau, bards and contest
  • notes on courting, and marriage customs, description of 'bundling'; funeral customs, flowers on graves
  • Welsh coracles as remnants of Celtic heritage
  • Welsh way of carrying infants in shawl
  • critical of English contempt for Welsh culture; unreliability of English informants
• industry:
  • technical descriptions of factories in Merthyr
  • great success of metallurgical industries contrasted with extreme poverty of workers
  • south Wales best location to study modern industries
  • social depravation, rise of social unrest, violence and child labour 
  • describes spectacle of iron works at night
• language:
  • notes pride in the Welsh language and its preservation particularly with support of Eisteddfod, but fears it is doomed
  • schools, tourism and industrialisation as threats to Welsh language, it is not suitable for business
  • discusses Welsh grammar
• literature: gives a history of Welsh literature from its beginnings to the eighteenth-century revival
• recreation:
  • south Wales provides what the English call a Romantic landscape
  • great numbers of tourists along the Severn attracted by ruins now conquered by nature
• terrain:
  • contrasts rural Carmarthen with touristy Wye valley and industrial Merthyr Tydfil
  • industrial pollution, black skies, smoke, 
  • the setting of industrial south Wales still picturesque
  • land is fertile but hilly
• transport:
  • travels by train and steam boat
  • describes railway pier over Severn
• author of guide book with broad sections on Wales: Itinéraire descriptif et historique de la Grande-Bretagne et de l'Irlande. Paris: Hachette, 1865. 182-205, 237-73. Print.
• not to be confused with his book of the same title: L'Angleterre et la vie anglaise. Paris: Hachette, 1859. Print.
• click here to read the full account

Nationality of traveller

French

Language of publication

French

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

travelogue

Citation

Esquiros, Alphonse. "L'Angleterre et la vie anglaise: XXVI. Le sud du Pays de Galles et l'industrie du fer. Carmarthen, les eisteddfodau et les Iron-Works de Merthyr Tydfil." Revue de Deux Mondes 55 (1865) : 801-43. Print.