Voyage de Paris à Dublin à travers la Normandie et l'Angleterre en 1789

Name of traveller

Charles-Etienne Coquebert de Montbret (1755-1831) and son

Reason for travel

• en route for diplomatic posting in Dublin

Date of travel

September/October 1789

Nous avons commencé à voir les petites vaches noires du Pays de Galles, les fours à chaux pour cuire celle qui sert d’engrais, des cochons moins ventrus que ceux d’Angleterre, la figure, l’habit des femmes différent, plus de misère et plus de contemtement’. (Coquebert de Montbret 166)

Content

• agriculture:
  • finds Welsh cows small
  • other livestock observed are pigs, goats, sheep and donkeys
• clothing: reference to women's costumes
• customs:
  • discusses eisteddfodau
  • notes a great number of harps in Merioneth
• industry:
  • lead mining, slate, copper and coal production as typical branches of industry in north Wales
  • refers to copper production at Parys mountain
  • notes child labour in the cotton factories
• language: discusses Welsh dictionaries and Celtic languages
• literature: has read widely and draws heavily on English-language works about Wales
• people: travels together with his son and Irish secretary
• terrain: very imprecise in stating his itinerary
• transport: refers to ferry services for Anglesey
• click here to read extracts of the account

Nationality of traveller

French

Language of publication

French

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

personal collection of notes

Citation

Coquebert de Montbret, Charles-Etienne. Voyage de Paris à Dublin à travers la Normandie et l'Angleterre en 1789. Lyon: Université Saint-Etienne, 1995. 162-85. Print.