Publisher Description

This new and unusual Pocket Guide refers to more than 300 Welsh graves of the famous and not so famous. They are grouped in convenient geographical areas using the current local government boundaries and there is guidance on how to find the graves themselves. The book is not so much about the graves themselves (although where they are particularly notable there are photographs and descriptions) but about the people buried in them. It thus provides potted biographies of the individuals involved and offers some intriguing juxtapositions. So we find the fairly respectable Cynan and Sir John Edward Lloyd buried close to the seriously eccentric John Evans (Bardd Cocos) at Menai Bridge, Joe Erskine close to Arwel Hughes at Thornhill, while Trealaw would be worth visiting to see the graves of Viscount Tonypandy, Tommy Farr, Lewis Jones and Kitchener Davies as well as that of Williams Evans, owner of the Corona pop factory.

Author Biography

Alun Roberts is the Director of the NHS liaison unit at the University of Wales College of Medicine and has a PhD in Modern History from the University of Leeds.

Table of Contents

Introduction Map of Welsh local authorities Anglesey Blaenau Gwent Bridgend Caerphilly Cardiff Carmarthenshire Ceredigion Conwy Denbighshire Flintshire Gwynedd (Caernarfonshire) Gwynedd (Merioneth) Merthyr Tydfil Monmouthshire Neath and Port Talbot Newport Pembrokeshire Powys (Breconshire) Powys (Montgomeryshire) Powys (Radnorshire) Rhondda Cynon Taf Swansea Torfaen Vale of Glamorgan Wrexham Index

Review

'This is a most enjoyable piece of work... The style is witty and the anecdotes delightful.' John Davies. 'A book to lift the spirits... The selection is refreshingly wide...As a practical guidebook Discovering Welsh Graves functions admirable...Altogether an engrossing directory, well worth a place in the glove compartment of any historically minded motorist.' Planet. ' ... a fascinating introduction, an appetite-whetter, a book to dip into... ' (Welsh History Review)

Long Description

A fascinating guide to over 350 graves of Welsh men and women and non-Welsh personalities buried in Wales, comprising brief biographies of gentry and peasants, and representatives from the diverse fields of entertainment and sport, music, art and literature, religion and politics, with a detailed index. 47 black-and-white photographs and 1 map.

Review Text

pp xvii142In this fascinating and well-illustrated Pocket Guide, the reader is taken on an unusual and rewarding guided tour of Wales, visiting the final resting places of more than 350 men and women (and one leg). Most, but by no means all, of the characters we meet were Welsh, many were celebrated, some not, but all were interesting in one way or another.In other books on this subject, Wales, if covered at all, has until now been consigned to a few pages at the end. Discovering Welsh Graves seeks to address this deficiency. The churchyards and cemeteries visited are grouped according to the current twenty-two unitary authorities and guidance is offered on the location of specific graves.While descriptions of notable graves are included, and some are illustrated, the book is less about the graves themselves and more about the people buried in them. It includes brief biographies of figures from the worlds of entertainment, music, sport, literature, politics, the military, business and religion as well as characters of local interest. This is a most enjoyable piece of work . . . The style is witty and the anecdotes delightful. John Davies, author of the Penguin History of Wales (1993) and the Pocket Guide Cardiff (2002).

Author Comments

Alun Roberts obtained a Ph.D. in modern history from the University of Leeds, and is director of the College/NHS Liaison Unit at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff. He is also the author of Welsh National Heroes (Talybont, 2002).

Details