WelshAntiques

WelshAntiques His fine collection is displayed in the appropriate setting of the Old Castle Mill, Kidwelly in Carm

Kidwelly Castle was a popular subject for artists in the past, and they mostly picked one of three or four positions. On...
14/12/2025

Kidwelly Castle was a popular subject for artists in the past, and they mostly picked one of three or four positions. One of these was just below the bridge, where there must have been easier access to the river bank than today, and I always like to see these because they show my premises on the bridge - or at least the building as it was back in the 1800s.
But this one took me by surprise with the extra bonus of appearing to show Castle Mill (complete with the wheel on its left), which hardly ever features in paintings regardless of the artist's chosen position. It was originally a third or so wider than today and there it is with smoke coming out of the chimney and a light on, and its very evocative to me personally.
But on a second look, i'm not so sure - is the building to the right of the bridge the mill, or the buildings on one or other side of Bridge Street?

I've had this piece in my stores for around 35 years and have finally got around to cleaning it and removing the twine t...
14/12/2025

I've had this piece in my stores for around 35 years and have finally got around to cleaning it and removing the twine that was holding part of it together. There are rounded cross-pieces missing from either end, possibly for carrying. It appears to be ash and has a wonderful surface. The cross-pieces have incised lines, showing less wear towards each end. It's peg-jointed and it's 17 ins (43 cms) long and 11 ins (28 cms) high at the ends.
But I can't work out what it was. The design is reminiscent of Classical seats, sometimes with a cushion, but I've never seen a Welsh stool like this. A friend suggested a leg support. The design is quite like a the luggage racks you find in hotels.
Is it for drying something specific, or used in a certain craft? Craft objects such as spinning wheels and associated articles were invariably well-made and often slightly decorative.
It's been carefully made for some purpose or other and I'd appreciate ideas.

Have you heard the expression, "The US and the UK are two countries divided by a common language"?This jug is about fift...
17/02/2024

Have you heard the expression, "The US and the UK are two countries divided by a common language"?
This jug is about fifteen inches tall and was made in Llanelli, south Wales around 1860 - and we would term it spongeware.
But I've heard Americans refer to this design as spatterware.
I'm trying to work out if these are just different terms for the same thing

Seems like a good day to show this exquisite butter stamp from Kidwelly.
14/02/2024

Seems like a good day to show this exquisite butter stamp from Kidwelly.

24/12/2023

A Christsmassy piece of folk art from a Kidwelly farmhouse - a butter stamp with a carving of a reindeer.
Hand-held stamps made of sycamore were used to decorate both large and small pats of butter sold from farms or markets in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although they're found in other areas, the vast majority and the greatest range were produced in Wales.
They come in all kinds of designs - geometric, flowers, animals, birds, sometimes they bear the name of the farm or the owner. But I've never seen a reindeer before and this one was, according to family tradition, used in Carmarthen market at Christmas-time.

Merry Xmas - Nadolig Llawen - everyone!
21/12/2023

Merry Xmas - Nadolig Llawen - everyone!

An ancient practice associated with Twelfth Night - the Wren House. There's a great deal of Welsh folklore connected to ...
21/12/2023

An ancient practice associated with Twelfth Night - the Wren House. There's a great deal of Welsh folklore connected to the wren and to its being hunted and paraded around. Leaving to one side its possible origins in antiquity, the practice of putting a wren in a wooden house covered in decorated paper, and carrying it around the neighbourhood, seems to have been confined to Pembrokeshire. It was first described by Edward Lhuyd in the 17th century and appears to have died out in the late 19th.
I acquired this as part of a job lot from an outhouse in Camrose, Pembrokeshire, around forty years ago and would have thrown it away, except I thought that I could make something out of it as a doll's house for my daughter. It was so crude that it didn't seem worth the effort so I threw it into my own outhouse. Then, flicking through Trefor Owen's classic "Welsh Folk Customs", I came across an identical model captioned "Wren-house, from Marloes, Pembrokeshire", and said to have been made in 1869 as a copy of another made by the same individual 60 years previously. So I hurriedly rescued mine from the woodpile!
The basic idea is that a wren was taken around from home to home by a group of young men who sang various songs and were rewarded with ale or cash. In some versions, the wren is killed first. But with my house that wasn't the case - one of the "windows" is covered with a piece of thick brown paper which acts as a diaphragm, sucking in air. And the floor is covered in bird droppings - i had wondered about those from the start. It was once suggested that the callers must have demanded beer with the threat of "or the wren gets it!" - but the person had just returned from a stag night in Saundersfoot so wasn't the best authority!

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