Historic Pictures
Gallery One | Gallery Two | Gallery Three

Our holiday cottages are steeped in history as this is a collection of images spanning the last century at Plas Farm shows. Can you spot the different cottages as they were over a hundred years ago? Click on the images to enlarge them.

Image 1 by Craig Grannell

close

If you would like to buy prints of any of the images shown above, please email richard@welshholidaycottages.com with your requirements. We will then get back to you with availability and price.

Top Row - From Right to Left
1. The River Clydach and Plas Cilybebyll Summer House. It is possible to walk from your holiday cottage to the exact spot that this picture was taken. All that seems to have changed in the last century is that the trees have grown, one large stone has moved about a metre down stream and the summer house has rotted away to nothing (its thatched roof is just visible on the right of the picture). All that remains today are steps to the river and its foundations.
2. This aerial shot of the Plas Cilybebyll estate house and outbuidlings was taken from a Lancaster Bomber who were training in the Swansea Valley for reconaissance missions over Germany. The crew were killed over enemny territory a few weeks after this picture was taken. It is possible to pick out the roof of Ty Cerbyd and Y Stabl, some people standing next to a car outside the main house and some greenhouses and box hedges which have long since vanished.
3. Another aerial shot of the Plas. It is possible to see the double roof - the rear section was demolished in the 1950s.

Middle Row - From Right to Left
4. The lodge at the end of the farm drive was once a thatched cottage in the style of a South African Kraal. Unfortunately, it got burnt down in the 1960s. This may be the oldest picture of it in existence.
5. Kilybebyll Lodge by J.L. Williams, Gwalia House, Pontardawe. Date unknown.
6. The Lodge, Cilybebyll. Look closely and you can see a repair in the thatch on the roof. Date unknown.

Back Row - From Right to Left
7. The Plas Cilybebyll Weir during the Big Freeze of 1963. David Bowen can be seen stading on one leg at the top. Seconds after this photo was taken, he slipped and fell down the waterfall!
8. This picture was taken in 1958 from the steps on Bwthyn Y Saer holiday cottage and shows Hafod Y Wennol as it was when it was used as a stable and animal food store. The courtyard was bounded by a wall in those days and there was a road which joined the outbuildings (now the holiday cottages) to the main estate house. The white gates can just be seen on the left of the picture.
9. Bwthyn Y Saer taken in 1958 from the bridge over the River Clydach. The water-wheel can be seen along with the over hang trough.