18th July 1819, Beaumaris, Castle, Bangor, Jumpers

Sunday 18th July 1819

Sunday July 19th We intended returning to Caernarvon to dinner today but took Beaumaris and Bangor in our way the

road approaching the former place the best I have ever seen all made by Lord Bulkeley. It is a very neat town. The day being a very unfavourable we took a very short survey of the Castle founded by Edward the first which is very complete on a small scale. We then returned on a beautiful road close to the sea to the Passage house and having crossed the ferry we arrived soon after at Bangor beautifully situated near the sea. Here we met Mr Grimes who having informed us there was nothing worthy of visiting in the town we returned to Caernarvon. But before dinner we went to look at the Jumpers a sect settled here and in many parts of Wales under that name. we were

quite disgusted at the sight of these poor deluded ignorant people who think their devotion consists in nothing but screaming loudly and jumping till they nearly drop down from fatigue their meetings are twice a week and our Landlord told us they sometimes jump even to their own houses. We soon left this Chapel and I do not think I shall have much inclination to enter one again.

OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:

Beaumarais was originally a Viking settlement known as Porth y Wygyr ("Port of the Vikings"), but developed in 1295 when Edward I of England commissioned the building of Beaumaris Castle as part of a chain of fortifications around the North Wales coast (others include Conwy, Caernarfon and Harlech). Beaumaris Castle was built on a marsh and its Norman-French builders called it beaux marais which translates as "beautiful marshes".

Beaumaris was the port of registration for all vessels in North West Wales and shipbuilding was a major industry in Beaumaris, centred on Gallows Point . It had originally been called "Osmund's Eyre" but was renamed when the town gallows was erected there – along with a "Dead House" for the corpses of criminals dispatched in public executions. Later, hangings were carried out at the town gaol and the bodies buried in a lime-pit within the curtilage of the gaol. One of the last prisoners to hang at Beaumaris issued a curse before he died – decreeing that if he was innocent the four faces of the church clock would never show the same time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumaris

Thomas James Bulkeley, 7th Viscount Bulkeley, later Warren-Bulkeley, (1752 – 1822) sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1784 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Bulkeley, of Beaumaris and had to vacate his seat in the House of Commons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bulkeley,_7th_Viscount_Bulkeley

Bangor is the oldest city in Wales, and one of the smallest in the UK. It dates to the founding of a monastic establishment on the site of Bangor Cathedral by the Celtic saint Deiniol in the early 6th century AD. The bishopric of Bangor is one of the oldest in the UK.

Another claim to fame is that Bangor allegedly has the longest High Street in Wales and the United Kingdom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangor,_Gwynedd

Jumpers: A term normally applied to Methodists who were brought to a frenzy of activity by enthusiastic preachers. The village of Llangeitho was associated with the Welsh Methodist revival of the 18th century and its chapel, built in 1760, became famous throughout Wales as a Calvinistic Methodist centre. It witnessed many periods of religious revival throughout that century, but the most powerful was that of 1762, when rejoicing, dancing and jumping for joy were seen. This event earned the Welsh Methodists the name "Jumpers".

William Williams Pantycelyn, regarded as one of the leaders of the Methodist Revival in Wales in the 18th century and Wales's most famous hymn writer, wrote in defence of the celebrations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llangeitho

Parch. William Williams, Pant-y-Celyn, A portrait from the Welsh Portrait Collection at the National Library of Wales, Accession number PZ06210. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyr… — Parch. William Williams, Pant-y-Celyn, A portrait from the Welsh Portrait Collection at the National Library of Wales, Accession number PZ06210. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Parch._William_Williams,_Pant-y-Celyn_(4674719)_(cropped).jpg

Many surviving descriptions of this practice came from tourists who were highly critical of the practice in particular and of Methodism (and other non-conformist denominations) in general, because most tourists were members of the Established (Anglican) church and attended church services, and were concerned about its decline in Wales. Some tourists wrote at great length about the state of religion in Wales, while others went to chapel services as a form of entertainment. https://sublimewales.wordpress.com/what-they-wrote-about/perceptions-of-wales/religion-in-wales/jumpers/ see also https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_All_Religions_and_Religious_Denominations/Jumpers

Can you help us?

Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.

New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?

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