4th July 1819, Aberystwyth

Sunday 4th July 1819

where we arrived at ½ past nine we were quite delighted at seeing the sea the Talbot is a good Inn. Sunday July 4th We went to church at 12 o’Clock and afterwards amused ourselves by walking on the sea shore our Inn not having a view of the sea Papa though it would

be pleasant to take a room in one of the boarding houses close to the sea where we might breakfast and drink tea, but return to the Inn for the night we soon procured a very nice one and enjoyed ourselves excessively; it is a bold sea here and there are some fine rocks; on the

top of one of them stand the remains of an ancient Castle which appears to have been on a grand scale, on a clear day we can see Snowden at a great distance we were much pleased with the idea of passing another day here. the town is nothing very striking The bathing is excessively well conducted here

OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:

Talbot Inn was demolished in 1830 and a new one completed by 1832 according to its Grade II listing details. It appears to be on the corner of Market Street and Eastgate https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/300010307-talbot-hotel-aberystwyth#.W-tbeeKYQ5s

Church: Lucy and her family are likely to have gone to the Anglican church, the first St Michael’s and All Angels, just a three minute walk from the Talbot Inn. It was opened in 1787 and was situated to the west of the Assembly Rooms but was replaced by a larger church built 1829-33, of which only the west vestry survives, roofless, nearby.

The modern late Victorian Church, St Michael’s and All Angels, from their Facebook Page

The existing large and prosperous late-Victorian building was built in 1889-90 near the site of the church attended by the Copland’s on 4th July 1819. https://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/110278/details/st-michael-and-all-angels-church-aberystwyth

The Castle, at the top of Castle Hill, is the high point of the town. Between the years 1404 and 1408 Aberystwyth Castle was in the hands of Owain Glyndŵr but finally surrendered to Prince Harry (the future King Henry V of England). In 1649, Parliamentarian troops razed the castle, so that its remains are now inconsiderable, though portions of three towers still exist.

In 1988, an excavation within the castle area revealed a complete male skeleton, deliberately buried. Though skeletons rarely survive in Wales' acidic soil, this skeleton was probably preserved by the addition of lime from the collapsed building. Affectionately known as "Charlie" and now housed in the Ceredigion Museum in the town, he probably dates from the English Civil War period, and is likely to have died during the Parliamentarian siege. His image is featured in one of nine mosaics created to adorn the castle's walls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberystwyth

Lucy was not happy with her drawing of the castle, which, according to the inscribed date, she drew yesterday on arrival in Aberystwyth, possibly awaiting dinner. Commenting on the facing page, she writes: A bad sketch of the Castle at Aberystwith, July 3rd 1819

The sea shore at Aberystwyth: These two small pictures by Frank Copland from Lucy’s small scrap book were probably painted by him whilst the family were at one of the seaside boarding houses breakfasting and taking tea. Being undated, it is also possible that Frank and Lucy might have worked together, side by side, the evening before, leading Lucy to feel disappointed with her efforts when comparing hers with those of her brother Frank’s.

The first appears to show the remnants of the castle in the distance, the highest point in the town, although, artistic license excepted, it appears to have been painted from an equally high point overlooking the town.

Marine Terrace, Aberystwyth circa 1840 by William Crane, lithographer, in the collection of the National Library of Wales Accession number 1132285. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the co… — Marine Terrace, Aberystwyth circa 1840 by William Crane, lithographer, in the collection of the National Library of Wales Accession number 1132285. 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 70 years or less. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marine_Terrace,_Aberystwyth.jpeg

This early Victorian print of Marine Terrace, about 20 years after the Copland’s visited, illustrates the customary promenade by visitors and the wealthier people of the town. At the centre, on the shore, there appears to be a row of what looks like bathing machines.

Sea bathing: A description of Regency bathing from Jane Austen’s world, “a blog that seeks to bring Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive” : By the late 18th century/early 19th century, bathing dresses were fashionable at seaside resorts. One can readily understand why, for in the image below a man on horseback pulls the bathing machine into the water. The bather peeks out of the door, unwilling to expose herself until all was safe. In fashionable Brighton, men and women bathers were separated and swam from different beaches. Away from prying eyes, some women felt free to bathe nude.

“Tide Coming in Fast and a Jibbing Horse”, a 19th century engraving from the Illustrated London News which shows how a bathing machine was towed in and out of the sea by a man on horseback. Image @The Brighton Swimming Club

Sea Bathing’ 1813 From “The costume of Yorkshire, illustrated by a series of forty engravings, being fac-similes of original drawings” NYPL Digital Collection

As you can see from this 1813 image from the Costumes of Yorkshire, many women still chose modesty over nudity. The dippers were female, and the male rider on horseback kept well away from view.

Sea Bathing in Scarborough, 1813 https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/tag/regency-sea-bathing/

Venus’s Bathing (Margate) A Fashionable Dip from the Wellcome Library https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-wellcome-librarys-top-10-open-images/

More photographs and cartoons, including the one above, can be found in the excellent article Victorian Prudes and their Bizarre Beachside Bathing Machines by Messynessy at https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/04/15/victorian-prudes-beachside-bathing-machines/

One can imagine Lucy sitting sipping tea overlooking the beach and witnessing similar machines being wheeled out by horse for ladies in their heavy robes to be guided into the water. She was impressed when she writes The bathing is excessively well conducted here. However, we suspect that Lucy would not have been so impressed if she were to view the scene from Margate, above

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?

Please click here if you can help