Dr. Colin Morgan’s translation, study and analysis of these diary entries offers a fascinating insight into life in a time when Tredegar was very much a growing and prospering town.
John Davies (1784-1864) was a prominent Tredegar bookseller and keen promoter of sobriety and thrift. He was also an inveterate diary keeper and his entries, almost all in Welsh, make fascinating reading. Unfortunately, some of his diaries haven’t survived, but the four volumes that do, although not a continuous record as there are gaps of some years, do span a range of 33 years from 1831 up to 1864 … just a few months before his death.
