Page 8 - Leighton News December 2017
P. 8
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Cilcewydd Mill —Danish Visitors 1931
The Youth Hostel Association’s first The two photographs above show a Danish party of
real year of operation was 1931. hostellers in apparently clean but somewhat austere
The first region, Merseyside, surroundings, dwarfed by mill or creamery machinery.
opened four hostels by Easter, with
more planned for later in the
season. The scheme was for a ring
of hostels around Snowdonia, each
a hard day’s walk apart, with a line
from Liverpool. This became a
successful template for other
regions impatient to emulate
the idea.
Cilcewydd youth hostel opened
shortly after Merseyside’s first, at
Whitsun (May) 1931, as temporary
quarters. It was hardly the contem-
porary purpose-built hostel
envisaged by the association. Here
was a huge red-brick corn mill, five
storeys high, built in 1862 and
sitting in a once-strategic position aside the River Severn three miles
south of Welshpool. It was originally served by a siding from the
Cambrian Railway main line that crossed the Severn at this point.
Information compiled by the Association’s volunteer
archivist, John Martin. Photographs are from his own
collection or Youth Hostel Association archives
The original function of the mill had ceased by 1930, about which time it was
converted to a creamery, though the change seems to have been unsuccessful: It
functioned as a Youth Hostel from 1931 to 1933 [see stays recorde below]
Cilcewydd mill photographed here during the September 1931 members’ meet.
The prevalence of cars suggests attendance
by dignitaries. The idea that YHA was
exclusively for hostellers travelling under
their own steam was not yet fully established
Roy Dixon was a YHA official photographer
His superb series of sepia postcards for the
region included this rare example of
Cilcewydd hostel.
It must have been a daunting
experience for 12 people to sleep
in such a vast space. The use of
single beds accentuates the over
provision of capacity, a far cry
from the over-crowded Snowdon
hostels even in 1931
Overnight Stays 1931 - 1946 Cilcewydd hostel
Cilcewydd Mill —Danish Visitors 1931
The Youth Hostel Association’s first The two photographs above show a Danish party of
real year of operation was 1931. hostellers in apparently clean but somewhat austere
The first region, Merseyside, surroundings, dwarfed by mill or creamery machinery.
opened four hostels by Easter, with
more planned for later in the
season. The scheme was for a ring
of hostels around Snowdonia, each
a hard day’s walk apart, with a line
from Liverpool. This became a
successful template for other
regions impatient to emulate
the idea.
Cilcewydd youth hostel opened
shortly after Merseyside’s first, at
Whitsun (May) 1931, as temporary
quarters. It was hardly the contem-
porary purpose-built hostel
envisaged by the association. Here
was a huge red-brick corn mill, five
storeys high, built in 1862 and
sitting in a once-strategic position aside the River Severn three miles
south of Welshpool. It was originally served by a siding from the
Cambrian Railway main line that crossed the Severn at this point.
Information compiled by the Association’s volunteer
archivist, John Martin. Photographs are from his own
collection or Youth Hostel Association archives
The original function of the mill had ceased by 1930, about which time it was
converted to a creamery, though the change seems to have been unsuccessful: It
functioned as a Youth Hostel from 1931 to 1933 [see stays recorde below]
Cilcewydd mill photographed here during the September 1931 members’ meet.
The prevalence of cars suggests attendance
by dignitaries. The idea that YHA was
exclusively for hostellers travelling under
their own steam was not yet fully established
Roy Dixon was a YHA official photographer
His superb series of sepia postcards for the
region included this rare example of
Cilcewydd hostel.
It must have been a daunting
experience for 12 people to sleep
in such a vast space. The use of
single beds accentuates the over
provision of capacity, a far cry
from the over-crowded Snowdon
hostels even in 1931
Overnight Stays 1931 - 1946 Cilcewydd hostel
