Wales and the Welsh are no longer a dismal joke

9 May 2009

A decade after the first elections to the National Assembly of Wales, Harry Mount says that the principality is at last escaping its dire caricature. No, really

In the hall at Aberglasney — a fine, classical country house, built in 1720, 20 miles north-west of Swansea — high up by the cornice, an elaborate chunk of plasterwork is missing. To give the full catalogue entry, it is a rococo console, carved with twirling honeysuckles, a motif dear to the ancient Greeks.

I know, to my deep and lasting shame, where to find it. In fact I can see it now, on a mahogany stand next to my desk. Its protuberant plaster leaves provide a nice perch for my keys where I don’t forget them. For all its usefulness as a key perch, the console would look better glued back to the cornice in Aberglasney’s drawing room. And so I am returning it. It was 20 years ago that I took the console — a country-house-obsessed teenager on my year off, en route to my parents’ cottage in Pembrokeshire.

The house was in a terrible state, like the seat of a Welsh Miss Havisham. I climbed over a gate choked with nettles and rhododendrons as high as the gateposts. The roof of the house had fallen in. Its portico had been stolen and was about to be flogged at Christie’s. (An eagle-eyed Welsh antiquarian spotted the distinctive Ionic pillars in a sales catalogue and the portico has now been restored to its original site.) In front of the house there was a three-foot-deep pile of plaster fragments and damp, shattered wood. The console lay on top of the pile. If I didn’t take it, someone else would — that was my wicked logic, anyway. My excuse isn’t much helped by a recent Telegraph article in which another man admitted to pillaging Aberglasney 20 years before me — Neil Hamilton, the disgraced Tory MP, who grew up in nearby Ammanford.

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ian skidmore

May 7th, 2009 9:06am Report this comment

In modern Wales beauty is received more readily through he ear than th eye. You are right about the white buildings in Cardiff but do remember the Welsh Government turned them down as a headquarters an chose instead at great cost an example of the monstrous carbuncle school of architecture. It has made litle of its supreme gifts to the world, Ivor Novelo and Howard Spring and its history is largely fiction. The English are hated because it was successfully invaded by Edfward 1.This despite the fact his army of 15,000 included 11,000 Welshmen.ha

David Watkins

May 7th, 2009 2:57pm Report this comment

"The English are hated". I really don't think so. It's true that a rugby victory over the English is particularly enjoyed in Wales - because England has more rugby players than any other country, and the English team is consequently the most formidable that Wales regularly encounters. (What would really gladden Welsh hearts is a victory over New Zealand - we've been waiting fir one for fifty-five years. Does this mean New Zealanders are hated in Wales?). When English teams play other countries most Welsh fans are either neutral or mildly pro-English - very unlike the Scots who notoriously will cheer for any team against England.

J

May 7th, 2009 11:30pm Report this comment

Given your reference to "Guinness-and-blarney Ireland and stags-and-malt-whisky Scotland" someone should point out that both stout and whisky were invented in Wales.

Good article.

Bill Corr

May 8th, 2009 8:38am Report this comment

Ian Skidmore observes that the Welsh political leadership jumped at the chance of occupying an example of the 'Monstrous Carbuncle' school of architecture.

Well, they would, wouldn't they what with being Third Worlders.

Plus the detested English were, and are, paying for it.

Wiliam Merrick

May 8th, 2009 10:25am Report this comment

What rubbish is this? I was unaware that Wales had a bad reputation to live down - perfectly decent part of the UK. Glad to have them on board. This is just spin - part of fashionable victim mentality. It's time the Welsh realised that everyone else thinks they are perfectly normal!

JohnAnt

May 9th, 2009 4:18pm Report this comment

Yes, any Englishman venturing beyond the cities can't avoid noticing the manic anglophobia.
"Still, it has abolished NHS prescription charges in Wales, imposed a flat rate for residential care and charges lower fees for Welsh students at Welsh universities."
And all paid for by the generous English taxpayer. Gives me a warm feeling to think of it.(Or is that the cottage burning down?)

little boy blue

May 13th, 2009 8:59pm Report this comment

Quote - JohnAnt
May 9th, 2009 4:18pm
.......
And all paid for by the generous English taxpayer. Gives me a warm feeling ...
end Quote.

you really have to wonder how the world would manage without the english, haven`t you.

Edward

June 9th, 2009 12:52pm Report this comment

The English as you put in were invaded and conquered by the French Normans.

Jane Pepper

June 16th, 2009 10:41am Report this comment

After visiting Wales several times recently, I must admit that I have never seen such 'ugly' and bland housing. I ventured to look through the properties for sale and found page after page of rather neglected and unappealing properties. I am interested to know, where the Welsh architects have been hiding and why they still love the dreadful pebbledash that blights the beautiful countryside?

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