WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.439 I was looking at a map of North Wales this morning, 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:05.360 preparing for this deep dive, and I honestly 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:07.639 got a little confused right off the bat. Oh, 00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:10.279 yeah. How so? Well, I typed in the name of our 00:00:10.279 --> 00:00:13.699 topic, Mayni Bridge, and the map dropped a pin 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:17.140 on, you know, a bridge. Right. Makes sense. It 00:00:17.140 --> 00:00:20.260 does. But then I zoomed out a tiny bit, and the 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:22.859 pin was actually sitting on a cluster of houses 00:00:22.859 --> 00:00:26.570 and streets next to the bridge. Ah, yes. That 00:00:26.570 --> 00:00:30.070 is a very common point of confusion for people 00:00:30.070 --> 00:00:32.369 looking at the area. So just to be absolutely 00:00:32.369 --> 00:00:34.469 clear with you and everyone listening, we're 00:00:34.469 --> 00:00:36.509 not spending the next chunk of time talking about 00:00:36.509 --> 00:00:39.250 suspension cables and iron chains, are we? We 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:41.590 might mention them in passing, but no. Today 00:00:41.590 --> 00:00:43.689 we're looking at the town itself, the actual 00:00:43.689 --> 00:00:45.729 community that sits right in the shadow of that 00:00:45.729 --> 00:00:49.109 famous structure. Okay, good. Because looking 00:00:49.109 --> 00:00:51.609 at the geographical and historical records we 00:00:51.609 --> 00:00:54.130 have for the town of Manai Bridge in Anglesey, 00:00:54.369 --> 00:00:57.390 this place feels like it has a serious split 00:00:57.390 --> 00:01:00.090 personality. It really does. I mean, it's got 00:01:00.090 --> 00:01:02.289 a name that belongs to a piece of infrastructure, 00:01:02.350 --> 00:01:05.090 but a history that goes back way further. You've 00:01:05.090 --> 00:01:09.950 got a fake TV set built inside a garage and then 00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:12.989 a very real promenade built by refugees. That 00:01:12.989 --> 00:01:15.269 is a fantastic way to frame our mission today. 00:01:15.569 --> 00:01:18.829 It's a town of disguises. On the surface, to 00:01:18.829 --> 00:01:21.170 you and me driving through, it looks like a scenic 00:01:21.170 --> 00:01:24.010 crossing point. Yeah, a postcard spot. Exactly. 00:01:24.510 --> 00:01:27.090 But if you dig into the local records, you find 00:01:27.090 --> 00:01:29.829 a prison ship for naughty boys, you find ancient 00:01:29.829 --> 00:01:32.590 hermits, and a community that has just constantly 00:01:32.590 --> 00:01:35.370 reinvented itself to survive. So the place is 00:01:35.370 --> 00:01:37.629 known in English as Menai Bridge. But if you 00:01:37.629 --> 00:01:41.310 went back in time to, say, the year 1500 and 00:01:41.310 --> 00:01:43.670 asked a local for directions to Menai Bridge... 00:01:43.670 --> 00:01:45.930 You'd get completely blank stares. Right. Because 00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:48.170 there was no bridge. Right. For the vast majority 00:01:48.170 --> 00:01:50.109 of its history, this place wasn't defined by 00:01:50.109 --> 00:01:52.030 a bridge at all. It was defined by the water. 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:55.799 The Welsh name for the town is Porthaethwy. Porthaethwy, 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:59.060 which is a bit of a mouthful if you aren't used 00:01:59.060 --> 00:02:02.000 to speaking Welsh. It can be. Yeah. But it breaks 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.000 down quite logically if we look at the etymology. 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:06.920 Okay, let's break it down. So Porth means harbor 00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:09.439 or port. Okay, pretty straightforward. And the 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:13.199 second part, Daethwy. That refers to a local 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.840 Celtic tribe. And later it became the name of 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.340 a medieval administrative district, what they 00:02:18.340 --> 00:02:21.689 called a Cmote, named Din Dethwe. So literally 00:02:21.689 --> 00:02:23.990 translated, it's the port of the Dethwe tribe. 00:02:24.330 --> 00:02:26.930 Exactly. Port of the Dethwe. That immediately 00:02:26.930 --> 00:02:29.289 changes the vibe for me. Like Menai Bridge sounds 00:02:29.289 --> 00:02:31.569 like civil engineering. Port of the Dethwe sounds 00:02:31.569 --> 00:02:34.509 like a settlement with really deep ancient roots. 00:02:34.669 --> 00:02:36.830 And those roots go deep specifically because 00:02:36.830 --> 00:02:39.669 of the geography. If you look at the Menai Strait, 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:42.409 That's the strip of water separating the island 00:02:42.409 --> 00:02:45.409 of Anglesey from the Welsh mainland. It is not 00:02:45.409 --> 00:02:48.889 a uniform width. No, it pinches in. Yes. This 00:02:48.889 --> 00:02:51.909 specific spot where the town sits is the narrowest 00:02:51.909 --> 00:02:54.250 point. The ultimate bottleneck. The bottleneck. 00:02:54.550 --> 00:02:56.770 So if you were, say, a Roman soldier in the first 00:02:56.770 --> 00:02:58.979 century. and you wanted to cross over to crush 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:01.060 the Druids on Anglesey. Which they did. Which 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:04.039 they absolutely did. Or if you were a cattle 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:05.719 drover in the Middle Ages trying to get your 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:08.360 herd to market, this is where you crossed. It 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:10.879 was the shortest distance over some very treacherous 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:13.259 water. So long before the suspension bridge, 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:16.280 this was basically a fairy town. A massive fairy 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:18.719 hub. We have written records of the ferry operating 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:23.979 there, going all the way back to 1292. Wow, 1292. 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:25.860 And it almost certainly operated for centuries 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:27.860 before anyone bothered to write it down. The 00:03:27.860 --> 00:03:30.539 entire economy was maritime. The whole town was 00:03:30.539 --> 00:03:32.639 essentially a waiting room for the tide. I just 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:34.840 imagine that creates a very specific kind of 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:36.960 atmosphere, you know, just hundreds of people 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:39.199 constantly passing through, staring at the water, 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:41.199 waiting for it to calm down enough to cross. 00:03:41.539 --> 00:03:44.319 It creates a very transient bustling energy. 00:03:44.819 --> 00:03:48.300 But then. The year 1826 arrives. Enter Thomas 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:51.300 Telford. Exactly. Thomas Telford builds his magnificent 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:53.879 suspension bridge. And suddenly overnight, you 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:56.080 don't need the ferry anymore. Which sounds like 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:58.840 an absolute economic disaster for a town built 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:01.259 around a ferry. Did the local economy just collapse? 00:04:01.419 --> 00:04:03.620 You would really think so. Yeah. But this is 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:05.620 where the town's resilience first shows up in 00:04:05.620 --> 00:04:09.240 the sources. The ferry business died. Yes. But 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:12.280 the town pivoted. They started using their waterfront 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:15.330 for shipbuilding. They became a major hub for 00:04:15.330 --> 00:04:17.990 timber export. It became a serious commercial 00:04:17.990 --> 00:04:21.290 center in its own right. They essentially refused 00:04:21.290 --> 00:04:23.290 to just become a drive -through for the bridge 00:04:23.290 --> 00:04:26.209 traffic. They adapted. Speaking of the waterfront, 00:04:26.350 --> 00:04:28.870 you mentioned it's the narrowest point, but looking 00:04:28.870 --> 00:04:30.889 at the geographical charts, it also looks like 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:33.300 the messiest point of the street. Oh, without 00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:35.319 a doubt. Like, it's not just open water. There 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:38.060 are rocks and little islands everywhere. It's 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:40.560 basically a mini archipelago within a strait. 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:43.120 It is incredibly treacherous if you don't know 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:45.399 exactly what you're doing. The locals actually 00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:47.920 call this stretch of water the Swellies. The 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:50.220 Swellies. That sounds kind of cute, but I'm guessing 00:04:50.220 --> 00:04:52.420 it's not. It is not cute. The tidal currents 00:04:52.420 --> 00:04:55.040 are ferocious. They swirl and pull. But right 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:56.680 off the shore, you have these little islands 00:04:56.680 --> 00:05:00.579 dotted around. Eunice Feilog, Eunice Gaint, Eunice 00:05:00.579 --> 00:05:03.560 Castel. And the really notable one, Church Island. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:06.939 Yes, Enos Tisilio. That is personally my favorite 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:09.300 spot for understanding the hidden layers of this 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:11.819 town. You can actually walk out to it today across 00:05:11.819 --> 00:05:14.319 a short causeway. I've seen pictures of this 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.240 in our research. It looks incredibly peaceful. 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:18.779 You've got this old stone church surrounded by 00:05:18.779 --> 00:05:21.819 trees, but it's right next to this massive, noisy 00:05:21.819 --> 00:05:24.500 modern bridge. That's the perfect contrast. Back 00:05:24.500 --> 00:05:27.560 in the 9th century, a saint named Tisilio lived 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:30.759 on that island as a hermit. Wait, a hermit? right 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:32.600 in the middle of a busy crossing point. Well, 00:05:32.660 --> 00:05:35.420 he chose it specifically because at high tide, 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.360 the water completely cut him off from the mainland. 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:41.339 It forced isolation. I always find that kind 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:43.759 of historical irony so funny. You know, a guy 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:45.819 picks a rock in the freezing water specifically 00:05:45.819 --> 00:05:48.959 to get away from people. Right. And 1200 years 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:52.180 later, we literally build a causeway so tourists 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:54.100 can just stroll out and stand exactly where he 00:05:54.100 --> 00:05:56.279 was trying to be left alone. It is deeply ironic. 00:05:56.819 --> 00:05:59.959 But that little island is sort of the spiritual 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:03.420 ancestor of the town. Even today, the modern 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:06.459 town of Menai Bridge is officially part of the 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:09.339 parish of Landisilia. Oh, named after him. Exactly. 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:11.740 So you have the flashy, heavy engineering of 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.459 Telford's Bridge on one side, and then the quiet, 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:17.279 stubborn spirituality of this 9th century hermit 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:19.800 on the other. But looking at the area today, 00:06:20.339 --> 00:06:22.620 the water isn't just about ancient history or 00:06:22.620 --> 00:06:25.120 religion, is it? Because when I was reading up 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:27.360 on the current layout of the town, I noticed 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.100 a huge cluster of science facilities. You did. 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:32.629 Menai Bridge is actually home to the School of 00:06:32.629 --> 00:06:35.069 Ocean Sciences, which is part of Bangor University. 00:06:35.689 --> 00:06:37.970 Why there? I mean, is it just for the nice view 00:06:37.970 --> 00:06:40.550 of the strait? Not at all. It's precisely because 00:06:40.550 --> 00:06:42.569 of those ferocious currents we just talked about. 00:06:43.110 --> 00:06:47.050 The swellies, the extreme tides, the unique biodiversity 00:06:47.050 --> 00:06:51.089 of that bottleneck. It serves as a living laboratory 00:06:51.089 --> 00:06:53.610 literally on their doorstep. That's amazing. 00:06:53.790 --> 00:06:55.730 They even have a dedicated research ship, the 00:06:55.730 --> 00:06:58.399 Prince Mad Dog. You'll very often see it docked 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:01.139 right at the town pier. So the exact same treacherous 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:03.379 water that kept Roman soldiers at bay is now 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:05.300 attracting marine scientists from all over the 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:08.240 world. Precisely. It's a really beautiful continuity. 00:07:08.519 --> 00:07:10.100 The town has always looked to the straight for 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:12.839 his living, whether that's ferrying, shipbuilding, 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:15.759 or now oceanography. But, and I want to shift 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:17.740 gears here, looking at the historical sources, 00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:20.920 the water wasn't always a place of learning or 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:23.779 holiness. There is a chapter in the records here 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:27.560 that genuinely creeped me out. I think I know 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:30.660 where you're going. The HMS Clio? Yes, the Clio. 00:07:30.819 --> 00:07:33.480 This is definitely the darker side of the Victorian 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:35.579 era coming to Midnight Bridge. Because when I 00:07:35.579 --> 00:07:38.620 first saw the name HMS Clio in the notes, I thought, 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:40.740 oh, a nice historic ship for tourists to look 00:07:40.740 --> 00:07:43.060 at. But the locals back then didn't see it that 00:07:43.060 --> 00:07:45.680 way at all, did they? No, they didn't. For nearly 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:49.879 50 years, from 1877 all the way to 1920, this 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:52.699 massive wooden battleship was moored permanently 00:07:52.699 --> 00:07:55.779 in the strait, and it cast a very long, very 00:07:55.779 --> 00:07:58.259 dark shadow over the town. The local rumor was 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:00.639 that it was a prism, like a floating Alcatraz 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:03.160 for kids. That was the local folklore. It was 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:05.639 so intimidating that mothers in Mani Bridge would 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:07.540 actually use it as a threat. They'd point out 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:09.579 to the water and say, behave yourself, or I'll 00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:11.629 send you to the Clio. That is some terrified 00:08:11.629 --> 00:08:13.930 Victorian parenting right there. It worked. But 00:08:13.930 --> 00:08:15.990 was it actually a prison? If you look at the 00:08:15.990 --> 00:08:18.490 official records, what was it? Technically speaking, 00:08:18.730 --> 00:08:22.730 no, culturally, maybe. Officially, it was classified 00:08:22.730 --> 00:08:24.990 as an industrial training ship. What does that 00:08:24.990 --> 00:08:27.129 mean? It was run by the North Wales Society. 00:08:27.730 --> 00:08:30.110 The goal was to take young men, we're talking 00:08:30.110 --> 00:08:33.629 boys aged 11 to 15, who are considered destitute 00:08:33.629 --> 00:08:36.870 or, quote, in need of discipline. In need of 00:08:36.870 --> 00:08:39.830 discipline. That is such a loaded, vague, Victorian 00:08:39.830 --> 00:08:43.029 phrase. It really is. It heavily implies that 00:08:43.029 --> 00:08:45.830 being poor and having bad behavior are the exact 00:08:45.830 --> 00:08:48.149 same thing. Right. The whole idea was to take 00:08:48.149 --> 00:08:51.169 these wild, impoverished boys and industrialize 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:54.090 them, turn them into useful, obedient sailors 00:08:54.090 --> 00:08:56.529 for the British Empire. So they taught them what? 00:08:56.649 --> 00:08:59.600 Sailing stuff? Yes. knots, navigation, repairing 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:02.159 sails, swabbing decks. The catch is they couldn't 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:03.840 leave. They absolutely could not leave. They 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:05.899 were stuck on that ship. And the discipline was 00:09:05.899 --> 00:09:08.759 notoriously harsh. The historical records show 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:10.779 that corporal punishment using the birch and 00:09:10.779 --> 00:09:13.840 the cane was extremely common. Some accounts 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:17.200 even described it as openly cruel. Yes, it was 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:19.879 a brutal environment. It's such a jarring visual 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:22.639 to think about. You know, you have these wealthy 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.379 Victorian tourists coming from London to admire 00:09:25.379 --> 00:09:28.419 Telford's beautiful, elegant bridge. And right 00:09:28.419 --> 00:09:31.240 below them, moored in the freezing water, is 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:34.559 this wooden ship full of trapped 11 -year -old 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:37.820 boys being beaten into submission. It reflects 00:09:37.820 --> 00:09:39.899 the Victorian mindset perfectly, doesn't it? 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:42.240 Yeah. They built an iron bridge to conquer nature, 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:44.460 and they used a wooden ship to conquer human 00:09:44.460 --> 00:09:47.240 nature. It was all entirely about control. I 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:49.679 want to completely flip the script now, because 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:52.259 we just talked about boys being trapped in Menai 00:09:52.259 --> 00:09:54.759 Bridge against their will. But just a few years 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:56.720 later, just up the road, you had a group of people 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:59.120 arriving who were incredibly desperate to be 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:02.240 there. Yes. We're moving forward to 1914 now, 00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:04.799 the outbreak of the First World War. The Belgian 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:07.059 refugees. This is a story that I think really 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:09.879 defines the true heart of the town. When the 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:12.909 German army invaded Belgium. A group of refugees 00:10:12.909 --> 00:10:15.289 fleeing the city of Mechelen managed to make 00:10:15.289 --> 00:10:17.350 it all the way across Europe to Menai Bridge. 00:10:17.409 --> 00:10:19.809 And the town just took them in. They did. Open 00:10:19.809 --> 00:10:22.450 arms. They were housed in local homes in the 00:10:22.450 --> 00:10:24.789 village hall. People shared what little they 00:10:24.789 --> 00:10:27.929 had. But here is where the historical records 00:10:27.929 --> 00:10:30.350 get really fascinating. Yeah, the skill set of 00:10:30.350 --> 00:10:33.149 these refugees. Exactly. These weren't just general 00:10:33.149 --> 00:10:35.710 laborers. The sources note that many of these 00:10:35.710 --> 00:10:38.389 men from Mechelen were highly skilled in marketry. 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:41.399 Mark, just so everyone is on the same page, that's 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:44.620 like fancy wood inlay, right? Like making those 00:10:44.620 --> 00:10:47.700 intricate geometric patterns on expensive cabinets 00:10:47.700 --> 00:10:51.139 and furniture. Exactly that. It is highly delicate, 00:10:51.419 --> 00:10:54.759 precise indoor work. It requires soft hands, 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.039 fine tools, a warm workshop. But these refugees 00:10:58.039 --> 00:10:59.980 wanted to say thank you to the town that saved 00:10:59.980 --> 00:11:02.259 them. They did. And they didn't have any money 00:11:02.259 --> 00:11:04.679 to give. So they decided to build something for 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:07.129 the community. But they didn't build a giant 00:11:07.129 --> 00:11:09.529 communal cabinet. No, they did not. They decided 00:11:09.529 --> 00:11:12.409 to build a massive stone promenade right along 00:11:12.409 --> 00:11:14.950 the edge of the Menai Strait. I just cannot get 00:11:14.950 --> 00:11:18.129 over that image. You have these fine artisans, 00:11:18.350 --> 00:11:20.769 men who are used to working with delicate veneers 00:11:20.769 --> 00:11:22.850 and varnishes out there in the Welsh weather, 00:11:23.210 --> 00:11:25.990 hauling heavy limestone rocks, battling those 00:11:25.990 --> 00:11:28.190 freezing tides we talked about just to build 00:11:28.190 --> 00:11:30.909 a seawall. It is a profound gesture of gratitude. 00:11:30.929 --> 00:11:33.220 Yeah. They took that craftsman's patience. the 00:11:33.220 --> 00:11:35.860 same patience needed for fine woodwork, and applied 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:38.620 it to brute civil engineering. Where exactly 00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:41.080 did they build it? The path runs from Church 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:43.340 Island, where our hermit was, all the way down 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:45.379 to another little tidal island called Carragher 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:48.100 -Hallon. They worked on it manually for two solid 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:51.960 years, from 1914 to 1916. And the craziest part 00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:54.879 is, it's still there. You can go walk on it today. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:57.340 You can. It's officially known as the Belgian 00:11:57.340 --> 00:12:00.279 Promenade. Now, full disclosure, it was heavily 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:03.070 rebuilt in the 1960s to reinforce it. But the 00:12:03.070 --> 00:12:05.669 soul of it, the actual foundation, is still that 00:12:05.669 --> 00:12:08.149 original refugee labor. There's a really touching 00:12:08.149 --> 00:12:10.289 note in the sources here about a ceremony they 00:12:10.289 --> 00:12:13.549 held in 1965. Yes, when they officially reopened 00:12:13.549 --> 00:12:16.090 the rebuilt promenade. The town managed to track 00:12:16.090 --> 00:12:18.669 down the only surviving refugee from that original 00:12:18.669 --> 00:12:22.509 1914 group. A man named Edward Wilhomes. Yes, 00:12:22.649 --> 00:12:25.330 and he came back to Menai Bridge to cut the ribbon. 00:12:25.509 --> 00:12:27.850 That just brings it full circle in such a beautiful 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:30.070 way. It wasn't just a construction project for 00:12:30.070 --> 00:12:32.549 them, it was their permanent mark on the world. 00:12:33.090 --> 00:12:36.129 A message saying, we were here, you helped us 00:12:36.129 --> 00:12:39.289 survive, and this is the path we left behind 00:12:39.289 --> 00:12:43.070 for you. It stands in such stark, striking contrast 00:12:43.070 --> 00:12:46.379 to the HMS Clio. Oh, completely. The ship was 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:49.539 a symbol of punishment and confinement. And then 00:12:49.539 --> 00:12:51.480 right next to it, physically right next to it 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:54.500 on the strait, the promenade is a symbol of refuge 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:57.519 and openness. It's amazing. And you know, this 00:12:57.519 --> 00:12:59.759 theme of hidden layers just keeps coming up in 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:01.480 this deep dive. We have the hidden history of 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:03.120 the refugees, the hidden history of the boys 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:06.460 on the ship. There is a part of Menai Bridge 00:13:06.460 --> 00:13:08.480 that is literally hidden in plain sight because 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.559 it's completely fake. Ah, yes. You've discovered 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:13.600 the town's Hollywood connection. Well, Hollywood 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:15.600 might be stretching it a bit. Maybe Welsh Hollywood. 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:17.220 I'm talking about the TV show. Bound around. 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:19.879 It is a very, very popular soap opera broadcast 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:22.779 on the Welsh language television channel S4C, 00:13:22.820 --> 00:13:25.320 and it has been filmed right in the town for 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:27.899 years. But they didn't just point cameras at 00:13:27.899 --> 00:13:30.200 the existing streets. They actually terraformed 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:32.639 parts of the town to fit the script. They did. 00:13:33.220 --> 00:13:35.820 There is a garage. right in the town center. 00:13:36.500 --> 00:13:40.139 An old, disused commercial garage building that 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:42.840 the production company Rondo Media basically 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:46.000 took over. And what did they do to it? They converted 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:49.120 the entire front facade of this garage into a 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.139 fake row of shops. So if you're a tourist you 00:13:51.139 --> 00:13:52.919 could be walking down the main street looking 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:55.500 for a snack and you see what looks like a nice 00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:57.700 little cafe or a newsagent. And you try to open 00:13:57.700 --> 00:14:00.200 the door and it's just a flat wooden set built 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:02.870 onto the brickwork of a garage. That sums up 00:14:02.870 --> 00:14:04.990 that Town of Disguises theme we started with 00:14:04.990 --> 00:14:08.070 so perfectly. You look at it and ask, is it a 00:14:08.070 --> 00:14:10.850 garage? No, it's a bakery. Wait, is it a bakery? 00:14:10.970 --> 00:14:13.269 No, it's a television set. It really blurs the 00:14:13.269 --> 00:14:15.759 line for the locals too. Imagine you see your 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.460 own real town on television every single night, 00:14:18.539 --> 00:14:21.620 but the town on TV is full of manufactured drama 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:24.039 and businesses that don't actually exist. It 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:26.820 adds this layer of total surrealism to daily 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:29.720 life there. It does. Speaking of surrealism and 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:32.220 drama, we absolutely have to talk about the fair. 00:14:32.620 --> 00:14:36.529 Fair Borth. Because if the TV set is fake chaos, 00:14:37.210 --> 00:14:40.110 the sources make this sound like real unadulterated 00:14:40.110 --> 00:14:42.610 chaos. Oh, it is absolute controlled chaos. This 00:14:42.610 --> 00:14:45.610 is a massive tradition in the town, dating all 00:14:45.610 --> 00:14:49.429 the way back to 1691. 1691. So again, long before 00:14:49.429 --> 00:14:52.049 Telford's bridge even existed. Centuries before. 00:14:52.429 --> 00:14:54.789 It originally started as a horse fair, then it 00:14:54.789 --> 00:14:57.700 evolved into a livestock market. Today, it's 00:14:57.700 --> 00:15:00.220 mostly modern fairground rides, food stalls, 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:02.940 and games. But when we say fair, we need to clarify 00:15:02.940 --> 00:15:05.840 for you listening. Don't picture a nice, polite 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:08.200 little event in a grassy field on the outskirts 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:10.659 of town. No, not at all. Where is it held? It 00:15:10.659 --> 00:15:13.059 is in the town. Right in the streets. The rides, 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.059 the waltzers, the bumper cars, the stalls, they 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:18.580 physically occupy the main streets of Menai Bridge. 00:15:19.019 --> 00:15:21.580 The normal traffic completely stops. The town 00:15:21.580 --> 00:15:23.639 is just taken over by neon lights and machinery. 00:15:23.779 --> 00:15:26.080 I love that intensity. It's terribly inconvenient. 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:28.039 for anyone trying to get to work, but it is tradition 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:32.159 and tradition wins. And the locals are incredibly 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.580 stubbornly specific about the timing of it, too. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:37.039 The records say it is always held on October 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:40.600 24th. Always. Every single year. Unless? Unless 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:43.299 October 24th happens to fall on a Sunday. Ah, 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:45.840 the Sunday rules. You simply cannot disrupt the 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:48.100 Welsh Sabbath with bumper cars and cotton candy. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.620 So if the 24th is a Sunday, they begrudgingly 00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:52.990 move it to the 23rd of the 25th. There's a little 00:15:52.990 --> 00:15:55.009 piece of poetry about this fair that you shared 00:15:55.009 --> 00:15:56.950 in our notes. I think it captures the sensory 00:15:56.950 --> 00:15:59.250 overload of it perfectly. And the Old Welsh stanza, 00:15:59.570 --> 00:16:09.950 yes. It translates roughly into English as, Warm 00:16:09.950 --> 00:16:12.669 beer and kick. It sounds like a very distinct, 00:16:13.149 --> 00:16:15.929 slightly chaotic Walsh version of Hig. It's all 00:16:15.929 --> 00:16:17.970 about anticipation. You have to remember, in 00:16:17.970 --> 00:16:20.570 a very hard, weather -beaten agricultural life, 00:16:20.809 --> 00:16:22.990 that this one day in October was the explosion 00:16:22.990 --> 00:16:25.610 of color and noise and socialization for the 00:16:25.610 --> 00:16:28.049 whole year. It really mattered. And it still 00:16:28.049 --> 00:16:30.570 does. By the way, while we're talking about culture, 00:16:30.690 --> 00:16:32.690 we should quickly drop in a couple of pop culture 00:16:32.690 --> 00:16:35.610 nods the town gets. Lewis Carroll actually mentions 00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:38.070 Manai Bridge in a nonsense song in Through the 00:16:38.070 --> 00:16:39.960 Looking Glass. does. The White Knight sings about 00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:42.779 it. And Alun Owen, the screenwriter who wrote 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:45.480 the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night, he's a 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:48.279 notable person from the area too. A lot of creativity 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:50.659 concentrated around that straight. Okay, looking 00:16:50.659 --> 00:16:53.080 at the time, we've got space for two more hidden 00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:56.159 things from the sources. One is a hidden garden, 00:16:56.460 --> 00:16:59.840 and the other is a stump that frankly seems physically 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:02.899 impossible. Let's start with the garden, plus 00:17:02.899 --> 00:17:06.029 Kettan. The Hidden Gardens. This is a fascinating 00:17:06.029 --> 00:17:08.089 story of resilience, very similar to the spirit 00:17:08.089 --> 00:17:11.730 of the town itself. Plus, Cadenon is a sprawling 00:17:11.730 --> 00:17:14.170 200 -acre estate tucked away in a valley near 00:17:14.170 --> 00:17:16.890 the bridge. But for decades, it was completely 00:17:16.890 --> 00:17:19.529 overgrown, just lost to the brambles. Like a 00:17:19.529 --> 00:17:22.309 literal jungle. Essentially, yes, nature took 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:24.869 it back. But then a man named Anthony Taverner 00:17:24.990 --> 00:17:27.150 bought the property and spent nearly 20 years 00:17:27.150 --> 00:17:30.130 painstakingly restoring it. He was uncovering 00:17:30.130 --> 00:17:33.450 old stone walls, historic waterfalls, hidden 00:17:33.450 --> 00:17:36.349 river paths. It was becoming a masterpiece. And 00:17:36.349 --> 00:17:40.049 then the year 2015 happened? Boxing Day 2015. 00:17:40.890 --> 00:17:43.470 Massive, unprecedented floods hit the region. 00:17:43.769 --> 00:17:46.089 The old walls of the garden were violently breached. 00:17:46.509 --> 00:17:49.210 The floodwater just scoured the valley floor. 00:17:49.210 --> 00:17:52.289 Oh no. They washed away rare, mature plants, 00:17:52.630 --> 00:17:55.420 completely destroyed the historic paths. 20 years 00:17:55.420 --> 00:17:57.640 of meticulous daily work just gone in a single 00:17:57.640 --> 00:17:59.880 night. That is genuinely heartbreaking. It was 00:17:59.880 --> 00:18:02.140 devastating. But much like the town did when 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:04.359 the ferry closed centuries earlier, they didn't 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:06.660 pack up and quit. They immediately started rebuilding. 00:18:07.059 --> 00:18:09.079 And they managed to reopen parts of it by Easter 00:18:09.079 --> 00:18:11.599 the very next year. That stubbornness again. 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:14.559 The absolute refusal to be beaten by the elements. 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:17.660 Exactly. Okay, finally, the stunt. We've talked 00:18:17.660 --> 00:18:19.380 about the suspension bridge hovering over the 00:18:19.380 --> 00:18:21.960 town this whole time. But in 1918, someone decided 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:24.339 to interact with that bridge in a way that sounds 00:18:24.339 --> 00:18:26.839 certifiably insane. You're talking about Major 00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:30.819 Thomas Elmhurst. November 12th, 1918. Which is 00:18:30.819 --> 00:18:32.960 the exact day after World War I ended. Right. 00:18:33.099 --> 00:18:34.759 The armistice has just been signed. Everyone 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.980 is euphoric. The relief is palpable. Elmhurst 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:39.920 is the commanding officer of the Royal Naval 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:43.240 Airship Station located on Anglesey. And he decides 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:45.640 he wants to celebrate. By flying an airship. 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:48.819 Where? Exactly. Under the Menai Bridge. Now hold 00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:51.420 on. Let's visualize this for everyone. An airship. 00:18:51.529 --> 00:18:55.410 We are talking about a blip. A massive gas -filled 00:18:55.410 --> 00:18:58.210 balloon. And the Menai Bridge is a suspension 00:18:58.210 --> 00:19:01.289 bridge with thick iron chains hanging down over 00:19:01.289 --> 00:19:04.069 a narrow gorge. Yes. The clearance between the 00:19:04.069 --> 00:19:05.930 water and the bridge is only about 100 feet at 00:19:05.930 --> 00:19:08.450 high tide. That's nothing. And an airship is 00:19:08.450 --> 00:19:10.509 not a precision instrument like a modern drone. 00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:14.549 It is massive, sluggish, and highly susceptible 00:19:14.549 --> 00:19:17.240 to wind. And as we've well established, a strait 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.000 is incredibly windy. So he takes this massive, 00:19:20.099 --> 00:19:22.940 highly flammable bag of hydrogen, flies it down 00:19:22.940 --> 00:19:24.980 the rocky gorge, and tries to thread the needle 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:26.880 between the choppy water and the iron chains. 00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:30.079 He did. He flew an SSE 73 airship right under 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:33.119 the deck. And he survived. That has to be the 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:36.480 ultimate hold my beer moment of 1918. It's an 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.980 incredible visual that really sticks with you. 00:19:39.150 --> 00:19:42.230 Think about it. The Great War is finally over, 00:19:42.549 --> 00:19:45.369 the entire world has changed, and this giant 00:19:45.369 --> 00:19:49.910 futuristic silver shape is gliding silently under 00:19:49.910 --> 00:19:53.569 Telford's 19th century stone arches. Wow. It's 00:19:53.569 --> 00:19:56.089 a singular moment where the heavy engineering 00:19:56.089 --> 00:19:59.119 of the bridge and the daring of the pilot just 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.140 perfectly aligned. It's such a cinematic image 00:20:02.140 --> 00:20:04.259 to end our deep dive on. You know, we started 00:20:04.259 --> 00:20:05.940 this by pointing out that most people just drive 00:20:05.940 --> 00:20:07.660 right over the bridge and never bother to look 00:20:07.660 --> 00:20:09.519 down at the town. And hopefully going through 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:12.400 these sources today has shown you why that is 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:14.779 a massive mistake. I think we definitely have, 00:20:14.819 --> 00:20:16.619 because when you drive over, you're just crossing 00:20:16.619 --> 00:20:19.279 a gap. But if you actually stop, get out, and 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:21.359 go down to the water, you realize you're standing 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:23.759 in a place where Roman legions marched, where 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:25.940 Saint prayed alone, where destitute boys were 00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:28.440 locked on a freezing ship, where great refugees 00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:31.299 built stone walls and where a guy flew a blimp 00:20:31.299 --> 00:20:34.380 underneath you. It really is a perfect microcosm 00:20:34.380 --> 00:20:37.519 of Welsh history. The bridge gets all the glossy 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:40.960 photo ops, but the town holds all the real stories. 00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:43.680 It brings me right back to that fake TV garage 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:46.920 we talked about earlier. How so? Well... We travel 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:49.539 to places all the time and we look at the official 00:20:49.539 --> 00:20:52.480 sites, right? The castles, the bridges, the things 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:54.759 that are printed on the postcards. But those 00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:57.880 are often just the sets. The real drama, the 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:01.440 actual human story, is usually hidden in the 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:05.119 weeds or under the water or in a wall built by 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:07.460 a guy who used to make cabinets in Belgium. That 00:21:07.460 --> 00:21:10.200 is exactly the difference between casual sightseeing 00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:13.319 and true understanding. The fake shops on the 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:15.759 TV set remind us that we always need to look 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:18.380 closer at what is actually real. Exactly. So 00:21:18.380 --> 00:21:20.819 next time you cross a bridge, any bridge really, 00:21:21.380 --> 00:21:22.799 maybe you take a second to wonder what's going 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:24.940 on underneath it. Thank you for taking this Deem 00:21:24.940 --> 00:21:26.660 Dive with us. It's been a real pleasure. Catch 00:21:26.660 --> 00:21:27.119 you next time.