by Marc Latham
A woman in a ruby dress sits upright amongst golden marsh reeds. Her red hair hangs past staring eyes to her arms. Her dead body is found by two boys walking a white horse. The wide expanse of marshland is framed by grey mountains and blue sky.
That is how the fourth and last episode, The Girl in the Water, of the first Hinterland series started. The crime drama followed in the footsteps of Nordic noir, and was filmed around Aberystwyth on the west coast of central Wales.
Aberystwyth is a Welsh language word meaning mouth of the Ystwyth. The town is unofficially considered the capital of Ceredigion county, and often called Aber by locals, as it’s the biggest Aber in the region. Its population of 15,000, supplemented by thousands of students in term time, is the largest for seventy miles north, east and south; Ireland is much farther west, beyond the Cardigan Bay horizon and over the Irish Sea.
Hinterland was the first network television series (a combined Fiction Factory production for Welsh language channel S4C and the BBC) filmed in Ceredigion; probably because its lack of motorways makes it difficult to reach for film crews. Its stark location was part of the appeal though, according to series producer Ed Talfan on the BBC Hinterland blog page:
‘We ended up going with Aberystwyth because there is a stark beauty to it. It feels like the last place – it’s the end of the railway line and there’s an inherent drama to it because of that.’
The Cambrian railway line links Aberystwyth with England via Shrewsbury or Birmingham. The journey west becomes spectacular for natural scenery lovers after Newtown, when the wild unpopulated Cambrian Mountains tower over the line to the south. As their highest peaks are passed, the Dovey (Dyfi) estuary takes over to the north. On the other side of the water, whether the mountain horizon is commingling with cloud or sky, it captures my imagination until the seaside town of Aberdovey comes into view on the other side of the Dovey mouth.
I wrote an article about the Cambrian line railway journey still available on what was Suite 101 years ago, and this year wrote a poem about a possible railway journey from Scarborough on Britain’s east coast to Aberystwyth on the west.
In-between, I walked around Aberystwyth Castle for the first time. I usually visited the north beach to look out at Cardigan Bay if there was time between arriving in Aber at the end of the train line and my bus departure taking me deeper into the hinterland.
A legend first written down in 1250 tells of a sunken city in Cardigan Bay; a Welsh Atlantis; called Cantre’r Gwaelod (The Lowland Hundred).
The story was resonant on a December evening in 2013, as a stormy sea enticed me beyond the pier, and I walked around the promontory housing the castle for the first time as far as I remember.
Arriving in daytime the following year, the sea was even wilder, with Cyclone Dirk already having caused extensive damage to the Aberystwyth seafront. It would cause much more destruction a fortnight later.
Circling the headland again, I saw the waves looked even higher as they crashed onto the south beach and defensive walls between the sea and harbour. So I walked down as far as I could, and was rewarded with excellent views and photos of the sun setting over the highest southern peak; between swirling grey clouds and above seawater flying high into the air after battering the promenade.
On the way back I entered the castle grounds for the first time, and thought it was more impressive than it is renowned; having grown up in Ceredigion I wasn’t really aware of Aber’s castle. Although there are only three towers and walls still standing, there is enough left to imagine the castle’s size and scale.
The castle dates from the late 13th century. It was built by Edward I after he invaded Wales to subjugate it. The town grew up around the castle in the 14th century, but the castle was already deteriorating.
A Welsh uprising against the rule of Henry IV under Owain Glyndwr captured the castle in 1404. He crowned himself Prince of Wales, and held a parliament at Machynlleth. Mach is a few stops on the trainline east of Aber, where the train can divide into two: one continuing east-west, and the other riding the south-north coast line to Pwllheli. The rebellion lost the castle in 1408, and order was restored under Henry V by 1415.
There were fortresses in Aber before Aberystwyth Castle. A fort was built just south of the current town in the 12th century after the Normans swept west from England on the way to Ireland after defeating Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Also on the southern outskirts, overlooking modern Penparcau, a Bronze Age hillfort has been found and partially excavated on Dinas Maelor. In Penparcau, evidence of Mesolithic Age flint knapping suggests the area was populated in the Stone Age.
Aber town centre is quite small and easy to navigate. Walking out from the station the north beach is straight ahead past a pub sarcastically named after Lord Beechings. Lord Beeching’s report closed down the fifty-miles long Aberystwyth to Carmarthen train line linking mid and south Wales in 1965.
Since Aber’s harbour was built, the River Ystwyth doesn’t actually run through the town, but the River Rheidol does. Aberystwyth is at the confluence of the two rivers. There is a scenic Vale of Rheidol train line from Aber to Devil’s Bridge on a narrow gauge steam locomotive climbing 700 feet (200 metres).
That railway line was opened in 1902, a year after the third bridge at Devil’s Bridge. That iron bridge was built on top of a steel bridge built in 1753; the latter was built on top of the original bridge, which was built between 1075 and 1200.
Under the bridges, the Mynach falls 300 feet in five steps to the Rheidol. The Devil’s Bridge name was inspired by a local legend that thought the original bridge was too difficult to build, so the Devil must have built it in exchange for the first soul that crossed. An old woman tricked the Devil by sending her dog onto the bridge. It’s a nice story, but a shame for her dog!
Devil’s Bridge was the setting for the first episode of Hinterland, when a missing woman’s body was found on one of the steps under the Mynach water.
If I was Hinterland’s protagonist, DCI Tom Mathias, investigating the series evidence mentioned in this article, I’d think the water, women and horses clues point to important symbols in Celtic mythology; while red is the symbolic national colour of Wales. I’d conclude that Hinterland used ancient symbolism and cultural folklore in a modern Welsh crime drama, and that its brooding gloomy characters and storylines mirror the normally grey weather and proud chequered history. Most of the Hinterland action took place in the countryside inland from Aberystwyth; a natural world altered very little since tribes first travelled the Cambrian Mountains after the last Ice Age.
If You Go:
♦ Aber tourist office: www.visitmidwales.co.uk
♦ Webpage for the steam train: http://www.trainavapeur.com. It runs daily from April 1 to August 31 then until November for 5 to 6 days a week. An adult return fare was €11 and a child’s was €7.50. One way takes 40 minutes.
♦ Cambrian railway line info: www.aberystwyth.org.uk/attractions/cambrian-coast-railway-line.shtml
♦ Vale of Rheidol railway info: www.rheidolrailway.co.uk
♦ Aberystwyth castle: www.castlewales.com/aberystw.html
♦ Hinterland website: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pqypt
♦ My east-west railway poem: fmpoetry.wordpress.com
♦ My Cambrian railway article: suite.io/marc-latham/1a4b2yv
About the author:
Marc Latham travelled to all the populated continents during his twenties. He studied during his thirties, including a BA in History, and has been writing during his forties. He writes out of the www.greenygrey.co.uk website.
All photos by Marc Latham.
From London to York
Rising the next morning to very un-English like weather ( read “sunny” ) the three of us headed for Petersfield, south of London. During our stay this would be our home away from home. Founded in the 12th century by William Fitz Robert the second Earl of Gloucester as a market town, Petersfield grew in importance because of its location on a direct route north to London and south to the coast. Like those travelers before us we took advantage of the locale returning most days to a late meal and a pint at the pub. Albeit we had the benefit of modern travel and Brit Rail passes purchased before leaving Canada which offered us sizeable fare savings.
A short visit can’t do justice to all that York offers but the highlights of our visit include Jorvik on the site of a Viking village complete with its workshops to latrines. The Shambles, a medieval street were butchers dressed and displayed their wares. Thomas Herbert House on the site of a Lord Mayor of London Christopher Herbert’s house of 1620. Could I be related? Of course the Ghost Walk, an entertaining stroll through after hours York and a great way to learn the town’s darker history followed by a glass of the local bitters and Cornish pasties at the Golden Fleece Pub. Do you sense a bedtime ritual? To quickly our stay in York is over and we board the return train to Petersfield. Our next excursion, Windsor.
During my walk-about I meandered down narrow roads, past Market Cross House which is said to have a secret passage way used by King Charles II for private trysts. Continuing through public and some private gardens. After a lengthy stroll along the Thames I found myself at Eton College where since 1440 A.D. Olde Blighty’s future leaders have been educated. A quick check of my watch and I realize that I have barely enough time for a fly-by sandwich and an Ale at the Bel and The Dragon before I am to meet up with the women.
Over that ale we decided that London should be next on our agenda even if we could not agree on what to do once there. Fortunately by the time we had arrived at Waterloo Station a compromise had been reached. We spent the day doing the tourist things. Crossing the Thames by the Waterloo Bridge we continued along Victoria Embankment, through the gardens of the same name finding our way to Covent Gardens. There we stopped at Pips Dish before moving on to Trafalgar Square where we took the Tube to Harrods for a little shopping. I vowed that my next time in London would be spent in exploration.
Being a fan of Dan Brown‘s The DaVinci Code, locating the Knights of the Templar Church was a must do. As my time in England was rapidly passing I needed to get to it. Some say that the Temple Church is so named for Knights Templar, 12th century pious noblemen who set out to protect pilgrims travelling to the holy land. Others insist the Temple Church was a medieval bribe designed to silence the Knights Templar as they knew a little to much of the Catholic Church’s looting and pillaging of which they played a major role. Likely there is some truth in either version. After following a circuitous route in an effort to find the Temple Church and about to give up I spotted it nestled between much larger buildings in a back alley between London’s Fleet St. and Pump Ct. around the corner from Ye Olde Cock Tavern, fittingly in the centre of a district rife with solicitor’s chambers. Unfortunately, this day the church was closed.
For the anniversary a new state-of-the-art SeaCity Museum was opened at Havelock Road, within the Cultural Quarter of Southampton. This museum has now replaced the former, and smaller, Maritime Museum which was closer to the seafront. As the SeaCity Museum is located within a former court building it does not win any prizes for innovative architecture!
Southampton’s Titanic Story is the exhibition that covers the brief history of the Titanic. A large diagram of the Titanic is drawn out on one wall which displays the ship’s layout and various compartments such as kitchens, boiler rooms, cafés, the Grand Staircase, cabins, lifts etc. Behind this there are glass cases which display Titanic documents and artefacts such as the captain’s sword. Various bits and pieces from other similar ships are also included in the exhibition like the Olympic’s Honour and Glory Panel, which was very similar to the panel included at the Grand Staircase of the Titanic.
Beyond the SeaCity Museum, the Cultural Quarter also includes the City Art Gallery which displays a variety of paintings. Although not exactly the Louvre, it is still renowned for its collections. For the Titanic anniversary this gallery is dominated by hundreds of Titanic paintings. These probably won’t always be included in the City Art Gallery, but there are always a variety of paintings displayed at the gallery.
However, Southampton is not just famous for ships. Famous aircraft have also ‘taken off’ at this site in the UK. Among them, the first Spitfire was constructed at Southampton’s assembly lines during the 1930s. Unlike the Titanic, this plane did not go down so easily as it was an influential RAF aircraft during World War Two.
So, when in Southampton visit the SeaCity Museum, Mayflower Theater, Solent Sky Museum, City Art Gallery or the Bargate Monument Gallery. You can reach Southampton via the air, rail or the sea. However you travel, the trip should be a smoother one than the Titanic’s maiden voyage!
It’s Liverpool’s architecture that grabs you first of all, even before you begin to explore the history behind it. Liverpool’s history is tied up in its past as a great Atlantic port and the buildings on the waterfront, known locally as the Three Graces, symbolize the wealth that international trade once brought to Liverpool. The most iconic building of all, the Liver Building, sits proudly looking over the River Mersey and local legend has it that if the Liver Bird sat on top of the building ever flies away, the city will crumble. The Waterfront is a part of Liverpool’s World Heritage Site which winds through the docklands and across the Ropewalks area up to the St. George’s Quarter which also includes the Walker Art Gallery and the recently re-furbished Central Library.
There are a number of fascinating museums down at the Pier Head and in the Albert Dock area. The Merseyside Maritime Museum is located near to historical sites such as the Piermaster’s House and the Canning Docks. It also houses exhibitions highlighting Liverpool’s involvement with the Titanic and the Battle of the Atlantic. The International Slavery Museum helps visitors and locals understand how Liverpool’s past is rooted in the slave trade. Over 5000 slave ships left Liverpool docks between 1695 and 1807, undoubtedly contributing to the growth and success of the city during this period. The museum includes exhibitions about life in West Africa and the Legacies of Slavery. Liverpool’s Chinatown is also well worth a visit. It was the first established Chinatown in Europe and you can wander into the area through a huge ceremonial Chinese arch. The area is mainly a home to restaurant and grocery shops these days but there is a range of cultural events held throughout the year with Chinese New Year seen as a major event in the city.
The Dartmouth Steam Railway is a preserved steam railway line that runs from Paignton through to Dartmouth. This is one of the few remaining U.K. steam railway lines which has a variety of rolling stock locomotives. Locomotives such as the 4277 Hercules, 7827 Lydham Manor and 75014 Braveheart run the 6.7 mile railway from Paignton to Kingswear.
Among the more notable buildings in a Paignton is Oldway Mansion. This is a large 19th century building built in the same style of the Palace of Versailles. I visited the intriguing building in Paignton, which is something of an architectural landmark.
On the final couple days of my holiday the weather was a little better, and I went into two of the neighbouring towns. The first I visited was Torquay. Torquay is a town that includes exotic gardens along its seafront, Living Coasts, Kents Cavern, Babbacombe Model Village and Cockington Court which is about a mile away.
