Five of us met at the Hall and made our way to St Fagans, parking in the car park behind the Old Post. We entered the gardens of St Fagans House via the little wrought iron turnstile and spent a good hour wandering through the magnificent gardens, visiting the old woollen mill on our way, which had been transported all the way from Llanwrtyd Wells with Dewi Jones hard at work spinning his yarn.
We exited via the main entrance and were immediately confronted by hordes of visitors. We returned to the church then took a footpath to the north of the village which brought us out into an open field overlooking the beautiful cricket ground.
Here we stopped on a low ridge to learn about the battle of St Fagans which took place in front of us on 8th May 1648. This was a battle in the second English Civil War between some Royalist forces led by Rowland Laugharne and the Parliamentarian forces led by Thomas Horton. The Royalists were defeated losing many men killed or captured. Cromwell subsequently arrived with more men and helped to take part in the eventual capture of Tenby Castle and Pembroke Castle.
This effectively put an end to any further Welsh uprisings!
Continuing our walk we went to the end of the sports fields where Phil once played football, and took a path back across fields and eventually back to our car. We then enjoyed some much needed sustenance in the Old Post before returning home.
Total distance about 4 miles and the weather remained dry throughout.
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