The Postcard
A postcard published by T. Roberts, The Stores, Bodelwyddan that was posted in Abergele on Wednesday the 18th. August 1943 to:
Miss G.H.,
‘Rushmere’,
Sompting Road,
Lancing,
Sussex.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear Gladys,
We are having a marvellous
time. The weather is glorious.
The College is very much
like Arundel Castle.
Yesterday we had to make up
our own P.T. table and a
shaking dance, and teach the
students.
Tomorrow we are going to
Rhyll – it is 6 miles from here.
This evening we played netball
and visited the church made of
marble. This is a picture of the
font there.
Please give my love to all at
work, also your mother and
gran and all the family.
Rose sends her love.
Lots of love,
From Ivy".
Lowther College
The college to which Ivy referred was called Lowther College. It was a private school for girls in the United Kingdom in the late 19th. and 20th. centuries.
The school was originally formed in 1896 at Lytham St. Annes in Lancashire, by Mrs. Florence Morris (later Lindley). In 1920 the school moved to Bodelwyddan Castle, in North Wales, as tenants; the school purchased the property five years later, in 1925.
Mrs Lindley continued as headmistress of the college until 1927, when the college was sold to Allied Schools.
The school is thought to have been one of the first private schools for girls to have its own swimming pool. It also had a private golf course. The Lowther College Tableaux were well regarded within the community for their musical excellence.
Boys were admitted from 1977.
The school closed in 1982 due to financial problems.
The Marble Church
St Margaret’s Church (nicknamed The Marble Church), in Bodelwyddan, is a Gothic style parish church in the lower Vale of Clwyd in Denbighshire, and is visible for many miles because of its 202 foot spire.
Lady Willoughby de Broke
The church was erected by Lady Margaret Willoughby de Broke (daughter of Sir John Williams of nearby Bodelwyddan Castle) in memory of her husband, Henry Peyto-Verney, 16th. Baron Willoughby de Broke.
Lady Broke laid the foundation stone on the 24th. July 1856, and the new church was consecrated on the 23rd. August 1860 after construction at a cost of £60,000.
When it was built, the new church was nicknamed ‘The Pearl of the Vale’.
Is it just a coincidence that Lady Margaret named the church after Saint Margaret? In Biarritz, Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, built a neo-Gothic church in 1864 and named it – you guessed it – Sainte-Eugénie.
Interior Features of the Church
St. Margaret’s Church contains fourteen varieties of marble, including pillars made of Belgian Red marble. A nave entrance is made from Anglesey marble, and supporting columns are of Languedoc marble on bases of Purbeck marble.
St. Margaret’s also contains elaborate woodwork, and in the tower can be found windows of stained glass featuring Saint Margaret and Saint Kentigern. It is a popular tourist destination.
Going Grey
Until the latter part of the 20th century the church, and in particular its high steeple, was very distinctive because it was so white. With the passage of time however, pollution has resulted in the colour becoming more grey, and therefore more like other stone buildings. Sounds like it’s time for St. Margaret’s to have a good clean.
The 1919 Shooting
The church is also sadly known as the place where young Canadian soldiers were laid to rest in 1919 after being shot in what was called an act of mutiny.
In truth, they were just anxious to get demobbed and shipped home after the war, and ended up rioting at the nearby Kinmel military camp where they were staying.
St. Margaret’s Font
The sculpted figures are modelled on two sisters, Mary and Arabella, who were daughters of Sir John Williams of Bodelwyddan Castle. The two girls drowned when they fell through the ice on a frozen lake in the castle grounds. The sisters are buried side by side in the churchyard.
Operation Hydra
So what else happened on the day that Ivy posted the card to Gladys?
Well, on the 18th. August 1943, in Operation Hydra, three waves of Royal Air Force bombers struck Peenemünde, the birthplace of the V2 rocket. Eight RAF bombers were sent toward Berlin to divert German air defences.
German General Hans Jeschonnek shot himself after learning about the damage. The suicide was covered up by Hermann Göring to preserve German morale and to prevent the enemy powers from gaining any intelligence advantages.
The Sinking of a U-Boat
Also on the 18th. August 1943, the German submarine U-403 was depth-charged and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by a Vickers Wellington of RAF No. 344 Squadron.
