Mair Lloyd Thomas
My work for the BA (Hons) Photography is based on Victorian photographers who visited Llandudno in the mid 19th Century. Reflecting on the fact that Llandudo only developed into a town a century before in the mid 17 hundreds, due to the vast wealth of the Mostyn family that had been made from their coal mining interests in North Wales. One of the family members, Edward Mostyn introduced through Parliament, the Enclosure Act of 1848, that once passed enabled his brother, Lloyd-Mostyn (1795-1884) to take full advantage of the act by buying 832 acres of Llandudno land of 955 acres made available by the commissioner. As a result of this, the local people lost their rights to common land with some losing their homes. One such example was the Ty Unnos built near the beach (now North Parade) and other dwellings such as Madoc Street where people could not afford the Pepper Corn rents that are still collected to this day by the Mostyn Estate.
Llandudno as we know it today was designed by Owen Williams of Liverpool, with a design based on a grid system that sat between the two beaches of East and West Shore. Following the ‘1871 BANK HOLIDAY ACT’, Llandudno became a popular destination for ordinary workers who were taking advantage of their time off and aspiring to enjoy the pleasures known to the upper classes. The addition of a railway station in Llandudno quickly saw Llandudno bloom as a tourist resort. Having been born and raised in Llandudno, the opportunity to research the early Victorian photographers such as Fracis Frith, Francis Bedford, Thomas Edge, Roger Fenton and W. Sylvester la Roche has been a fascinating journey. Standing where they stood and recreating the views that they made makes me appreciate the passage of time, the history that has unfolded and the power of photography to record the moment for future generations to comprehend.
