Letter from Lane End 1868 on a Sunday Evening at 4.00 p.m. (General)

by rookancestrybest , United Kingdom, Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 10:12 (5802 days ago)

I thought this might give some people an insight into life in 1868 in Coleford/Lane End:
"My Dear Wife! Just arrived. I was at Monmouth at half past 12 0'clock. Mr. Stones of Scatterford over took me at Wye Bridge and gave me a lift to the Cheesehordage. I walked quietly to Wite[??]lft, had 2 pints of ale. Walked quietly home. Wounde up the clock and started it. The poor cat was glad to see me and the pig was all right..." He goes on to talk about a place called "The Cwmb" I don't know where that is? In other letters a place called Cwm is referred to but there are so many places in Monmouthshire which could fit the bill. Can anyone throw light onto it? It's interesting to see that they kept a pig. The lift he is talking about must have been in some sort of horse drawn vehicle as it is way before the days of cars and lorries. Does the cheesehordage still exist? Wite[??]lft is only how I have attempted to transcribe a word which has become faded and stained by the folds of the envelope. I don't know where his wife was at the time as he's written it from where they lived but I know she had some relatives in the mysterious place called Cwm so I am wondering if she was staying there. I am aware that Cwm is the Welsh word for a lake or tarn (learnt it in geography many moons ago!!)