Monument set to get a facelift

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.southwalesguardian.co.uk/new ... _facelift/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A landmark on the A40 near Llandovery is poised to be spruced-up, members of the town council heard.

Local postmaster Robin Ennion had approached the Royal Mail Group for funding to restore the Mail Coach Pillar.

The monument marks the spot where the Brecon-Carmarthen coach - a drunken driver at the reins - plunged over a precipice in 1838.

Llandovery councillors were delighted to learn Royal Mail were ready to provide funding to repair the pillar and are awaiting further news from them.

[johnsouthwales]

The monument was suggested, designed and erected by J. Bull, Inspector of Mail Coaches. £13.16s 6d was raised by public subscription in 1841. The pillar was repainted and restored by postal officials in 1930.

THIS PILLAR IS CALLED / MAIL COACH PILLAR AND ERECTED / AS A CAUTION TO MAIL COACH / DRIVERS TO KEEP FROM INTOXICATION / AND IN MEMORY OF THE GLOUCESTER / & CARMARTHEN MAIL COACH / WHICH WAS DRIVEN BY / EDWARD JENKINS ON THE 19 DAY OF / DECEMBER IN THE YEAR 1835 WHO / WAS INTOXICATED AT THE TIME & / DROVE THE MAIL ON THE WRONG / SIDE OF THE ROAD AND GOING AT / A FULL SPEED OR GALLOP MET A / CART & PERMITTED THE LEADER / TO TURN SHORT ROUND TO THE RIGHT / HAND & WENT DOWN OVER THE / PRECIPICE 121 FEET WHERE AT THE / BOTTOM NEAR THE RIVER IT CAME / AGAINST AN ASH TREE WHEN THE / COACH WAS DASHED INTO / SEVERAL PIECES / COLONEL GWYNN OF GLAN BRIAN / PARK, DANIEL JONES ESQ. OF / PENYBONT & A PERSON OF THE / NAME OF EDWARDS WERE OUTSIDE / & DAVID LLOYD HARRIS ESQ. OF / LLANDOVERY SOLICITOR AND A LAD / OF THE NAME OF KERNICK WERE INSIDE / PASSENGERS BY THE MAIL AT THE / TIME AND JOHN COMPTON GUARD. Incised on west face of pedestal: I HAVE HEARD SAY, WHERE THERE IS / A WILL, THERE IS A WAY ONE PERSON / CANNOT ASSIST MANY, BUT MANY CAN / ASSIST A FEW, AS THIS PILLAR WILL / SHEW WHICH WAS SUGGESTED / DESIGNED AND ERECTED BY J. BULL / INSPECTOR OF MAIL COACHES, WITH / THE AID OF THIRTEEN POUNDS / SIXTEEN SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE / RECEIVED BY HIM FROM FORTY ONE / SUBSCRIBERS IN THE YEAR 1841. / The work of this Pillar was / Executed by JOHN JONES / Marble & StoneMason Llanddarog / near Carmarthen. / REPAINTED AND RESTORED / BY POSTAL OFFICIALS 1930

Lichen on pedestal - Corner edge of centre supporting stone missing - Crack running through inscription on west face of pedestal

Monument to a mail coach tragedy, Llandovery, Wales. Pillar erected "as a caution to mail coach drivers to keep from intoxication and in memory of the Gloucester to Carmarthen mail coach which was driven by Edward Jenkins on the 19 day of December in the year 1835, who was intoxicated at the time and drove the mail on the wrong side of the road and going at a full speed or gallop met a cart and permitted the leader to turn short round to the right hand, & went down over the precipice 121 feet, where at the bottom, near the river it came against an ash tree when the coach was dashed into several pieces. Colonel Gwynn of Glan Bran Park, Daniel Jones Esq of Penybont and a person of the name of Edwards were outside and David Lloyd Harris Esq of Llandovery, Solicitor, and a lad of the name of Kernick were inside passengers by the mail at the time, and John Compton, Guard".

[Lounge Lizard]

A lesson to us all.
I would never have more than a couple of pints if I were in charge of a mail coach above a 121 foot precipice.

[fishtank]

Edward Jenkins, driver of the Gloucester to Carmarthen mail coach was fined £5 and dismissed from the service for drinking and driving when his vehicle overturned a couple of miles from Llandovery on its journey from Brecon.

Bloody RM management,any excuse to get rid of full-timers.
As POSTMAN often says "where was his rep"

[Lounge Lizard]

Edward Jenkins, driver of the Gloucester to Carmarthen mail coach was fined £5 and dismissed from the service for drinking and driving when his vehicle overturned a couple of miles from Llandovery on its journey from Brecon.

Bloody RM management,any excuse to get rid of full-timers.
As POSTMAN often says "where was his rep"

Gloucester to Carmarthen without the assistance of train or internal combution engine !
Us in the twentieth and twnty-first centuries - we don't know we're born.

[alfaholic]

Vandalized !

Sorry to report, but it will need more than a facelift now, as when I drove past it on Sunday last it appears to have been seriously vandalized by someone with a sledgehammer, removing the top third of the obelisk, now in pieces at the foot of the monument - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/shirokazan/4682449327/

I would not have known about it but for a mid 1920's Dunlop traveller's guide for the London - Milford Haven road - its sad that it survived intact for 175 years until now .

[NWpostie]

I saw it on Google street view, it was show damaged as well , so it must have like that for some time and no one noticed.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=mail+co ... 33023&z=16" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=mail+co ... 4,,0,15.45" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;