Thursday, 10 September 2015

Christmas in Monmouthshire




My next book is going to be a look at  the history of Christmas in Monmouthshire.  I started the research for it back in June and since then I've spent a few hours a day collecting news stories from Victorian local newspapers such as the Monmouthshire Merlin.  The cover is a work in progress I might change it completely by the time the interior of the book has been typed up.
     
Chapter one has been typed up today, it looks at preparations for Christmas.  Cards are already in the shops as I'm typing this but in the Merlin of 5th December 1829 there was no mention of Christmas whatsoever. It had been banned in the time of Cromwell and the after effects were still being felt. Christmas really did exist just in name and was another working day for the majority.  Of course as the century went on it grew in popularity especially after the drawing of Queen Victoria and family celebrating around their tree in the London Illustrated News of 1848.  Christmas commercialism really took off then, with shops all vying for attention culminating in Christmas shopping carnivals in places like Newport in 1910.  A different story though if you were poor and that's the next chapter.

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