Britain on Film: Memory Lanes – Rural Wales on Film

A selection of films from the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales

These films have been digitised as part of the British Film Institute’s ‘Unlocking Film Heritage’ project, with National Lottery funding. In this selection, we catch a rare glimpse of the characters and communities of 20th century Wales. From rural and village life to community celebration, we discover that life in the old days was not black and white at all, and that Welsh cameras from Anglesey to Monmouthshire captured aspects of life that were untouched by the newsreels of Hollywood.

• Conway Castle – Panoramic View of Conway on the L & N.W Railway (1898) 2.30min
• Newport Hospital Carnival (1922) 11min
• Gwylliaid Cochion Mawaddwy (The Bandits of Mawddwy) (1936) 22min
• The Port of Cardiff 2 (1943) 5.40min
• Haymaking at Trebettyn (1949) 3min
• Yr Etifeddiaeth (1949) 7 min
• Hwyl a Sbri gyda Sefydliad y Merched, a Thrip Capel, Brynsiencyn (1949) 1min
• Merthyr Vale and Aberfan – Festival of Britain Festivities (1951) 3min
• The Royal Eisteddfod of Wales (1958) 2min
• Carnival Day – Amlwch (1960) 4.25min
• Llythyr o Gymru (A Letter from Wales) (1953) 15min