During the 1980s, the Western Telegraph had published some books containing small history features of pictures old and new.
This week, we will be taking a look at one of these articles and seeing how Angle has changed between 1904, 1980 and then we have added an image in from 2021.
The article was published on June 19, 1980, and reads: “The South Pembrokeshire village of Angle has scarcely changed in the 76 years which separated these two pictures, one taken in 1904 and the other in 1980.”
Looking at Angle today, the same location in the 2021 photo looks different just in colours, but as the older images are black and white, there is not much to say about the colours of the buildings in the original pictures.
The article continues: “Angle Estate has belonged to the Mirehouse family, since John Mirehouse, a Cambridge agricultural student, came from Cumberland to farm at Brownslade in the 1800s. Brownslade is now part of the Army’s Castlemartin tank ranges.
“In 1904 Colonel B.W.B Mirehouse was the local landlord at Angle Hall, and would have owned all the houses pictured in the old photograph.
“One of the best known Angle residents, Mrs. Lily Rees – always known as ‘Aunty Lil’ – lived in No.11, Angle, one of the row of cottages in these pictures. Aunty Lil died in 1975 and was a girl of ten, when the Loch Shiel, a ship with a cargo of whisky, went down in January 1894, on Thorn Island. She used to tell how she smuggled whisky from the cargo off the beach, by hiding the bottles in her long underwear.
“As a young woman, Aunty Lil was in service with the Mirehouse family. Her death in 1975 marked the passing of an era in the Angle community.”
Following this section of the article, there is a bit about the Globe Hotel, which appears in both of the old photos and it is still a feature in Angle in the 2021 image.
“The Globe Hotel, which appears in both pictures, with apparently the same sign, is first mentioned in records in 1871, when it was kept by a couple George and Maria Griffiths. It was probably built about 1865, and during World War One, it was used as a military convalescent hospital. During World War Two, military personnel were billeted there.
“Angle Post Office, the first building on the left in today’s picture (the 1980 image) – has changed very little in the intervening years, and has been in the same family for three generations.
“Major J.N.S. Allen-Mirehouse remembers when one of the cottages was a blacksmith’s shop, in the 1920s – probably doing work for the farmhouse, pictured right among the trees. The farmhouse is now occupied by Mrs. Frances Rees, an Angle resident for 43 years.
“The brook which used to carry away the surface water, was culverted a few years ago. But, basically, this picturesque village has changed very little over the years.”
Today, in 2023, the Angle Post Office is no longer in place.
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