Volume Eight - Pre-Victorian to the present day - more aspects - Chains at Penarth Dock - Macey, Mules and Wallace Family History . . .

‘The King opens the new dock. May and Fanny go to Cardiff and say they had a good view of the King and Queen and Princess Victoria. Joe, Amy, Emily and Arthur go to Cardiff to see the illuminations in the evening. I work until 8.00pm’.

The following day was William’s last entry in the diary. It said – Sunday 14th July – I go to Chapel alone except my friend Mr Hayden. He called for me as usual. William died on Sunday the 28th July, 1907, just three months after losing his wife. He was buried at St Augustine’s Church (the Top Church).

2b) Other Cornish Mules come to Penarth

In the 1860’s and 1870’s, work in agriculture was diminishing, with mechanisation coming to rural areas. North Cornwall was no exception. Attracted by the new employment opportunities being offered in Cardiff and Penarth in the 1870’s, relatives and friends of William Mules also left the area for a new life in Penarth.

The journey by horse and carriage was rough and long, 170 miles. There is therefore reference to some West Country families coming by boat, as this was just 90 miles across the Seven Estuary. Many Cornish families settled in Cardiff. One landlord named his pub in Henry Street, Butetown ‘The Cornish Mount’ (left). It was demolished in 1967, the last witness to a considerable migration. In 1861, Daniel Mules, and his wife Rebecca had moved to Canton Cardiff. By 1871, they had moved to 42 John Street, Penarth with their 5 children. Living with them was Mary Ann Williams (19), a servant. Daniel could afford a servant because he was a ‘foreman coal shipper’.

'The Cornish Mount - Butetown, Cardiff - a Hancock's Brewery public house.