Dylan Thomas Boathouse
The Boathouse, Laugharne
Dylan Thomas Boathouse is located in Carmarthenshire
Dylan Thomas Boathouse
Location within Carmarthenshire
LocationLaugharne, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Coordinates51°46′20″N 4°27′22″W / 51.7722°N 4.4562°W / 51.7722; -4.4562
TypeHistoric house museum
OwnerCarmarthenshire County Council
WebsiteDylan Thomas Boathouse

The Boathouse in Laugharne, Wales, was where Dylan Thomas lived with his family during his last four years between 1949 and 1953. The house is set in a cliff overlooking the Tâf estuary and is where he wrote many of his major pieces. It has been suggested that he wrote Under Milk Wood here but more recent research suggests that fewer than 300 lines of the play were written in Laugharne.[1][2]

History

The writing shed used by Dylan Thomas, close to The Boathouse, overlooking the estuary of the River Taf

There are no records of the house being in existence prior to 1834, when it was leased by the local authority to a family named Scourfield.[3] The road in which it stands was originally called Cliff Road, but has been renamed to Dylan's Walk.[4]

Thomas first visited the village of Laugharne with a friend, the poet Glyn Jones, in 1934 and was attracted to it. He moved there four years later with his wife Caitlin, and the Boat House was later bought for him by Margaret Taylor, first wife of the historian A. J. P. Taylor. Dylan and Caitlin brought up their three children, Aeronwy, Llewellyn and Colm. For his parents, Thomas rented "Pelican House" in the town, and they lived there from 1949 until his father's death in 1953.[5] After Dylan's own death in 1953, Caitlin Thomas was keen to leave Laugharne because of its painful memories.[6]

Thomas used a shed a little further along Cliff Road as his retreat, and did most of his writing there while he lived at the Boathouse. His poem, "Over Sir John's Hill", celebrated the view of the estuary it gave him, Sir John's Hill being located across the bay.[7]

The Boathouse, viewed across the foreshore, from the south

Thomas's boathouse inspired Roald Dahl to create his own writing hut at his Gipsy House, his home in Buckinghamshire.[8]

Museum

The house is now owned by the Carmarthenshire County Council and serves as a museum,[3] open to the public for most of the year. It contains Thomas memorabilia and some of the original furniture, including Dylan's father's desk. The house receives about 15,000 visitors a year. The interior has been returned to its 1950s appearance, with a recording of Thomas's voice playing in the background. Close to the main house is a clifftop "writing shed" where Thomas spent much of his time.[9] The interior of the shed is reconstructed with a writing table littered with discarded papers as though Thomas were in the process of working on a book.[10][11]

The exhibits include a bust of Dylan Thomas, formerly owned by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, a letter from former US President Jimmy Carter, and a 1936 photograph of Thomas, notable for having been taken into space on board the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1998.[12]

References

  1. ↑ D N Thomas (2004). Dylan Remembered. Volume Two, 1935-53. Seren. p. 285-313. ISBN 9781854113634.
  2. ↑ Published articles collected at https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/birth-of-under-milk-wood
  3. 1 2 "Dylan Thomas' Boathouse, Laugharne". History Points. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  4. ↑ James A. Davies (15 February 2014). Dylan Thomas’s Swansea, Gower and Laugharne. University of Wales Press. pp. 5–. ISBN 978-1-78316-133-1.
  5. ↑ "The life of Dylan Thomas" at newquay-westwales.co.uk
  6. ↑ Ferris, Paul (1993). Caitlin: The Life of Caitlin Thomas. London: Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-6290-1. pg 151.
  7. ↑ William Christie (20 November 2014). Dylan Thomas: A Literary Life. Springer. pp. 109–. ISBN 978-1-137-32257-9.
  8. ↑ "How Dylan Thomas's writing shed inspired Roald Dahl". BBC News. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  9. ↑ "Dylan Thomas in Carmarthenshire". Discovering Carmarthenshire. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  10. ↑ David Atkinson; Neil Wilson (2007). Wales. Lonely Planet. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-74104-538-3.
  11. ↑ Peacock, Charlotte (25 January 2021). "Where writers write: Dylan Thomas's writing shed". www.charlottepeacock.co.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  12. ↑ Shirley Hoover Biggers (23 September 2002). British Author House Museums and Other Memorials: A Guide to Sites in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. McFarland. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-7864-1268-6.
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