IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Mathry, HAVERFORDWEST, SA62 5EZ

The memorial stone built into the wall opposite the former baptist chapel, Capel Nebo, by W.Lawrence in 1919, bears the name of the Rev. Griffiths, Vicar of Mathry who died on Christmas Day 1919.

Quite at home among the agricultural machinery in this farmyard in Mathry village.

Baptist chapel in Mathry. The white stone adornments on the gateposts are frequently seen in this area, and perhaps other parts of Wales too. I have seen them referred to as babalwbi/babaloobi.

These ornamental stone clumps, (usually of white quartz), are often to be seen on gateposts or along walls outside dwellings in West Wales. Apparently they are known by the charming name of babalwbi/babaloobi. In the absence of street lights they may help the chapel-(or pub-)goer to find the way home on dark nights. I don't know where I came across the name but it is confirmed here http://poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/recordf718.html?id=6132 (line 8) and the writer provides this explanation 'My niece, aged about nine, informed me that they had been to a Welsh museum which had such a piece of rock and it was called “babalwbi”. (I now think the pebble may be a piece of basalt, but the coral identification is an object which is valid inside the poem. The tunnels may be air-bubbles in a boiling flow of lava.)' Update. The name has been confirmed by blogger 'Welsh Waller' although he asserts that the material concerned is limestone. he writes: "Babalwbi is in fact Limestone and it is the so called ‘pavement’ of exposed limestone which has been eroded into the gentle curvy shapes much favoured as a wall topping in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly in the long terraces of the dark industrial valleys where its brightness must have added some cheer to the sombre dark grey and brown of the Pennant sandstone. It is illegal today to remove it from its natural environment. It can be seen in many areas of the western Brecon Beacons in the limestone uplands of the Swansea valley for instance. Quartzite is also very popular in areas where it occurs such as you mention. Only this last weekend I was moving old slabs of babalwbi in a garden near Carreg Cennen castle, believe me, it is HEAVY!" Original post can be found here https://welshwaller.wordpress.com/about/

The notice is screwed onto the wall of the public conveniences at Mathry. These conveniences are open mainly during the Spring and Summer months. However, in Winter, the nearest alternative public convenience is five miles away (approx) at Letterston Square, opposite the Something's Cooking restaurant by the A40. There is even a map below the notice to assist members of the public to locate the alternative facility at Letterston Square.

Located at the top of Mathry Hill by the small car parking area.

Four roads and several tracks meet here at this hilltop village which was once important enough to have a weekly market and an annual hiring fair. Community events still take place on the green. This is the view looking up from beside the pub, the church is immediately to the right with the shop above and the school below it.

One of two wheel crosses in the boundary wall of Mathry Church

The stile, provides an alternative route into the churchyard and allows the walker to step through the gap in the stone wall.