Ffeil NLW MS 24097B - Tours of England and Wales

Tour journal, 1835-1837, of Joseph Gurney Barclay, banker and astronomer, containing accounts of tours of parts of England, 1836, and of North Wales, 1837.
The English tour, 16 March-7 April 1836 (pp. 1-33), consists of Barclay's journey from London, via Matlock and Wakefield, to Darlington, mostly in the company of his second cousin Samuel Gurney, mainly to visit members of their extended, interlinked families of fellow Quaker bankers and philanthropists, the Leatham family in Wakefield, including the brothers William Henry and [John] Arthington Leatham (pp. 14-24), and the Backhouse and Pease families in Darlington, notably Jonathan Backhouse and Joseph Pease, MP (pp. 26-31). On the Welsh tour, 26 [recte 25] July-[9] August 1837 (pp. 33-106), Barclay travelled with his father and four sisters in a Britzka from London to Gloucestershire, explored the lower Wye Valley (pp. 45-47), then journeyed north via Brecon, Rhayader, Aberystwyth, Machynlleth, Dolgellau, Harlech, Tremadog, Llanberis, Bangor and Beaumaris, ending in Conway (pp. 103-106). Barclay describes the scenery of Matlock, Derbyshire (pp. 6-9); a visit to the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton at Walton Hall, Wakefield (pp. 16-19); a railway journey from Darlington to Middlesbrough with his uncle, Joseph Pease (pp. 29-30); a visit to Devil's Bridge, Cardiganshire (pp. 53-57); the ascent of Cader Idris (pp. 61-69) and an excursion to see waterfalls on the River Mawddach (pp. 70-77), both in the company of local guide Robert Pugh; and the ascent of Snowdon (pp. 93-97). Also included is a short account of the wildlife of Wales, as described to him by Robert Pugh (pp. 169-172). A small pen and ink sketch of the summit of Snowdon is on p. 95. An almanac for 1835 is bound into the volume (pp. 181-196, inverted text).