These are contributions sent by George Owen.At the top is a drawing made with a great deal of artistic licence and, if that’s Marine Lake top right, the picture is not as old as it looks. Marine Lake opened in 1895, and so the drawing would be c.1900.
The second drawing is captioned ‘Rhyl Pier and buildings pre-1880’ and is interesting if only because we never got the buildings. The illustration may be one of several speculative plans commissioned by the private company that owned the pier, in advance of deciding to construct the pier’s Grand Pavilion (opened 1891).
The third picture shows the scene after the Grand Pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1901. A little wooden theatre was erected – the Pier Amphitheatre – which was rebuilt in brick in the 1920s and occupied by Billie Manders’ Quaintesques season after season. On that site now is the Seaquarium.
The colour photo, presumably 1950s, shows the view down Wellington Road from Foryd Bridge.
Finally, we have a mystery picture of which George says: “The portrait of a lady has intrigued me for years. It was among my father’s photos but I don’t know who she is or whether she is a relation. Photographer was J. Hughes, described on back of the portrait as a landscape photographer. He may have been local.”
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