Recently, we were delighted to welcome John Wariner to Penrhiw Priory, where he shared a previously unknown chapter of Penrhiw’s history with us.
John’s father, Brian, and uncle, John, were evacuated from London to St Davids during the Second World War. John, aged around eight, was billeted at Penrhiw Priory, while his younger brother Brian, aged five, was housed elsewhere in St Davids.
During his recent visit, John was able to walk in his father’s footsteps, retracing the places around St Davids that his father and uncle would have known during his time as an evacuee. From Penrhiw and the Cathedral Valley to the route he would have taken to school, the visit brought a deeply personal connection to the places and landscapes that shaped his father’s experience in 1940.
John also shared two letters sent home from Penrhiw, dated 9th and 19th November 1940, along with a postcard of the Cathedral Valley dated 8th November 1940. The letters offer a glimpse into the care John received from the nuns at Penrhiw and reveal that, at the time, three boys and two girls were staying at the Priory as evacuees.
The postcard gives us another glimpse into John’s daily life, showing the Cathedral Valley and the route he would have taken to school at what is now the Ty’r Pererin Education & Pilgrimage Centre.
John later shared that the family home in London was bombed during the war. Reflecting on his family’s experience, he said:
“The fact that their home was bombed back home in London is testimony that my family and I may never have existed had it not been for the kindness of the families taking in evacuees in 1940.”
We are incredibly grateful to John for returning to Penrhiw, sharing his family’s story and helping us uncover this chapter in the history of the Priory and St Davids.
A Long Way from London
Evacuated from London during the Second World War, John and Brian found themselves staying in St Davids. Read their letters home and discover their memories of life in wartime St Davids and the Priory.
Postcard home from John
Dear Mum and Dad
The green tick is where I live and the green line is the way I go to school, the yellow is the River Alun,
Love from John
Letter home from John
Dear Mum and Dad
I have moved to a new billet, and it is very nice, I am living with nuns, and I moved from Mrs Martiner with one of the other boys, there is three other children, a boy and two girls, so there is five of us all together now, the girls sleep in one room and us three boys sleep in another room I am sleeping in a single bed and so are the other boys, it is farther to school now and when we go across the River Alun, I am using green as there is no more blue ink. I have sent a card of the cathedral, have you got it yet. I wish I was with Brian, we are both quite well and still are quite happy.
How are you quite well and happy, how are the chickens and rabbits, had any more tiles off the roof or any windows broken, can you get any bullets or bits of shrapnel. Can I have some nice planes for Christmas, or some little planes (3 inches big). One of the nuns has just given us all a penny so I am going out to spend it and post this letter, so goodbye for now, love from John and Brian.
I had a letter from auntie Phil and I have written back. Well, I must close now, love from us both, John
PS, Keep smiling, from your loving son John
Letter home from John
Dear Mum
Thank you for the letter, please can you bring me home because the boys I am staying are always fighting me.
I have joined the Cubs, and we have to pay 1 penny we go every Wednesday at 4:30. How are you and the chickens, how is auntie Jude. Can I have a 1940 diary and some handkerchiefs as I have not got any and some more paper, no envelopes yet as I have got plenty, can I have some old postcards for my calendar.
I am just going to have tea so I must close now.
Love from John and Brian, Keep Smiling
