National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
This film is part of Free
Tryfan and Tyn Towyn
Towering Tryfan and the charm of Tyn Towyn
From the collection of:
Overview
Artist Charles F Tunnicliffe creates a cinematic ‘sketch-book’ of landscape elements on Anglesey and in Snowdonia. There are shots of Tyn Towyn, a picture-book cottage on the beach at Porth Nobla, Llanfaelog, and an old ‘clapper’ bridge where cattle come to drink, a distant windmill visible. Sheep pass Dyffryn Mymbyr farmhouse, Capel Curig (once owned by T Firbank, author of ‘I Bought a Mountain’ and later by E Kirby), and Tryfan mountain and a Galloway bull loom large.
It was evident from a young age that Tunnicliffe (1901-79) had a gift for drawing. From a farm in Cheshire he won scholarships to the Macclesfield School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London. He worked as a wood engraver, a teacher and an illustrator for Ladybird books and Brooke Bond tea cards. He also illustrated books by e.g. Alison Uttley and Henry Williamson. He married Winifred Wonnacott (1902-69), a fellow RCA scholarship student from Holywood, Belfast, and they moved to ‘Shorelands’, a bungalow by the Cefni estuary, Malltraeth, in 1947. Their friends included naturalists T G ‘Wack’ Walker, Norman ‘Nomad’ Ellison, ] Ted Breeze Jones (also a photographer) and artist Kyffin Williams.