Wales 2: Laugharne: Dylan Thomas and the Boat House

Dylan Thomas spent the last four years of his life, 1949-1953, living with his wife and children in the Boat House at Laugharne. In his book Quite early one morning he wrote: “I have been living now for fifteen years or more in this timeless, beautiful, barmy (both spellings) town … nowhere like it anywhere at all.”

The Boat House, Laugharne                 Photo: Ann Barrie

The Boat House is a place of pilgrimage for many people, and I was pleased that Valerie and I visited first thing in the morning, while it was still quiet. For three hours we wandered through the furnished rooms, enjoying the memorabilia, reading newspaper accounts, listening to recordings and studying the photos on the walls. One photo shows Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlan in the ferry (rowboat) that used to run between Laugharne and the Llangain Peninsula; they look windblown and relaxed; in the boat with them is a woman, stylishly dressed.  Another photo shows assembled friends and family, including Thomas's mother, Florence, at the Pelican Hotel the day of his funeral in 1953.

Playing continuously was a recording of Dylan Thomas reading Under Milk Wood, his famous radio drama set in Laugharne, which he wrote in 1953. Thomas spoke with a rich voice honed by elocution lessons in his youth; he did not have a Welsh accent. We studied Under Milk Wood at high school, and senior pupils performed it to an audience. I vividly recall the beautiful face and dark hair of a girl one year older than me, who spoke a soliloquy wearing a long, white nightdress.

In one of the letters on display, written before his marriage, Dylan Thomas told Caitlan Macnamara how much he loved her, and he begged her, “Write to me soon and tell me you really mean what you said about loving me too. If you don’t, I shall cut my throat or go to the pictures.” He and Caitlan married in the Penzance Registry Office in 1937. He had numerous affairs with other women.

A video, playing on a continuous loop, gave  an insight into his childhood in Swansea. I am not familiar with Swansea, and I imagined it to be industrial, but the young Dylan Thomas had a large wooded park at the end of his street where his imagination was allowed to run free. The video also gave clues to what made Dylan Thomas a literary man: his father had a first class honours degree from the University College of Wales, and Dylan Thomas grew up in a house full of books; also, he had the opportunity, as a youth, to associate with intellectuals in Swansea.

The video made the point that Dylan Thomas’s environment had to be specific, and, most important, it had to include Wales. In this teens he enjoyed living a Bohemian life in London, but he always returned to Wales.  Although he was found unfit for military service, World War II forced him away, again and again, from Wales – he became a professional radio broadcaster in 1943, as this provided an income. (His financial woes are well documented.)

Although the Boathouse appears a reasonable size, it would have been hard for Dylan Thomas to find a quiet spot in which to work. He did his writing in a shed converted from a small garage. As you see from the following photo, the room is set up with Thomas’s jacket thrown over a chair, and pictures from magazines on the wall. His daughter, Aeronwy Thomas, in her memoir My Father’s Places, explains that it was Caitlan who pinned these pictures to the wall, and Dylan did not pay them much attention. Caitlan would usher him to the shed every afternoon and guard his writing time. 

Dylan Thomas's writing shed, Laugharne    Photo: Ann Barrie

Dylan Thomas's writing shed, Laugharne    Photo: Ann Barrie

Before leaving the Boat House we enjoyed a cup of coffee in the tearooms. Here is a photo of the Welsh language menu (the first entries translate to Beverages – Teas – pot of tea per person; and under Coffees the first entry is Regular coffee). The Welsh language is compulsory for all children at primary school; I admire the single-mindedness of the Welsh in doing this, and in promoting their language in general. 

Menu at the Boat House tearooms, Laugharne   Photo: Ann Barrie

 We drank our coffee outdoors, overlooking the giant Tafe estuary which was calm and flat, and very quiet with only the sounds of gulls. We heard a series of distant booms and saw a cloud of smoke on Pendine Sands; the curator told us the Defence Department owns Pendine Sands and do exercises in the area; it is possible to walk there, but part of the beach is closed off from Monday to Friday.

As we departed, I asked the curator how many visitors come to the Boat House each year. He said 20,000, which is a manageable number for a small building.

Blog by Ann Barrie