The Townshend family were associated with Llanvapley Church throughout the 20th century. Revd. Edward Mansel Townshend was the vicar of Llanvapley from 1898 until his death in 1947. His wife, Jessie, died in 1933. They had 9 children
Samuel Richard Trelawney (Dick or Dickie) (1908 – 1992)
Hildegarde, Ernest, Noel, Daisy and Grace are buried in Llanvapley Churchyard.
Dick Townshend was born on 16th January 1908 and died on 13th June 1992 On February 9th 1983 Mrs Elizabeth Lake from Monmouth House interviewed Mr. Dick Townshend who continued to live at the Rectory in Llanvapley after the death of his father. The files on the right hand side are a record of this conversation.
In October 2017, Llanvapley Church had a visit from a gentleman from Undy who had made an unusual discovery. John Perry is a member of the Welsh Postal History Society which caters for those interested in the philately and postal history of Wales. John recently purchased a bundle of letters from a dealer in Harrogate, Yorkshire. Amongst the letters there were nine letters relating to the the Townshend family. Five of the letters were business letters but four of them were letters to Revd. Townshend from his wife Jessie. The four letters date from 1902 to 1911. John was very interested to be able to read the church service books from this time and to match the information in the letters with the notes made in the service book. While looking through the service book for 1911 it was interesting to note that there was a service on the day of the coronation of George V on 22nd June 1911. In his notes the Revd. Townshend announced that the new vestry (now known as the north vestry where coffee is made after services) was first used for this service. The letters shed light on life in the early part of the twentieth century when you had to take a horse and cart if you wanted to pick someone up from the station! The letters also paint a picture of life in the rectory which was filled with nine children and countless visitors and no mod-cons. Click on the links below to view the letters.
