Dylan Thomas Boathouse

History

There are no records of the house being in existence prior to 1834, when it was leased by the local authority to a family named Scourfield. The road in which it stands was originally called Cliff Road, but has been renamed to Dylan's Walk.

Thomas first visited the village of Laugharne with a friend, the poet Glyn Jones, in 1934 and was attracted to it. He moved there four years later with his wife Caitlin, and the Boathouse was later bought for him by Margaret Taylor, first wife of the historian A. J. P. Taylor. Dylan and Caitlin brought up their three children, Aeronwy, Llewellyn and Colm.

For his parents, Thomas rented "Pelican House" in the town, and they lived there from 1949 until his father's death in 1953. After Dylan's own death in 1953, Caitlin Thomas was keen to leave Laugharne because of its painful memories. After she left to live in Italy, the Boathouse became the home of her late husband's mother, Florence Thomas, for the last five years of her life. It was subsequently purchased from Margaret Taylor by the trust managing the Thomas estate, on behalf of Caitlin, who sold it on to an educational charity before it was eventually acquired by Carmarthenshire County Council and opened to the public as a tourist attraction.

Thomas used a shed a little further along Cliff Road as his retreat, and did most of his writing there while he lived at the Boathouse. His poem, "Over Sir John's Hill", celebrated the view of the estuary it gave him, Sir John's Hill being located across the bay.

Thomas's shed inspired Roald Dahl to create his own writing hut at his Gipsy House, his home in Buckinghamshire.

Museum

The house is now owned by the Carmarthenshire County Council and serves as a museum, open to the public for most of the year. It contains Thomas memorabilia and some of the original furniture, including Dylan's father's desk. The house receives about 15,000 visitors a year. The interior has been returned to its 1950s appearance, with a recording of Thomas's voice playing in the background. Close to the main house is a clifftop "writing shed" where Thomas spent much of his time. The interior of the shed is reconstructed with a writing table littered with discarded papers as though Thomas were in the process of working on a book.

The exhibits include a bust of Dylan Thomas, formerly owned by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, a letter from former US President Jimmy Carter, and a 1936 photograph of Thomas, notable for having been taken into space on board the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1998.

References

References

1. D N Thomas. (2004). "Dylan Remembered. Volume Two, 1935-53". Seren.
2. Published articles collected at https://sites.google.com/site/dylanthomasandnewquay/birth-of-under-milk-wood
3. "Dylan Thomas' Boathouse, Laugharne".
4. James A. Davies. (15 February 2014). "Dylan Thomas's Swansea, Gower and Laugharne". University of Wales Press.
5. ""The life of Dylan Thomas" at newquay-westwales.co.uk".
6. Ferris, Paul (1993). ''Caitlin: The Life of Caitlin Thomas''. London: Pimlico. {{ISBN. 0-7126-6290-1. pg 151.
7. Lorraine Scourfield (1992) ''The Boat House Laugharne''. Sandersfoot: Alan Shepherd Publishing. p.26
8. William Christie. (20 November 2014). "Dylan Thomas: A Literary Life". Springer.
9. (14 September 2016). "How Dylan Thomas's writing shed inspired Roald Dahl". [[BBC News]].
10. "Dylan Thomas in Carmarthenshire".
11. (2007). "Wales". Lonely Planet.
12. Peacock, Charlotte. (25 January 2021). "Where writers write: Dylan Thomas's writing shed".
13. Shirley Hoover Biggers. (23 September 2002). "British Author House Museums and Other Memorials: A Guide to Sites in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales". McFarland.