Legends of North Wales and Reminiscenes of a Short Visit to the Vale of Llangollen
Title:
Legends of North Wales and Reminiscenes of a Short Visit to the Vale of Llangollen
Description:
In the late eighteenth century, aristocrat Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, the young orphaned daughter of Chambre Brabazon Ponsonby, abandoned their lives in Ireland and made a home for themselves in Llangollen, Wales, to the disapproval of both their families. Known as the Ladies of Llangollen, they appeared to have understood their relationship as a marriage. They were part of an emerging culture of relationships between same-sex couples. While they lived a life of rural retreat, the Ladies’ celebrity and social status meant that their home Plas Newydd became a salon. They built an extensive library, and there they hosted many of the intelligensia of the day, including poets such as Wordsworth, Byron, and Anna Seward; physician Erasmus Darwin; potter Josiah Wedgwood; and the reigning Queen Charlotte. In the nineteenth century there was a thriving industry producing and selling objects commemorating the Ladies of Llangollen.
Creator:
H.S.
Source:
Ladies of Llangollen Collection
Date:
1860
Coverage:
[Llangollen?]
Display Date:
[ca. 1860]
Hover Text:
Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby — the Ladies of Llangollen
Published Item:
P
Item Index:
44
Item Sort:
1800s
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