The Globe
The Globe, together with Gwalia and Manchester House are 'economy buildings' of the late 18th century.
They are built on top of four original medieval barrel-vaulted cellars with 4ft thick walls which in the 13th century could have been used for the storage of grain.
Back then the structures on top would have been made of wood. It is one of the largest buildings in Laugharne with 9 bedrooms and a ballroom.
In 1868 it was listed as a hotel and had a gaming room for gambling. The hotel was gone by 1912, and amongst many later uses a private school used the top floor.
The original front door knocker is very impressive.
The rear of the Globe - formerly the abattoir which closed c. 1971, and there are talks of rivers of blood flowing down Duncan St. And below, the Globe seen from above. It has quite a footprint.
The house had been in the Gleed family since sometime after 1911 when their grandfather, Burham Gleed was a servant, and possibly a trainee butcher at the house. Bobby Gleed took over the business from his father after the war, and the pic above is of him and his wife June. The butchers closed when he retired in 1991.
The shop today
Another butcher, Butcher Eynon of St Clears knew Dylan who said he'd put him in a play.
The play Was Under Milk Wood, and the character was Butcher Beynon. Bobby Gleed's nephew, Richard 'Dougie' Griffith plays Butcher Beynon
when the Festival players put on Under Milk Wood. And local postman Adrian plays Willy Nilly Postman.
Dylan once said to Richard Hughes, 'What the people of Laugharne need is a play about themselves, where they act themselves.'
Dylan never saw a local performance, but I think if he did, he'd be very pleased. Under Milk Wood started off as an idea
called 'The Town That Was Mad', and rather tenuously, a psychiatrist, Dr Sennick once lived in The Globe.
The most fascinating room is the old ballroom - complete with sprung floor. It runs down the side at first floor level above
the arched entrance and was last used in 1943 for the wedding of Douglas and Peggy Griffith.
The ballroom was also used to billet soldiers during WW2.
In a covered area of the yard a mangle with the name of B.R. Thomas written on it, formerly a department store (Raven House).
In 2013, the Globe featured in the Dylan Thomas BBC biopic, 'Dylan In New York', starring Tom Hollander - they used the Globe
for the Boathouse kitchen. The house has a treasure trove of Georgian features and at the time of writing, (Feb 2021), has recently been sold.
At present it has an MRM Architect's sign on the glass, but no architect has ever worked there.
The Globe was used in the hit BBC TV series 'Keeping Faith' starring Eve Miles, and Faith's husband was an architect.
copyright © 2021 Laugharne Lines
all rights reserved