A journey beneath the Wales we see today

Vanished Wales: Places Lost in Living Memory sees ITV Wales presenter Carwyn Jones diving into some of Wales' hidden places, writes Jenny White

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PUBLISHED to accompany the ITV series Vanished Wales, Carwyn Jones' new book, Vanished Wales: Places Lost in Living Memory, reveals the lost history that lies just out of sight behind Wales' modern buildings.

Using archive images, it explores the fascinating stories of 22 places that have disappeared from Wales' towns, cities and villages within living memory. These include the Mettoy Factory; the Flying Boats of Pembroke Dock; King's Hall in Aberystwyth; Victoria Pier in Colwyn Bay; and Crumlin Viaduct.

Jones is a series producer, director and journalist at ITV Cymru Wales.

He first started exploring Wales' lost places in 2018, when he made Dock of the Bay, a series that examined the history of Cardiff's dockland from the 19th century to the present day, including the boom, bust and rebirth of the port of Cardiff - aka Tiger Bay, and now more commonly known as Cardiff Bay.

"As part of that, I realised how much history and heritage has been swept away in the Welsh capital alone," he says. "I've always had an interest in heritage that's been lost, particularly communities that have been lost, and a lot of the basis for Dock of the Bay was actually looking at communities like Tiger Bay, Bute town, Newtown, Lower Splott - huge districts and residential areas in Cardiff that were just razed to the ground.