Our Future
Heritage Developments
Welsh Admiral, Sir Thomas Button (left), became the first European to set foot on Canadian soil in 1612, naming it New Wales and claiming it for King James I. It was to be 153 years later that his countryman, and relative by marriage, Button Gwinnett (right), landed in Georgia in America. 11 years later, in 1776, he would be the second signatory after John Hancock to sign the American Declaration of Independence. A Founding Father!
Their two families lie buried side by side in the Lady Chapel of our St Nicholas Church; and the Gwinnet - Button story will be the subject of a permanent exhibition to be created over the next two years.
The working title is “The joining of the threads – Welsh makers of nations”.
The third ‘maker’ is Admiral Sir Charles Tyler of Trafalgar fame when the defeat of the French enabled dominance of world trade by Great Britain throughout the 19th Century.
The last ‘maker of nations’, John Cory of Dyffryn - bunkerman to the world - is buried in our graveyard and will be celebrated too.