The following pages have been selected from the first volume of the diary of William Bulkeley (1691-1760), Brynddu, Llanfechell, Anglesey. He was the son of William Bulkeley and Lettice Jones of Llangoed, and a descendant of Sir Richard Bulkeley of Baron Hill, Sheriff of Anglesey in 1596. William Bulkeley's diaries consist of three volumes, but unfortunately the second volume (1743-7) is missing. The diaries are extremely valuable for their vivid portrait of Anglesey life in the eighteenth century. They include accounts of farm life, wages, prices etc., and not a day passed without William Bulkeley noting very carefully which way the wind blew! Selected extracts from his diary have been transcribed by J. E. Griffith, see 'Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society' (1931).
On the first page of the first volume of his diary (March 1734), William describes the work which was undertaken on his land. He planted many seeds and trees. On 31 March he attended church. He no