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Welsh weekly celebrates its 200th birthday

A weekly newspaper launched during the Napoleonic Wars yesterday celebrated the 200th anniversary of its very first issue.

The Carmarthen Journal has been produced each week since 3 March 1810 without missing a single edition.

When the paper was first launched, before the coming of the railways, it was the main source of national and international news for the people of South West Wales.

It was The Journal that told people of the famous victory at Waterloo in 1815 and other changes that swept the country at the start of the industrial revolution.

Journal editor Cathryn Ings, above, said: “Times have changed and we face different challenges now than our people faced 200 years ago.

“But one thing hasn’t changed, the Journal is still bringing its readers, all the latest news on the things which matter most to them.”

To celebrate the milestone, Journal reporter Graeme Wilkinson and the paper’s advertising team put together a special 40-page supplement, available free with yesterday’s paper.

The supplement looked back at some of the major events affecting The Journal’s patch as well as further afield.

Yesterday’s paper also carried goodwill messages from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, and a representative of The Queen.

The anniversary comes months after the Journal’s Northcliffe sister title the Llanelli Star celebrated its centenary.

  • The oldest surviving copy of the Carmarthen Journal from 31 March 1810