I am Charles Mathieson, I have lived in Sutton since 1999 so I am a relative newcomer, I have never been the author of a website before so please forgive any technical glitches. Perhaps places often seem more 
interesting to those who move into them so I hope to combine enough newness to ask interesting questions and enough time spent in the parish to have a little useful knowledge.
I am not an (or is it ‘a’) historian, not even an amateur one. – I have a geography degree from many years ago and I am have always been interested in finding out about the places that I live. Having worked for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority since 1990 I had a work interest in places in Pembrokeshire as well. I retired in 2017 and I now have time. In the past I have been frustrated that I know more about places in the National Park than I do about my own village. In some ways this website is me putting down what I have found out about the place as I find it out.
That means the website should change in time.
Why a Website?
In years gone by I might have studied the parish for a few years and then ventured a slim dry volume. (Perhaps titled ‘Some tentative observations on the geography and history of the Parish of Lambston’). It would have been published at my own expense. Then, after it was published, I would have found out that lots of people know far more about Lambston than I do.
By making a website not only can I keep on correcting and ‘republishing’ it. I can also make it public before I have done in-depth research on every page. I hope that those who already know more about any given subject will take the opportunity to allow me to add what they know to the site. That way it gets better and more interesting.
It is also rather more fun to do it as a website. You can have more pictures and maps and of course it is cheaper.
What about YOU?
First of all, if you have already shared information or pictures with me – thank you. I couldn’t have got this far without you. If you think I have misquoted you, failed to attribute something to you or used something wrongly. Please let me know, I will change it.
If you have read this far you probably have some connection with the parish
- You may have really good photos of places in Lambston or photos of life in the villages as it was. If you could send me a copy I could add them to the record.
- Have you memories of life in the parish in the past? Did you go to school in Sutton or work on a farm here?
- Perhaps you have a particular set of knowledge that you don’t think of as ‘history’. Were you part of the Lambston WI? Did you plough a particular field and found bits of old masonry? Do you know which houses have been extended in the past because you have seen the changes in build types.
- Do you have specialist knowledge of history or botany or geology that could inform the site?
- You may have old property documents, maps or records – I could scan them and add them to the record.
If you have anything to share, ask or comment on, please get in touch. I will always try to acknowledge any material from others, but of course I am fallible and may forget. Feel free to remind me.
Many thanks in anticipation.
Charles Mathieson.
jok_mathieson@hotmail.com