6 minute read
Far more than a farmhouse
Far more than a
FARMHOUSE
A small farmhouse and outbuildings at the heart of Snowdonia have won one of the ‘Nobel prizes’ of the heritage world. But Yr Ysgwrn is far more than a building; for many in Wales, it is a symbol for the complex emotions aroused by the First World War.
Mr Gerald Williams, Hedd Wyn's nephew, keeping the door open at Yr Ysgwrn — the poet's family home — in honour of a promise he made to his grandmother. © APCE/SNPA
Ellis Humphrey Evans, better known as Hedd Wyn, was posthumously awarded the bard’s chair at the Birkenhead National Eisteddfod in 1917. © APCE/SNPA A postcard showing the unveiling of Hedd Wyn’s memorial statue in 1923 in honour of his life and achievement. © Crown Copyright: RCAHMW
For Naomi Jones and thousands of other Welsh-speaking children, the story of Yr Ysgwrn was a familiar one.
She had heard of ‘Hedd Wyn’, the tragic poet of the Great War. She had heard adults talking reverentially of ‘the Black Chair’ of Birkenhead; the story had echoed down through the cultural memory of three or four generations.
Now, as Head of Cultural Heritage at the Snowdonia National Park Authority, she has been leading the project that has turned the modest farmhouse near Trawsfynydd into the winner, supported by Creative Europe, of an Europa Nostra European Heritage Award.
The main room of the house has been restored to look much as it would have when Ellis Humphrey Evans — usually known by his pen name Hedd Wyn — was a young man there, a reluctant farmer but an enthusiastic poet.
He had been forced to leave the hillsides and the banks of his beloved river Prysor for the trenches in Flanders, where he, like thousands of young Welshmen, died. Aged 29, he had decided to go instead of his younger brother.
In early July 1917, Hedd Wyn sent off a long ode to compete in that year’s National Eisteddfod, Wales’s greatest cultural festival. For years he had yearned to win the Chair, the most renowned of the poetic prizes.
On 6 September, 1917, the adjudicators in the great marquee in Birkenhead announced that a competitor using the name Fleur-de-lis was that year’s winner. As usual, the winning poet was invited to stand but, that year, no-one did.
Hedd Wyn had been killed on 31 July, 1917, on Pilckem Ridge, during the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele. A fellow Welshman recalls seeing him falling as they attacked the German trenches, grabbing two handfuls of earth as he fell.
When the announcement came to the stunned crowd that the winning poet had died in the field, the chair was draped in a black sheet and many of the thousands there couldn’t hold back the tears. Hedd Wyn and the empty Black Chair of Birkenhead became history and mythology at the same time.
It was in 2011 that Naomi Jones first visited the farmhouse at Yr Ysgwrn: ‘I walked into the pitch black of the gegin (kitchen) to meet Gerald Williams, Hedd Wyn’s nephew, and was enchanted for the first time by this special place’.
Gerald and his late brother had kept the door of Yr Ysgwrn open since the death of their mother, Hedd Wyn’s sister.
The painstaking restoration of the bardic chair — known as Y Gadair Ddu (The Black Chair) — by Hugh Haley of Phoenix Conservation took place in the parlour at Yr Ysgwrn under the watchful eye of Hedd Wyn’s nephew, Gerald Williams. © Aneurin Phillips
The exterior of Yr Ysgwrn, Trawsfynydd, the home of Hedd Wyn. © APCE/SNPA
Without asking for a penny, they had welcomed visitors from all over the world and spent time with them, telling their tragic tale.
Naomi Jones was there as part of the team negotiating to take care of the farm and its heritage, helping Gerald, who was then in his 80s, with the huge responsibility of maintaining his uncle’s memory.
Since 1917, Hedd Wyn’s story had become far more than that of a lost Welsh poet; it had inspired works of art and literature and, in 1992, a feature film that was nominated for an Oscar.
Hedd Wyn also represented a lost generation and the conscience of a nation; a yearning for peace and the mixture of admiration and guilt that surrounds the First World War.
All this can be seen at Yr Ysgwrn, which was taken into the care of Snowdonia National Park Authority in 2012. With the support of Cadw, the Welsh Government, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, it was reopened as a heritage centre five years later, the centenary of Hedd Wyn’s death.
Under the watchful eye of Gerald, who continues to live on site, the farmhouse was restored and the Black Chair repaired; with its intricate symbolism it was carved — a wrenching coincidence — by a Flemish sculptor, Eugeen Vanfleteren.
A new visitor centre was built at the approach to Yr Ysgwrn and outbuildings turned into exhibition spaces. They tell the story not only of the ‘shepherd poet’ and his work,
but also of the war and a lost generation, of Welsh poetry, traditional sustainable farming, and the community and culture which Hedd Wyn now symbolises.
The project cost £3.7 million; through it, the house has been kept intact and sensitively restored and re-presented as it would have been in the early years of the twentieth century. There are audiovisual presentations as well as live tours and walks around the land.
‘One of the many privileges of working on the Yr Ysgwrn project has been the joy of revealing the stories within the fabric of the buildings, within the 26 layers of wallpaper in the farmhouse cegin and in the collection of furniture and bardic chairs,’ says Naomi Jones.
‘Through listening to the stories of the people and the place, Yr Ysgwrn’s transformation and interpretation are simple and understated but also powerful and moving.’
For details of the opening times of Yr Ysgwrn, we advise that you check the website — yrysgwrn.com — or tel. 01766 772 534 in advance of a visit.
Top left: Following its restoration by Hugh Hayley, Gerald Williams stands proudly alongside Y Gadair Ddu (The Black Chair), described as ‘a rare survival’ by Welsh furniture historian, Richard Bebb. Hugh’s attention to detail meant that he was able to add to the story of the chair by identifying which parts of it were carved by the master sculptor, Eugeen Vanfleteren, and which parts were carved by his team of apprentices. © APCE/SNPA
Bottom left: As part of the conservation project, two cowsheds were renovated to become exhibition and community spaces telling the story of Yr Ysgwrn and Hedd Wyn. © APCE/SNPA
