Statue of Hedd Wyn

Cadw's description

Location

In a slightly elevated position at the W side of Pen y Garreg Street, in the centre of the village of Trawsfynydd.

History

Early C20 memorial statue. Ellis Humphrey Evan, or Hedd Wyn, was born in Trawsfynydd in 1887, eldest son of Evan and Mary Evans. Shortly after his birth the family moved to his father's old home 'Yr Ysgwrn'. He won his first prize for poetry composition at the age of 12 and won his first chair at a literary meeting in Bala in 1907 and went on to win 5 others and was given the bardic name Hedd Wyn at a meeting of local poets at Ffestiniog in 1910. The last chair was awarded posthumously just over a month after his death at Pilkim Ridge, Flanders. The chair was draped in black to the great emotion of the audience, and the Eisteddfod at Birkenhead is still referred to as 'Eisteddfod y Gadair Ddu' - The Black Chair Eisteddfod.

Exterior

Early C20 commemorative memorial in the form of a figurative statue of the poet Hedd Wyn - Ellis Humprhrey Evans. The figure stands on a rough stone stepped plinth into which a bronze plaque is set which reads: HEDD WYN / PRI FARDD EISTEDDROD GENEDLAETHOL 1917 / GANWYD EF YM MHLWYF TRAWSFYNYDD / A SYRTHIODD AR ESGAIR PILKEM YN / FFLANDRYS GORFFENAF 31 1917 YN 30 OED / "EI ABERTH NID A HEIBIO EI WYNEB / ANNWYL NID AN ANGO / ER I'R ALMAEN YSTAENIO / EI DWRN DUR YN EI WAEDÔ"

Leaning against the front face of the plinth is a slate tablet which bears the same inscription and set on the ground in front of the memorial is a further slate tablet which reads: HEDD WYN / THIS STATUE COMMEMORATES THE / DEATH OF THE WINNING BARD AT THE BIRKENHEAD NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD / AUGUST 1917 THE CHAIR WAS AWARDED / POSTHUMOUSLY TO HEDD WYN WHO WAS / KILLED IN ACTION AT PILKIM RIDGE / FLANDERS ON JULY 30TH 1917.

Reason for designation

Listed as a fine figurative commemorative statue commemorating an important figure in C20 Welsh literature.