Llangollen
Llangollen is a small town and community in Denbighshire, north-east Wales, on the River Dee at the edge of the Berwyn mountains and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB. It had a population of 3,658 at the 2011 census. Llangollen takes its name from the Welsh llan meaning "a religious settlement" and Saint Collen, a 6th-century monk who founded a church beside the river. St Collen is said to have arrived in Llangollen by coracle. There are no other churches in Wales dedicated to St Collen, he may have had connections with Colan in Cornwall and with Langolen in Brittany. Above the town to the north is Castell Dinas Brân, a stronghold of the Princes of Powys. Beyond the castle is the limestone escarpment known as the Eglwyseg Rocks; the outcrop continues north to World's End in Wrexham. The area nearest the castle is the Panorama Walk, a monument to poet I. D. Hooson from the village of Rhosllannerchrugog can be found there; the ancient parish of Llangollen was divided into three traeanau: Llangollen Traean, Trefor Traean, Glyn Traean.
Llangollen Traean contained the townships of Bachau, Llangollen Abad, Llangollen Fawr, Llangollen Fechan, Feifod and Rhisgog. Trefor Traean contained the townships of Cilmediw, Eglwysegl, Trefor Isaf and Trefor Uchaf. Glyn Traean contained the townships of Cilcochwyn, Crogenwladus, Hafodgynfor, Nantygwryd and Talygarth. Valle Crucis Abbey was established at Llantysilio in about 1201, under the patronage of Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor of Castell Dinas Brân; the bridge at Llangollen was built across the Dee in the 16th century to replace a previous bridge built in about 1345 by John Trevor, of Trevor Hall, which replaced an earlier bridge built in the reign of King Henry I. In the 1860s the present bridge was extended by adding an extra arch and a two-storey stone tower with a castellated parapet; this became a café before being demolished in the 1930s to improve traffic flow. The bridge was widened in 1873 and again in 1968, using masonry which blended in with the older structure, it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
On the outskirts of the town is Plas Newydd, from 1780 the home of the Ladies of Llangollen, the Honourable Sarah Ponsonby, Lady Eleanor Butler and their maid Mary Caryll. The Pillar of Eliseg is another old monument. Llangollen Community Hospital was completed in 1876. There is an electoral ward of the same name; this ward includes Llantysilio community and has a total population taken at the 2011 census of 4,079. Today Llangollen relies on the tourist industry, but still gains substantial income from farming. Most of the farms in the hills around the town were sheep farms, the domestic wool industry, both spinning and weaving, was important in the area for centuries. Several factories were built along the banks of the River Dee, where both wool and cotton were processed; the water mill opposite Llangollen railway station is over 600 years old, was used to grind flour for local farmers. In the late 19th century, Llangollen had the Llangollen Advertiser. Llangollen hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1908.
The Gorsedd ceremony was held on the Hermitage Field, next to Plas Newydd, the circle of stones was moved into the grounds of the hall. The eisteddfod itself took place on the old Vicarage Field at Fronhyfryd and was visited by David Lloyd George, accompanied by Winston Churchill; the annual Llangollen International Eisteddfod ends on the following Sunday. It opens with a parade led by the Llangollen Silver Band, in which both locals and visitors take part in dancing and playing musical instruments; the Llangollen Fringe Festival is an independent arts festival held in mid July in the town hall. The Fringe includes music, theatre and workshops. Artists who have taken part in the Llangollen Fringe include Clement Freud, Rhys Ifans, the Damned, Cerys Matthews, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Juan Martín, the Black Seeds, John Cooper Clarke, Will Self, Gang of Four, Lee Scratch Perry and Victoria Coren Mitchell Dee Rocks is a local fundraising music festival held during May when the town hall is transformed into a music venue.
The inaugural event took place on 29 May 2004, the now annual fixture raises in excess of £12,000 for local good causes. "Llangollen Market", traditional "Ladies of Llangollen", Ian Chesterman "Pastai Fawr Llangollen", Arfon Gwilym According to an anonymous rhyme, the bridge over the Dee is one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. The nursery rhyme "Mary had a little lamb" is but incorrectly, linked with Llangollen, its true origins are in the United States: "This is a lovely folklore story, but sadly Mary Thomas of Llangollen was not the heroine of the nursery rhyme... The Mary of the rhyme was Mary Sawyer and the school was the Redstone Schoolhouse in Sterling Massachusetts, U. S. A." Llangollen was an important coaching stop for the mail coach on the old mail route, now the A5 road from London to Holyhead. Arriva buses Wales run a service to Wrexham every 30 minutes. There is a service to Barmouth from Wrexham via Llangollen run by Lloyd's coaches. Services connect villages such as Fron and Chirk. Coastline taxis run a service to corwen numbered x5.
National Express Coaches operate through the town on route 418, offering journeys to Wrexham and to London via Shrewsbury and Birmingham. The Ellesmere Canal was intended to connect the coal mines and ironworks at Ruabon and Wrexham to the canal network and thence to the sea via the River Mersey and
Eisteddfod
In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature and performance. The tradition of such a meeting of Welsh artists dates back to at least the 12th century, when a festival of poetry and music was held by Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth at his court in Cardigan in 1176, but the decline of the bardic tradition made it fall into abeyance; the current format owes much to an 18th-century revival arising out of a number of informal eisteddfodau. The closest English equivalent to eisteddfod is "session". In some countries, the term eisteddfod is used for certain types of performing arts competitions that have nothing to do with Welsh culture; the date of the first eisteddfod is a matter of much debate among scholars, but boards for the judging of poetry existed in Wales from at least the early 12th century. These judging boards had derived from ancient Celtic bardic traditions; the first recorded eisteddfod was held under the auspices of The Lord Rhys at Cardigan Castle in 1176. There he held a gathering to which were invited musicians from all parts of Wales.
A chair at the Lord's table was awarded to the best poet and musician, a tradition that prevails in the modern day National Eisteddfod. The earliest large-scale eisteddfod, known is the Carmarthen Eisteddfod in 1451 under Thomas ap Gruffydd of Llandeilo; the next recorded large-scale eisteddfod was held in Caerwys in 1568. The prizes awarded were a miniature silver chair to the successful poet, a little silver crwth to the winning fiddler, a silver tongue to the best singer, a tiny silver harp to the best harpist; the contests were limited to professional Welsh bards who were paid by the nobility. In the 16th century, Elizabeth I of England commanded that the bards be examined and licensed to ensure performance standards, but interest in the Welsh arts declined during the 17th and 18th centuries, leading to the standard of the main eisteddfod deteriorating. Gatherings became more informal; these meetings kept traditions alive. A chair was a prized award because of its perceived social status. Throughout the medieval period, high-backed chairs with arm rests were reserved for royalty and high-status leaders in military and civic affairs.
As most ordinary people sat on stools until the 1700s, an armchair conveyed status to a winning bard. In 1789, Thomas Jones organised an eisteddfod in Corwen, where for the first time the public were admitted; the success of this event led to a revival of interest in Welsh music. The earliest known surviving Bardic chair made for an Eisteddfod was built in Carmarthen in 1819. Iolo Morganwg founded "Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain" in 1792 to restore and replace the ancient eisteddfod; the first eisteddfod of the revival was held on London. The Gentleman's Magazine of October 1792 reported on the revival of the eisteddfod tradition; this being the day on which the autumnal equinox occurred, some Welsh bards resident in London assembled in congress on Primrose Hill, according to ancient usage. Present at the meeting was Edward Jones who had published his "The Musical and Poetical Reelicks of the Welsh Bards" in 1784 in a belated effort to try to preserve the native Welsh traditions being so ruthlessly stamped out by the new breed of Methodists.
The Blue Books' notorious attack on the character of the Welsh as a nation in 1846 led to public anger and the belief that it was important for the Welsh to create a new national image. By the 1850s people began to talk of a national eisteddfod to showcase Wales's culture. In 1858 John Williams ab Ithel held a "National" Eisteddfod complete with Gorsedd in Llangollen. "The great Llangollen Eisteddfod of 1858" was a significant event. Thomas Stephens won a prize with an essay demolishing the claim of John Williams that Madoc discovered America; as Williams had expected Stephens's essay to reinforce the myth, he was not willing to award the prize to Stephens and, it is recorded, "matters became turbulent". This eisteddfod saw the first public appearance of John Ceiriog Hughes who won a prize for a love poem, Myfanwy Fychan of Dinas Brân, which became an instant hit. There is speculation that this was a result of its depiction of a "deserving, moral, well-mannered Welshwoman", in stark contrast to The Blue Books' depiction of Welsh women as having questionable morals.
The National Eisteddfod Council was created after Llangollen, the Gorsedd subsequently merged with it. The Gorsedd holds the right of governance while the Council organises the event; the first true National Eisteddfod organised by the Council was held in Denbigh in 1860 on a pattern that continues to the present day. One of the most important eisteddfods is the National Eisteddfod of Wales, the largest festival of competitive music and poetry in Europe, its eight days of competitions and performances in the Welsh language, are staged annually in the first week of August alternating between north and south Wales. Competitors number 6,000 or more, overall attendances exceed 150,000 visitors. Another important eisteddfod in the calendar is ` the Youth Eisteddfod. Organised by Urdd Gobaith Cymru, it involves Welsh children from nursery age to 25 in a week of competition in singing, dancing and musicianship during the summer half-term school holiday; the even
Teddy Morgan
Edward "Teddy" Morgan was a Welsh international rugby union player. He was a member of the winning Wales team who beat the 1905 touring All Blacks and is remembered for scoring the winning try, he played club rugby for London Swansea. Morgan became a General Practitioner in Sketty, Swansea before moving to a new practice in East Anglia. While at Sketty, another international rugby player joined his practice in the early 1920s, D Bertram, who would go on to be capped 11 times for Scotland. Morgan died on 1 September 1949 in North Walsham. In 2008, Morgan was celebrated by the local council when it was decided to raise a blue plaque at his birthplace to commemorate his life. Morgan moved to London from Newport in 1902 to take up a post at Guy's Hospital, played with London Welsh, it was while playing in London that Morgan earned his first international cap, for Wales against England. Morgan's career with Wales saw him score 14 tries from the wing, but his best-remembered was that against the Original All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park on 16 December 1905.
In the monumental match between the unbeaten All Blacks and the Triple Crown-winning Welsh team, Morgan is believed to have led his team in singing the Welsh national anthem in response to the New Zealanders' haka. This was the first time; the contested game was decided by a single score. In the twenty-fifth minute, Welsh scrum half Dicky Owen released the ball to Cliff Pritchard, who received the ball at ankle level before darting forward. Having run past Bob Dean, Pritchard released to Rhys Gabe. Morgan touched the ball down in the corner. After the match Morgan expressed disagreement with the referee's controversial decision to disallow a try claimed by New Zealand player Bob Deans. A contemporary reporter stated "Morgan sprinted across from the left wing, helped Winfield to save what otherwise would have been a try by tackling Deans before be grounded the ball, though a splendid effort was made by the centre threequarter to straggle over, timely reinforcements came to Morgan, the ball was grounded between two and three feet from the line, though Deans considers he grounded the ball in goal.
But the incident has been the subject of different accounts, with Cliff Pritchard, Rhys Gabe and Welsh captain Gwyn Nicholls claiming to have been among the tacklers and in a good position to see that the ball was grounded short of the line. Wales England 1902, 1904, 1905, 1906 France 1908 Ireland 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 New Zealand 1905 Scotland 1902, 1904, 1905, 1906 South Africa 1906 In 1904 Morgan was one of the Welsh players chosen to tour Australasia under the captaincy of Bedell-Sivright. Morgan would captain the British team against both New Zealand during this tour. Jones, Stephen. Dragon in Exile, The Centenary History of London Welsh R. F. C. London: Springwood Books. ISBN 0-86254-125-5. Parry-Jones, David. Prince Gwyn, Gwyn Nicholls and the First Golden Era of Welsh Rugby. Bridgend: seren. ISBN 1-85411-262-7. Thomas, Wayne. A Century of Welsh Rugby Players. Ansells Ltd. Smith, David. Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0766-3
Triple Crown (rugby union)
In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the "Home Nations" – i.e. England, Ireland and Wales who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship. If any one of these teams defeats all three other teams, they win the Triple Crown; the Six Nations Championship includes France and Italy, but their involvement in the tournament has no influence on the result of the Triple Crown, although it means that the winners of the Triple Crown are not the winners of the Championship as a whole. England won the first Triple Crown – although the phrase was not in use at the time – in the inaugural 1883 series of the original rugby union Home Nations Championship; the latest winners are Wales, who won by beating Ireland at the Princapality Stadium on 16th March, having beaten Scotland and England in the 2019 Six Nations Championship. Traditionally the Triple Crown was an informal honour with no trophy associated with it; however a trophy now exists, awarded to Triple Crown winners since 2006.
The origins of the name Triple Crown are uncertain. The concept dates to the original Home Nations Championship, predecessor of the Six Nations Championship, when the competition only involved England, Ireland and Wales. Like the modern Grand Slam, the Triple Crown was an informal honour to a team that won the Championship with straight victories; the first use cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is from Whitaker's Almanack, 1900: "In their last match at Cardiff against Wales, Ireland won by a try to nothing, securing the triple crown with three straight victories as in 1894." The Irish victory in 1894 was reported as a Triple Crown by The Irish Times at the time and is the first time the phrase was seen in print. The phrase Triple Crown is used in a number of other sports; until 2006, no actual trophy was awarded to the winner of the Triple Crown, hence it was sometimes referred to as the "invisible cup". Dave Merrington, a retired miner from South Hetton, County Durham, fashioned an aspiring trophy in 1975 from a lump of coal hewn from the Haig Colliery in Cumbria.
This has a crown sitting on a four-sided base on which are represented a rose, a shamrock, a thistle and the Prince of Wales feathers. It is kept in the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham. For the 2006 Six Nations, Barry Hooper, Head of External Communications at the Royal Bank of Scotland commissioned Edinburgh and London based Hamilton & Inches to design and create a dedicated Triple Crown Trophy; this has been awarded to Triple Crown winning sides since 2006. It has been won three times by Wales and twice by England. There has been a Triple Crown winner in 66 of the 122 competitions held from 1883 through to 2018. Only two teams have achieved the Triple Crown in four consecutive years: England. No other teams have won the triple crown more than twice in a row. Unlike the Grand Slam, the Triple Crown winners are not the tournament winners, since France or Italy – or another of the home nations – could outperform them within the Championship as a whole. To date, the Triple Crown winners who failed to win the Championship are Wales in 1977, England in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2014, Ireland in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
The champions were France on each occasion, apart from 2014 when Ireland were champions, the first instance of a team winning the Triple Crown but losing the overall title to another team eligible for it. Triple Crown winners who succeeded only in sharing the Championship were England in 1954 and 1960, Wales in 1988; the following table shows the number of Triple Crown wins by each country, the years in which they were achieved. The following table shows Triple Crown winners chronologically. Calcutta Cup England national rugby union team Grand Slam Ireland national rugby union team Millennium Trophy Pacific Tri-Nations Rugby union trophies and awards Scotland national rugby union team Six Nations Championship Six Nations Wooden Spoon Tri Nations Wales national rugby union team "Triple Crown becomes tangiable", RugbyRugby.com, 25 January 2006 Official Six Nations Site Link to image of Triple Crown Trophy Hamilton & Inches silver craftsmen create a Triple Crown Trophy
National anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. The majority of national anthems are hymns in style; the countries of Latin America, Central Asia, Europe tend towards more ornate and operatic pieces, while those in the Middle East, Oceania and the Caribbean use a more simplistic fanfare. Some countries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them. A national anthem is most in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Most states with more than one national language may offer several versions of their anthem, for instance: The "Swiss Psalm", the national anthem of Switzerland, has different lyrics for each of the country's four official languages; the national anthem of Canada, "O Canada", has official lyrics in both English and French which are not translations of each other, is sung with a mixture of stanzas, representing the country's bilingual nature.
The song itself was written in French. "The Soldier's Song", the national anthem of Ireland, was written and adopted in English, but an Irish translation, although never formally adopted, is nowadays always sung instead. The current South African national anthem is unique in that five of the country's eleven official languages are used in the same anthem, it was created by combining two different songs together and modifying the lyrics and adding new ones. One of the two official national anthems of New Zealand, "God Defend New Zealand", is now sung with the first verse in Māori and the second in English; the tune is the same but the words are not a direct translation of each other. "God Bless Fiji" has lyrics in Fijian which are not translations of each other. Although official, the Fijian version is sung, it is the English version, performed at international sporting events. Although Singapore has four official languages, with English being the current lingua franca, the national anthem, "Majulah Singapura" is in Malay and by law can only be sung with its original Malay lyrics, despite the fact that Malay is a minority language in Singapore.
This is because Part XIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore declares, “the national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in the Roman script ” There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their national anthems. One of these is the national anthem of Spain. Although it had lyrics those lyrics were discontinued after governmental changes in the early 1980s after Francisco Franco's dictactorship. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held. Other national anthems with no words include "Inno Nazionale della Repubblica", the national anthem of San Marino, that of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that of Kosovo, entitled "Europe"; the national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana", the official lyrics are in the Devnagari. The lyrics were adopted from a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore. Despite the most common language in Wales being English, the Welsh regional anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" is sung in the Welsh language; the national anthem of Finland, was first written in Swedish and only translated to Finnish.
It is nowadays sung in both languages as there is a Swedish speaking minority of about 6% in the country. National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, but some originated much earlier; the presumed oldest national anthem belongs to the Netherlands and is called the "Wilhelmus". It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt and its current melody variant was composed shortly before 1626, it was a popular orangist march during the 17th century but it did not become the official Dutch national anthem until 1932. The Japanese national anthem, "Kimigayo", has the oldest lyrics, which were taken from a Heian period poem, yet it was not set to music until 1880; the Philippine national anthem "Lupang Hinirang" was composed in 1898 as wordless incidental music for the ceremony declaring independence from the Spanish Empire. The Spanish poem "Filipinas" was written the following year to serve as the anthem's lyrics. "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of the United Kingdom and the royal anthem reserved for use in the presence of the Monarch in some Commonwealth realms, was first performed in 1619 under the title "God Save the King".
It is not the national anthem of the UK, though it became such through custom and usage. Spain's national anthem, the "Marcha Real", written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast", in 1780. Serbia became the first Eastern European nation to have a national anthem – "Rise up, Serbia!" – in 1804."Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu", the national anthem of Kenya, is one of the first national anthems to be specifical
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, Ireland and Scotland. Wales have won its predecessors 27 times outright. Wales' most recent championship and Grand Slam victory came in 2019; the governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union, was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. Wales' performances in the Home Nations Championship continued to improve, experiencing their first'golden age' between 1900 and 1911, they first played New Zealand, known as the All Blacks, in 1905, when they defeated them 3–0 in a famous match at Cardiff Arms Park. Welsh rugby struggled between the two World Wars, but experienced a second'golden age' between 1969 and 1980 when they won eight Five Nations Championships. Wales played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 where they achieved their best result of third. Following the sport allowing professionalism in 1995, Wales hosted the 1999 World Cup and, in 2005, won their first Six Nations Grand Slam.
That was the first Grand Slam won by a team playing most of the matches away from home. Wales won three more Grand Slams in 2008, 2012 and 2019. In 2011, they came fourth in the Rugby World Cup, their home ground is the Millennium Stadium known for sponsorship reasons as the Principality Stadium, completed in 1999 to replace the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park. Eight former Welsh players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Rugby union took root in Wales in 1850, when Reverend Rowland Williams became Vice-Principal at St David's College and introduced the sport there. Wales played their first international on 19 February 1881. On 12 March 1881, the Welsh Rugby Union was formed at The Castle Neath. Two years the Home Nation Championship – now the Six Nations Championship – was first played and Wales did not register a win. However, rugby in Wales developed and, by the 1890s, the Welsh had developed the four three-quarters formation; this formation – with seven backs and eight forwards, instead of six backs and nine forwards – revolutionised the sport and was adopted universally at international and club level.
With the "four three-quarter" formation Wales became Home International Champions for the first time in 1893. Wales next won the Championship in 1900, heralding the first "golden age" of Welsh rugby, to last until 1911, they won two more Triple Crowns in 1902 and 1905, were runners up in 1901, 1903 and 1904. When Wales faced New Zealand's All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park in late 1905 they had not lost at home since 1899; this New Zealand team – now referred to as the Original All Blacks – was the first of the southern hemisphere national teams to visit the British Isles, were undefeated on their tour up until that point. Before the match, the All Blacks performed a haka. Wales' wing Teddy Morgan scored a try to give Wales a 3–0 lead, but in the match All Black Bob Deans claimed to have scored a try, only to be dragged behind the try-line before the referee arrived; the referee ruled a scrum to Wales and the score did not change. The loss was the All Blacks' only loss on their 35-match tour. In 1906, Wales again won the Home Championship, that year played the South African national side, the Springboks for the first time.
Wales were favourites to win the match, but instead South Africa dominated in the forwards and won 11–0. Two years on 12 December 1908, Wales played the touring Australians, known as the Wallabies, who they defeated 9–6. In 1909, Wales won the Home Championship and in 1910 – with the inclusion of France – the first Five Nations. In 1911, Wales took the first Five Nations Grand Slam by winning all their matches in the Five Nations, it would be nearly 40 years. England's defeat of Wales at Cardiff in 1913 was Wales' first home loss to one of the Home Nations since 1899, their first home loss to England since 1895; the Great War came in 1914 and rugby was suspended for the duration. The post-First World War years marked a decline in Welsh rugby. An industrial recession struck the principality, hurt South Wales in particular. Welsh international results in the 1920s mirrored the performance of the economy: of their 42 matches they won only 17, with three drawn. Half a million people emigrated from Wales to find work elsewhere during the depression.
Between 1923 and 1928, Wales managed only seven victories – five of them against France. However France managed to defeat Wales that decade. Welsh selection policy reflected the upheavals of the mid-1920s. In 1924, 35 different players were selected for Wales' four matches, with a different captain for each. A resurgence of both econo
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