Yr Ysgwrn: Cartref Hedd Wyn
The Farmhouse: Home of Hedd Wyn
Yr Ysgwrn is a Grade II* Listed 19th Century Welsh Farmhouse that is set within a working farm deep in the landscape of the Snowdonia National Park. It is currently owned by the Snowdonia National Park Authority and has been kept preserved as an important museum that contains the incredibly compelling history and narrative of Ellis Humphrey Evans, better known as Hedd Wyn, an extraordinary young Welsh poet from the turn of the 20th Century.
Hedd Wyn’s story is incredibly representative of the life and sacrifice of the young working men in Wales who gave their lives during the First World War. His home Yr Ysgwrn embodies the lifestyle of a typical rural Welsh farmhouse that would have been passed down through the family generations, an important reminder and memory of the backgrounds and the ways of life these men would have been coming from before being thrown into the clutches of the War.
Living at Yr Ysgwrn there would have been no need to go to the shops as everything was cultivated from the land and that which they didn’t grow or farm would have been traded for from nearby farmsteads, even the peat to fuel the great stove and fire was harvested from a nearby hill. There would have been no central heating, electricity or mains water with the family dependent on lighting the stove for heat and cooking and a well for the water. The lightbulbs present within the farmhouse were installed by a family member who worked within the industry and ran off external power sources not connected to the main grid. It was rural, simple and poetic Welsh life.
Eisteddfodau (a kind of literary festival and community where poetry and music are celebrated and competed in), agriculture and religion were huge centre parts to rural Welsh life at this time and from an early age Ellis had shown a particular affinity to one of these parts in particular, poetry. His poetic writings were proudly encouraged and as a young man he would often be found by the maid asleep at the kitchen table having worked on his lines tirelessly into the night. He was much more acquainted with the pen than the plough and quickly became recognised locally, adopting the bardic name ‘Hedd Wyn’ through his accomplishments in Local Eisteddfod. But it was his dream and lifelong goal to win a National Eisteddfod, the most notable competition and accomplishment for a Welsh Bard.
In honour of victory at an Eisteddfod a bardic chair would be awarded, these chairs were the highest honour for a Welsh Bard and were highly decorated and carved wooden chairs that were commissioned specifically for each competition. This Welsh tradition is a deeply historical part of Welsh literary culture that is believed to date back as far as 1176. Hedd Wyn had won several of these chairs competing at local Eisteddfod but had narrowly missed out on the 1916 National Chair on grammatical mistakes, he was determined to compete again and come triumphant the following year.
Sadly, this peaceful, rural Welsh life was not untouched by the reaches of the First World War. Originally as War broke it was not necessary for all young men to enlist and especially if they were from a farming family as agriculture was essential to supporting the war effort. However, as conscription was introduced in 1916 and it became compulsory for all fit young men to enlist, even the farming families had to volunteer a son for the frontline. This meant in 1916, aged 29 Hedd Wyn volunteered to spare the fate of his younger brother Robert.
Enlisted into the War it was on his way to the frontline in 1917 that Hedd Wyn finalised and submitted his entry ‘Yr Arwr’ to the Penbedw National Eisteddfod, convincing his commanding officer to allow him to post his poem from a small village in France. It was at that frontline at the Battle of Passchendaele that Hedd Wyn was fatally wounded and did not return from the war. ‘Yr Arwr’ went on to win the Penbedw National Eisteddfod achieving Hedd Wyn’s lifelong dream, but he never lived to see it.
At the announcement of Hedd Wyn’s victory at the Penbedw National Eisteddfod, it is said that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as his tragic death merely six weeks before the conclusion of the competition resonated deeply with an audience all touched by the war. Hedd Wyn’s National Chair was draped in black in his honour and delivered to the family at Yr Ysgwrn, a procession that became symbolic of the story and the effect that the First World War had upon rural Wales.
Since Hedd Wyn the family has carefully cared and preserved both Yr Ysgwrn and Hedd Wyn’s story for nearly a century before the late custodian and Hedd Wyn’s nephew Gerald Williams made the decision to ensure that Hedd Wyn’s story would live on for future generations by handing over the custodianship of this incredible property to the Snowdonia National Park Authority.
The Wallpaper
When Yr Ysgwrn was taken over by the Snowdonia National Park Authority various work and refurbishments were undertaken to preserve the history of the farmhouse itself and the intertwined story of Hedd Wyn. One part of this, and where Bruce Fine Papers gets involved, was the wallpaper.
Originally the entire farmhouse was completely covered in wallpaper, and this was especially prevalent in the kitchen where there were an incredible 26 individual layers of wallpaper on the wall. These wallpapers represented the decorative habits of the family from the early 1900’s up to present day and the family had even wallpapered around important items of furniture not wanting to move these precious pieces, really showing how well kept and preserved the property had been for decades.
Some of these pieces of furniture that had been carefully wallpapered around were the Barometer and the impressive Grandfather Clock. This Grandfather Clock was the wedding gift of Evan and Mary to each other, brought home carefully on the train and only just fitted into place in the low beamed ceilings of the kitchen and the Barometer was so carefully wallpapered around that it itself was embedded deep into the layers on the wall, almost fossilised into the wallpaper history of the house and the family.
It was described to us how house proud the family was and that the wallpaper was an important way of reflecting this sense of pride. Having well looked after and updated wallpaper was especially important to the family and to Mary Evans in particular, who ensured great care was taken over the farmhouse and its possessions, especially those belonging to the late Hedd Wyn.
As the farmhouse contained a dairy and the family often prepared produce from the land within it, which included the salting and drying of meat, wallpaper was chosen as the method of decoration as it better covered and protected the walls without showing the effect of the salt within the house.
Of the 26 individual designs of wallpaper that were discovered within the kitchen only one would be chosen to be the new wall covering for the opening of Yr Ysgwrn to the public. The decision for this wallpaper was left to the surviving family of Hedd Wyn. Gerald Williams gave this choice to his sister-in-law, as was the tradition in the family of it being the women’s choice when it came to the wallpaper.
A pink and green floral design was chosen, one of the layers that was dated to the same period that Hedd Wyn would have been living in the property. This floral design was made up of 9 colours requiring 8 prints upon each piece to build up the intricate design. We recreated the artwork from the original samples found within the 26 layers of the farmhouse and traditionally hand block printed the design which can still be seen up today adorning the walls of the kitchen.
We can also very happily report that once the wallpaper was installed in situ Gerald Williams himself was delighted with the final result. It’s a real honour for the family to approve of the restoration work and be house proud once again of an incredible property that has now been preserved for future generations to come and explore the incredible story hidden within these thick Welsh stone walls.
