The Roman attack on Anglesey 60AD

 

The History of Wales

The Roman attack on Anglesey 60AD

Anglesey’s strategic importance was clearly significant. It was a place of refuge for dissenters, and had considerable agricu...ltural and mineral wealth, but the main incentive for the campaign seems to have been the desire to destroy the druids last major outpost . The Romans legions XIV and XX attacked Mona with a level of brutality and ferocity rarely seen elsewhere in their conquest of Britain, such was their determination to wipe out the druids. It is thought that the Romans crossed the Menai Straits at low tide, when there was only a narrow strip of water between Anglesey and the mainland. Although they were initially cowed by their superstitions, urging from their commanders soon led them to inflict a bloody slaughter on the the defending Deceangli force , making especially sure to kill the druids, destroy their sacred groves, and cover their altars with the blood and entrails of British captives. Before the victory over the Deceangli can be secured, however, Paulinus is forced to abandon the campaign and rush his troops eastwards to deal with the massive rebellion led by queen Boudicca.

The attack is documented by Tacitus.

"Ranks of warriors lined the Anglesey shore, urged on by their women, shrieking like furies, dressed in burial black, while druids, with arms outstretched to heaven, cursed the invaders."

"The legionnaries doffed their clothes and swam naked across the Menai Straights to do battle with the druid-led Celts.

On 25th May 1999, the last pit pony in the South Wales coalfield

 

25th May.
On 25th May 1999, the last pit pony in the South Wales coalfield, 'Robbie' worked his last day underground at Pant y Gasseg, Pontypool.
At its peak in 1913, there were 70,000 ponies working underground in Britain's coal mines.... In later years, mechanical haulage was quickly introduced on the main underground roads replacing the pony hauls, and ponies tended to be confined to the shorter runs from coal face to main road . As of 1984, 55 ponies were still in use with the National Coal Board in Britain.
Larger horses, such as varieties of Cleveland Bay could be used on higher underground roadways, but on many duties small ponies no more than 12 hands high were needed. Shetlands were a breed commonly used because of their small size. In shaft mines, ponies were normally stabled underground and fed on a diet with a high proportion of chopped hay and maize, coming to the surface only during the colliery's annual holiday. In slope and drift mines, the stables were usually on the surface near the mine entrance. Typically, they would work an eight-hour shift each day, during which they might haul 30 tons of coal in tubs on the underground narrow gauge railway. One 1911 writer estimated that the average working life of coal mining mules was only 3 1/2 years, where 20-year working lives were common on the surface. See More

Earl T. Williams Jr

 

Earl T. Williams Jr

On this day in 1869, miners at the Leeswood colliery near Mold march their English manager to the train station in order to send him home. This led to the Mold Riots.
http://leeswoodcommunity.org.uk/history/the-mold-riots/
A very good article on the riots.
http://www.welshnot.com/history/the-mold-riots-the-summer-of-69/

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Earl T. Williams Jr

Moel ty Uchaf - Stone Circle - Gwynedd

 

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SJ 05612 37178 (GPS 56min)
Diameter 10.7 x 10.9m (Meas.)

Visited August 2001
No magnetic anomalies.

A very steep walk from the nearest road, this site is well worth the effort. With its location at the top of a hill, Moel ty Uchaf has stunning panoramic views over the valley below and the circle itself is also very attractive. Moel ty Uchaf "the High Bare Hill", is a cairn circle of contiguously set stones in a good state of preservation. The ring is broken at the SSE by what is assumed to be an original entrance, a second, shorter, interruption occurs at the east presumably be due to loss of stones.
We counted 41 stones in the ring and an extra stone inside the circle at the NE, the stones do not appear to be graded, and the largest stone sits exactly at the north. Burl describes a "finely preserved cist" at the centre of the ring, but all we could find was a circular depression with signs of recent digging. There is an outlying stone at the NNE, because of the steep slope of the hill this stone is considerably lower than the circle which appears silhouetted on the horizon from that  location. The outlier has been levered out of its stonehole very recently, and now lies a couple of metres further down the hill. There does not seem to have been any digging in the hole, and we could see no reason for someone to displace this stone.
On the other side of the ring from the outlier is a shallow valley in which there is a low cairn SSE of the circle. This is so low, it is easy to miss, but when we visited, the covering vegetation showed a prominent "cropmark" colour change which made is stand out. The cairn is circular and has a depression at its centre, "much white quartz" is said to have been dug from it. About 40m east of the cairn is a jumble of large stones that made us wonder if they had once been another megalithic structure, now destroyed and its remnants piled here.

Moel ty Uchaf - Stone Circle - Gwynedd

The Cross of Neith

 

In May 1285, The Cross of Neith, an important religious relic acquired from Wales, was carried through London at the head of a royal procession for Edward I.
The Cross of Neith ( Y Groes Naid ) was a sacred relic believed to be... a fragment of the True Cross which had been kept at Aberconwy by the kings and princes of Gwynedd. They believed it afforded them and their people divine protection. It is not known when it first arrived in Gwynedd or how they had inherited it, but it is possible that it was brought back from Rome by Hywel Dda following his pilgrimage in about 928. According to tradition it was handed down from prince to prince until the time of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (Llywelyn the Last) and his brother Dafydd.
Following the complete defeat of Gwynedd and the subjugation of the Principality, following the death of Llywelyn and the execution of Dafydd in 1283, this holy relic was ready for English expropriation alongside the other spiritual and temporal artefacts of the Principality. The Alms Roll of 1283 records that a cleric named Huw ab Ithel presented this "part of the most holy wood of the True Cross" to Edward I of England at Aberconwy. It then accompanied the king as he finished his campaign in North Wales before being brought to London and paraded through the streets at the head of a procession in May 1285 which included the king, the queen, his children, magnates of the realm and fourteen bishops.
What happened to the Cross of Neith after this is unknown. It has been speculated that it was destroyed, along with other relics, by Oliver Cromwell and fellow Puritans during the revolution of 1649 See More

                                                                        

 

Owain Glyndwr’s Mount

 

Glyndyfrdwy Castle, better known as Owain Glyndwr`s Mount is situated adjacent to the main A5 trunk road 2 miles East of Corwen. Built in the 12th Century, this was the seat of the Lords of Glyndyfrdwy, of whom Owain Glyndwr was the 6th to bear that title. According to Iolo Goch, his bard, a wooden castellet stood upon a great mound. It is claimed that it was on this site on 16th September 1400 that Glyndwr raised his standard for the first time to proclaim himself Prince of Wales.
The mound itself stands 6.5m high, 36m across at the base, and 12m across at the top, with a ditch 1m deep on the West and South West. As at other similar sites in the area (eg Rug, Prysor), there is no trace of a bailey, however, in the case of this site there is a nearby moated area which was destroyed in 1403.

British Medieval History