Cadeiriau Eisteddfod Chairs

This is a bilingual post. Please scroll down for English.

Mae’r dair cadair a welir uchod wedi hen ymgartrefu yn Festri Capel Hermon, Abergwaun. Dyma eu hanes –

1) CADAIR BARGOED 1913 Y bardd  ‘Gwaunfa’ wnaeth ennill hon. Enillodd William Thomas nifer o gadeiriau eisteddfodol yn ei ddydd. Mae’n gadair gadarn, o bren tywyll, wedi’i haddurno’n gymen. Gwr hynaws a diwylliedig iawn oedd Gwaunfa, ac adnabyddus fel bardd yn ei ddydd. Ysgrifennai rhyddiaith a barddoniaith ac enillodd am gyfansoddi emynau. Cafodd ei fedyddio’n aelod yn Hermon yn ddyn ifanc, cyn ymadael a dechrau gweithio i bapur newydd yng Nghaerdydd.

Daeth y gadair i Festri Hermon yn Haf 1994. Yr oedd Mair Elvet, merch yng nghyfraith i Gwaunfa wedi ysgrifennu at y Parchg D Carl Williams i ddweud i’w gwr, Elvet Thomas, ddymuno rhoddi’r gadair i Hermon er cof am ei dad. Meddai Mair – “Byddai cael ei gweld yn Hermon yn dod i gof un o feibion disgleiriaf Hermon, ac Abergwaun, a’i fab disglair, Elvet, hefyd.”

Claddwyd aelodau’r teulu Thomas ym mynwent Capel Rhosycaerau, lle y bu teulu gwraig Gwaunfa yn addoli ers slawer dydd.

The three bardic chairs seen above have long found their home in the vestry of  Hermon Chapel, Fishguard.

Here is their story –

1)BARGOED CHAIR 1913 The poet ‘Gwaunfa’ won this chair. William Thomas won a number of eisteddfod chairs in his day. It is a sturdy chair, of dark wood, richly decorated.

Gwaunfa was a very affable and cultured man, and well known as a poet in his day. He wrote prose and poetry and won prizes for composing hymns. He was baptized a member in Hermon as a young man, before leaving the area to work for a newspaper in Cardiff.

The chair came to Hermon in the Summer of 1994. Mair Elvet, daughter in law of Gwaunfa, had written to the Rev D Carl Williams to explain that the wish of her husband, Elvet Thomas, was to give the chair to Hermon in memory of his father. Mair wrote – “placing the chair in Hermon would bring to mind one of Hermon, and Fishguard’s brightest sons, and his brilliant son, Elvet, also.”

Members of the Thomas family were buried at Rhosycaerau Chapel cemetery, where the ancestors of Gwaunfa’s wife had worshipped.

2) CADAIR ABERTEIFI / ABERTEIFI CHAIR 1901

Mae mwy o wybodaeth am hon ar y ffordd / More information about this chair is on it’s way.

3) CARDIGAN EISTEDDFOD 1893

Yn ôl safwe “Cadeiriau.Cymru” fe enillwyd y gadair hon yn 1893 gan Aaron Morgan, Blaenyffos am bryddest ar y thema “Cartref”. Mae casgliad o farddoniaeth y Parchedig Aaron Morgan, Blaenffos ar gael yn Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru. Rhoddwyd y casgliad i’r llyfrgell gan Mrs Emlyn Morgan, Abertawe, Medi 1959.

According to the website “Cadeiriau.Cymru” this chair was won in 1893 by Aaron Morgan of Blaenyffos for a poem on the theme of “Home”. A collection of poetry by the Reverend Aaron Morgan, Blaenffos is available at the National Library of Wales. The collection was donated to the library by Mrs Emlyn Morgan, Swansea, September 1959.

Mae mwy o wybodaeth am hon ar y ffordd / More information about this chair is on it’s way.