NEW HOME FOR CYMRU'S NATIONAL TREASURE IN CORWEN.
As everyone knows - or should know, the most significant of our Cymric National treasures were lost when Cymru became 'occupied' in 1283 following the national war between the forces of Llywelyn and Dafydd ap Gruffydd against the forces of Edward Ist. Some of the National Treasures were pillaged as 'spoils of war' by Edward's men from abbeys, as was the case with Cymer and Strata Florida Abbeys, such as the crowns of the Royal House of Gwynedd and the sacred 'Croes Naid, were handed over to Edward Ist by "traitors", in a plight to save their own skins and be rewarded by various means.
Over the centuries following the 'Occupation', any treasure found in Cymru, such as the intricate gold cape found in Mold in 1833 were instantly claimed as crown property by the British State and crown, and despite calls for our treasures to be returned and placed in a museum in Cymru, all such calls have fallen on deaf ears and that will always be the case as, the British State has no intention of returning anybody's National Treasures, take the on going case of the Elgin Marbles for instance. See link below:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Elgin-Marbles
And now, follow link below in regards to Cymru:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llywelyn%27s_coronet
So, having considered all of the above and understanding only too well how crucial National Treasures are as an expression of a nation's national identity and Sovereignty, Embassy Glyndŵr decided on the launch of a project to provide Cymru with 'new' National treasures, in the form of a crown sword and dagger, and vowed to have these National Treasures ready in time to celebrate the 600th anniversary of Owain Glyndŵr's Great War of Independence. 'See further information on the new National Treasures in the following links:
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/sword-state-new-national-treasure-2449225
http://owain-glyndwr-embassyllysgenhadaeth.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-post.html
By the year 2004, which was the 600th anniversary of the year that Tywysog Owain Glyndŵr set up his Cymric Parliament and at which he was officially crowned Tywysog Cymru, the new National Treasures were ready to be unveiled and be shown to Cymru and the world.
The Glyndŵr Crown had been skillfully crafted by Master Goldsmith A.H. Lewis and was made of solid silver coated in gold whilst the sword and dagger, likewise, had been skillfully hand made by Master Blacksmith Jason Gardener. Embassy Glyndŵr had sponsored the Glyndŵr Crown whilst the sword and dagger had been sponsored by Robert Rice of Castle Crafts, Caerdydd.
There were, actually, three very special swords produced, and each has a piece of gold set into the pommel, and on this set piece of gold is each sword's authenticity stamp.
One of these three swords was presented to Machynlleth during a long weekend festival in July 2004, the other was presented to Siân Ifan of Embassy Glyndŵr and the third was kept by the sponsor, Mr Robert Rice. Corwen Museum is to be presented with the long term loan of the sword presented to Siân Ifan.
In Sept 2004, the Corwen Dagger was presented to Corwen by Professor Aled Gruffydd Williams during a Dydd Glyndŵr festival and pageant but, it has never been on display until now. The Corwen Dagger will be now be presented to the Museum on a long term loan by a Corwen Councillor during the ceremony which is to take place on the Dydd Glyndŵr this year.
The Glyndŵr Crown was presented in another ceremony to the Cefn Caer Medieval Hall House due to the association that the house had with Owain Glyndŵr's family and history. The owner of Cefn Caer was a passionate Owain Glyndŵr supporter and he was appointed 'Guardian of the Crown' whilst he lived and he carried out this duty well in both guardianship and caring of the crown and in receiving visitors to the house and in interpreting the history of Owain Glyndŵr. Elfyn's sister, Alwena Thomas, carefully cultivated the lovely Glyndŵr Heroes Memorial Garden which was set in the beautiful and serene orchard at Cefn Caer.
Sadly, both Elfyn and Alwena have passed on now, Alwena's son is the new owner of Cefn Caer and his interest is in farming first and foremost, the beautiful orchard has been ploughed up and is now a field and we have had to find a new home for the memorial plaques in the garden as well as for the Glyndŵr Crown.
See link below to a film I produced of Cefn Caer, the memorial garden and the Glyndwr crown in the days when Elfyn and Alwena were still with us.
So, this Saturday, 16th Sept 2023, Embassy Glyndŵr will be handing over two of the National Treasures of Cymru, the Glyndŵr Crown and Sword into the safe keeping of the Corwen Museum on the basis of a long term loan. A Corwen Councillor will be handing over the Corwen Dagger on the same terms. Embassy Glyndŵr officers, along with members of the Museum Trust, will board the train in Glyndyfrdwy with the Crown and Sword and will arrive at Corwen Station at 12.40 and will walk to the town square for the ceremony to commence at 1pm. The Corwen Society that organizes the annual Owain Glyndŵr Festival in the town will be laying a wreath at the foot of the Owain Glyndŵr memorial.
It is very appropriate that the Glyndŵr Crown and sword are bought from Glyndyfrdwy to Corwen for the ceremony on Saturday as it was at the Court of Glyndyfrdwy that Owain's supporters elected Owain to be their Tywysog Cymru, to lead them in the War of Independence so, the Glyndŵr Crown especially, is coming home.
When the ceremonies are over, there will be an opportunity for everyone to go to the museum to see the exhibition of the National Treasures and the Memorial Plaques- and all else that is in the museum of course - which is well worth seeing.
See link here to Corwen Museum website. http://www.corwenmuseum.org.uk/
Pass this message on far and wide and bring as many Glyndŵr flags on poles as you can on Saturday to fly high and proud in a show of respect for our greatest of national heroes. We will see you all there.
ER MWYN CYMRU.
posted by WELSH REMEMBRANCERS @ 5:09 pm
