Welsh History Timeline

Please suggest dates for addition in comments below....diolch.

Timeline

31,000 BCE: Red Lady of Paviland. A famous Stone Age male skeleton preserved on the Gower peninsula, mistakenly assumed to be a female as he had a mirror!

2,300 BCE Bluestones. Highly prized, large stones were cut and transported from the northern Preselis (NW Wales) to form part of the Stonehenge complex. An earlier wooden henge in the bluestone area appears to be the model for Stonehenge.

800 - 1stC Celtic period of influence, with iron technology and 'hillforts.' Tribes of the 1stC BCE developed sophisticated townships and imported Mediterranean goods such as wine.

48 -78: The Silurian War. After Caradog's resistance to the Romans failed, the Silures federation successfully fought on, including trashing a Legion. (Ref. Tacitus.)

383: Macsen Wledig ( Magnus Maximus ) made his bid for the imperial Roman purple, drawing military forces away from Britain into Gaul.

Late 4thC Pelagius, thought to come from SE Wales headed a free will theology against Augustine. His 'Celtic porridge' as it was insultingly called, was extremely popular in Celtic regions for senturies after Pelagius was declared heretic.

500 - 550: 'Arthur.' The approximate period when Celtic resistance to the Saes peaked.

500–700 Age of the Saints. Almost any holy person was politely called a saint in Wales, and many were recorded from older pagan myth.

784: Offa's Dyke built by Mercia to keep Welsh raiders from carrying off cattle. This became a long term land boundary between Wales and England.

1081: Normans have better success at invading than previous flops; but the wars continue with victory and defeat on both sides.

1100: The Mabinogi, approximate date when it was written down. It may date back far earlier in oral tradition.

1282: Conquest. England finally prevails under Edward I at the Battle of Orewin Bridge

1284: Statute of Rhuddlan.

1400: Owain Glyndwr Rebellion begins.

1485:  Henry Tewdr becomes King of England due to Welsh support at the Battle of Bosworth, founding a new dynasty.

1588: Bible translated into Welsh by Henry Morgan, under Elizabeth Tudor. This was why Welsh survived better than other Celtic languages.

17thC - 19thC: The Antiquarians studied the Welsh Bible, and then began to unearth Welsh literature and history again.

Late 18thC: London Welsh Societies develop cultural pride, and support authors and social charity such as a school for Welsh children in London.

Late 18thC Methodist revival,  developed into an independent  Welsh movement in 1823.

21 June 1792: Iolo Morgannwg aka Edward Williams, held the first modern Gorsedd Beirdd on Primrose Hill in London. It quickly became part of the national Eistedfordd.

1838 -1845: Charlotte Guest published the Mabinogi under the title 'The Mabinogion.' This gave Welsh literature a much wider audience among both Welsh and English people.

4 November 1839 John Frost led the Chartists in the Newport Rising. 5 out of 6 of their reforms are now considered basic to a social democracy today.

1847 Brad y Llyfrau Gleision (The Treachery of the Blue Books) reported the Welsh as ignorant, lazy, and immoral in an education survey.

1916 -1922 David Lloyd George Prime Minister of the UK. He had been a reforming politician responsible for key parts of the modern welfare state such as the People's Budget, which both helped the poor and dampened their moves to violent uprising.

5 July 1948 Aneurin 'Nye' Bevin led the creation of the NHS and insisted on well-built social housing for working people.

1964 Welsh Office established in UK Govt.

1 November 1982 S4C TV aimed at Welsh people, at first bilingual, later a fully Welsh channel.

1984-1985 Miners Strike Union power broken in the UK. Not a single Welsh miner returned to work until it was formally ended.

18 September 1997 Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru (Welsh Assembly) initiated by a Yes referendum.