On this day 1648, the Battle of St Fagans occurred, during The English Civil War

In the build-up to this battle, a group of Parliamentarian generals led by Major General Rowland Laugharne were upset and dissatisfied with the lack of pay and had rebelled, changing sides and declaring loyalty to the king.  They had been successful in Neath and Swansea, before marching on Cardiff to meet up with Royalist sympathisers there.

Parliament was desperate to intercept them before they reached Cardiff and ordered colonel Thomas Horton to force march his troops march from Brecon. Horton duly arrived at St Fagans, to protect the western approach to Cardiff, but although he had superior numbers, estimated at 8,000 as opposed to Laugharne's  3,000 men, he also knew that  the bulk of his army were untrained amateur volunteers armed with clubs and billhooks and opposing him were the highly trained and equipped New Model Army.

Laugharne launched an all out surprise attack, but this was repelled by the Parliamentarians and the battle was effectively over within two hours.  Around 300 Royalists were killed, with over 3000 taken prisoner. Laugharne, accompanied by his senior officers fled to Pembroke Castle, where they were besieged for eight weeks, before Oliver Cromwell himself arrived and battered them into surrender.   

Died this day 1874

Zephaniah Williams - One of the three leaders of the Newport Rising of 1839.

Williams was born near Argoed, Sirhowy Valley in Monmouthshire. He became a coal miner, Master Collier and innkeeper and with the local Working Men's Association meeting at his home he soon emerged as a leader of the Chartist movement in South-East Wales and was one of the leaders of a large column of men who marched to the Westgate hotel in Newport during the Newport Rising of 1839, which some regard as the greatest armed rebellion in 19th century Britain.

Williams had a reputation as a political activist, having once been prosecuted at Usk in 1833 for blowing up a coal mine in a dispute with the mine owner.  He was also an atheist, who supposedly spat every time someone mentioned Christ.

 For his part in the Chartist march he was sentenced the following year to death by hanging, drawing and quartering, which was later commuted to transportation to Tasmania.  He was given a conditional pardon in 1854, but he decided to remain in Tasmania and brought out his wife and family. He later discovered coal on the island and made a considerable fortune founding the Tasmanian coal trade.  

On 8th May 1839, the popular chartist leader Henry Vincent was arrested after addressing a Chartist meeting and taken to prison at Monmouth. It was Vincent's subsequent imprisonment, combined with the government's rejection of the first Chartist petition, the "People's Charter of 1838", that led to the Newport Rising of 4th November 1839.  

On 8th May 2012, backing was given to construct the Pen y Cymoedd  76 turbine wind farm, the highest-generating onshore wind farm in Wales, located above the village of Glyncorrwg  in the Afan Valley.