On 7th December 1203, Geoffrey de Henlaw was consecrated as Bishop of St David's.

His appointment is significant, as it ended Gerald of Wales's (Giraldus Cambrensis) own ambitions for the job and sealed the final subjection of the Welsh bishops to the archiepiscopal jurisdiction of Canterbury.

From 1199 to 1203 Gerald’s life was clouded by his frustrated ambition to become bishop of St. David’s.  This ambition led him to reject four Irish and two Welsh bishoprics, before being nominated for St. David’s in 1199, however, the archbishop of Canterbury promoted a rival candidate and Pope Innocent III quashed both elections in 1203, after King John of England had declared that Gerald was an enemy of the realm.

On 7th December 1916, with the support of the Conservative and Labour leaders, David Lloyd George replaced Herbert Asquith as British Prime Minister.  Lloyd George was 54 and at the height of his powers. His energy, eloquence, and ability had already made him the leading statesman of the day, and his accession to the premiership was highly popular in the country generally. He was the first and to date, the only Welshman to hold the office of Prime Minister.

 Though Lloyd George was not on good terms with the generals fighting the campaign on the Western Front, they respected the energy he brought to the political side of the campaign and his achievements in persuading the Royal Navy to introduce the convoy system and the unification of the Allied military command under the French general Ferdinand Foch, were both instrumental in him being acclaimed as the man who had won the war.

Penarth pier was opened in 1894 by the Penarth Promenade and Landing Pier Company.

The pier proved an immediate success, attracting thousands of holiday makers.  However, this was dramatically affected by the outbreak of World War One, when all the paddle steamers that used the pier, were commandeered as mine sweepers and the pier itself was used to protect the approach to Cardiff Docks. 

After the war, the pier was in a bad state of repair and in order tp repair the damage, the Pier Company claimed £7,228 from the War Compensation Court.   However on 7th December 1922, a decision was made to issue only £353.  The people of Penarth were outraged, but even an appeal to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Stanley Baldwin, did not see the decision reversed.   Undeterred the work of repairing the pier was undertaken and the paddle steamers returned, but the heyday of the pier was over and it was sold to the council in 1924.   

Born on this day 1912 in Pembroke 

Daniel Jenkyn Jones - one of the most distinguished classical composers of the 20th century, whose song settings were used in Dylan Thomas's play, "Under Milk Wood" 

Jones attended the Bishop Gore School in Swansea, where he formed a close friendship with Dylan Thomas, both becoming part of the informal group of aspiring artists called the Kardomah Gang.  Jones left Swansea to study music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1935, which allowed him to study in Czechoslovakia, France, the Netherlands and Germany, where he was also able to develop his linguistic skills.

During the War, he served as a captain in the Intelligence Corps at Bletchley Park as a decoder of Russian, Romanian and Japanese texts.  After the War, Jones published his memoir, My Friend Dylan Thomas, his fourth symphony, which is dedicated to the poet and also edited a collection of Thomas' poetry.  Charles Fisher another member of the Kardomah gang, described Dan Jones as a genius.   

Born on this day 1963 in Neath

Mark Bowen - former Wales soccer international who earned 41 Welsh caps as left-back.  In club football, he most associated with Norwich City, for whom he made 399 appearances and was voted their fans, the clubs best ever left-back.  Since retiring in 1999, he has worked as assistant to Mark Hughes with Wales and at Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham and Stoke.

On 6th December 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite army retreated from Derby, not knowing that the Welsh Jacobites has risen in support, that London was in panic and that George II was ready flee to the Continent.  Their retreat ultimately resulted with the quashing of the rebellion to restore  the line of James II to the throne of England, at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

WELSH JACOBITES

* Prior to an earlier rebellion in 1715, there had been evidence of strong support for the Jacobite cause in the Wrexham area, with riots probably organised by the local landowner, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, who was a member of the Cycle of the White Rose, a secret political club that supported the Jacobites.  

*There were also secret Jacobite groups in Montgomeryshire, Talgarth and Pembrokeshire.

* Initially the Welsh Jacobites held the position, during the 1745 rebellion, that they would only rise up, on the intervention of the French.

* David Morgan from Penygraig near Quakers Yard obtained a captain's commission in the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie, but he was captured and executed, with  his head displayed on Temple Bar in London.   

Born on this day 1848 in Landore, Swansea

Thomas Edwards -  Independent minister and Archdruid of the U.S.A

Edwards emigrated to Pensylvania in 1870, where he established a church society called the Cynonfardd Literary Society, designed to teach English to Welsh, through the literary disciplines of the Welsh Eisteddfod, such as music, singing and poetry.  This proved so successful that it led to the first Cynonfardd Eisteddfod being held on March 17 1889.  The Eisteddfod is still held annually and it is believed to be the oldest outside of Wales.  Edwards was was invested as Archdruid of the U.S.A in 1913.  

In December 1215, Llywelyn the Great captured Shrewsbury Castle in a campaign that also saw him take those at Carmarthen, Cardigan Kidwelly, Cilgerran and Llanstephan.

It is thought that the town of Shrewsbury was founded by the Saxons of Mercia in the 8th century to control the Severn river-crossing on the road between the Hereford and Chester.

The earliest written mention of Shrewsbury is in 901, after which, it grew in stature and by 1066 had become the county town of Shropshire consisting of more than 250 houses and four churches. However in 1069, an alliance of Welshmen and the men of Chester burned the town.  Then  Roger de Montgomery, a relative of William the Conqueror, was created the first Earl of Shrewsbury and built a castle in 1074, where the present Shrewsbury Castle is now situated. 

The town fell to Welsh forces led by Llywelyn the Great in 1215 and again in 1234 and in 1283 Edward I held a Parliament at Shrewsbury to decide the fate of Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last prince of an independant Wales. Dafydd was subsequently hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason in Shrewsbury. 

In the Middle Ages, Shrewsbury was as a centre of the woollen trade and a place where Welsh cloth was finished.  Shrewsbury merchants would buy the cloth, which had been woven and fulled but not finished, in Oswestry market and after finishing it, much of it was sent to London markets for sale.   

Ruperra Castle, which was built in 1626, is a Grade II Listed Building, situated in Lower Machen, near Caerphilly. 

*  Following the Battle of Naseby, King Charles I spent two nights at Ruperra Castle in 1645.

*  Godfrey Charles Morgan, who was a captain during the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War, was born at Ruperra.

*  It has been destroyed by fire in 1785, 1895 and most recently on 6th December 1941, after which, the castle has been left as a decaying ruin and the entire estate sold as farm land.   

WATERFALLS OF WALES

Pistyll Rhaeadr is located a few miles from the village of Llanrhaedr-ym-Mochnant, twelve miles west of Oswestry.

Pistyll Rhaeadr is formed by the Afon Disgynfa falling, in three stages, over a 240-foot Silurian cliff-face, below which the river is known as the Afon Rhaedr.  It is counted as one of the Seven Wonders of Wales and is a Site of Specific Scientific Interest.

The 19th century author George Borrow, in his book Wild Wales, remarked of the waterfall: "What shall I liken it to? I scarcely know, unless it is to an immense skein of silk agitated and disturbed by tempestuous blasts, or to the long tail of a grey courser at furious speed. I have never seen a water falling so gracefully, so much like thin, beautiful threads as here."

These incredible coincidences occurred on the Menai Strait, the treacherous, narrow stretch of shallow tidal water which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales; 

December 5th 1664 - a ship sunk in the Menai Strait and the only survivor was Hugh Williams.

December 5th 1785 -   a ship sunk in the Menai Strait and the only survivor was Hugh Williams.

December 5th 1820 - a ship sunk in the Menai Strait and the only survivor was Hugh Williams.  

Today is the feast day of Saint Justinian of Ramsey Island, Abbot of St David's Cathedral (pictured) 

Saint Justinian of Ramsey Island c.550

Tradition states that he was a Breton nobleman who settled on the Ramsey Island as a hermit. He was visited by Saint David who was so impressed with his holiness that he made him Abbot of St David's Cathedral.  Justinian however, became frustrated with the poor attitude of the monks at St Davids and returned to Ramsey Island with his most loyal monks to establish a more holy spiritual community.

Legend has it that he was eventually murdered by some monks fed up with his strict regime, by beheading him. Apparently he picked up his head and crossed Ramsey Sound walking on the water carrying his head in his arms, his body was buried in the small ruined chapel which still stands on the mainland at St Justinian's and later transported to the shrine of Saint David in St David's Cathedral.  The Anglican church at Llanstinan, near Fishguard, is also dedicated to him.

Born on this day 1859 in Llandovery.

Edward John Lewis is remembered as winning his one and only cap for Wales, playing half-back in the first ever Welsh rugby international.  Wales lost comprehensively and Lewis was never picked again.  Instead he concentrated on his career as a consultant surgeon, later taking a post as Senior Resident Medical Officer at Great Ormond Street Hospital. 

Match Report;

The game is noted for it's chaotic organisation and it didn't help was that the RFU insisted that the match was played on the same day that Swansea were playing Llanelli in a semi-final cup-tie thus depriving Wales of several players. The players had never played together before and one player, Major Richard Summers from Haverfordwest was selected on the performances for his school.

The players changed in The Princess of Wales a pub, half a mile walk from the ground and played in walking boots, high neck jerseys and knee length knickers.  Also, as two of those expected to play didn't turn up, two bystanders, with tenuous Welsh links were roped in to play. The final team that took to the pitch consisted of 8 Welshmen, 4 Englishmen, 2 Irishmen and an Australian.

Rumour has it that the Welsh team had been drinking heavily and needless to say, they lost heavily, 82-0 under modern scoring values. It could have been worse as England had a try disallowed when England captain Lennard Stokes put Hunt in for a score by throwing a colossal pass, the umpires decision was that a long pass was not fair play.

At the dinner following the match the England captain, Leonard Stokes, said “I’ve seen enough to know that you Welshmen will be hard to beat in a few years’ time when you get together”. In the critical aftermath of the match the WRFU was founded a month later at the Castle Hotel, Neath on 12th March 1881.   

Strumble Head Lighthouse stands imposingly on Ynysmeicl (St. Michael's Island), an islet to the west of Fishguard, it is connected to the mainland by a by a footbridge  across the narrow sound.

The station was built in 1908 by Trinity House for the greater safety of sea traffic between Ireland and the new Fishguard Harbour. The new light formed a link with the existing South Bishop light, 18 miles to the south-west, guarding what is a very dangerous stretch of coast, some 60 vessels are known to have been lost along it in the 19th Century alone.

The original revolving lens system weighed 4½ tons, supported in a bath of mercury to reduce friction. A massive clockwork mechanism rotated it, driven by a quarter-ton weight which, suspended on a cable, dropped gradually down a cylinder running from top to bottom through the tower and had to be re-wound every 12 hours. The optical system was replaced by more compact equipment when Strumble Head lighthouse was fully electrified in 1965.

Ynsymeicl's isolation and steep slopes, presented building problems, with building material and supplies, having to be swung across by jackstay cable.  The handrail of the footbridge and the steps to it also had a special purpose, as the pipeline to carrying oil to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was converted to unmanned automatic operation in 1980 and is now monitored from the Operations and Planning Centre at Harwich.

The daguerreotype of Margam Castle taken in 1841 by Calvert Jones is credited with being the first photograph taken in Wales.

Calvert-Jones was born on 4th December 1804 in Swansea.  He was a mathematician, painter and photographer, who came from a wealthy Swansea family and was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford.  He became rector of Loughor where he developed a great interest in photography, taking many photographs of the Swansea area as well as France and Italy, on his travels.  Jones also discovered a technique for taking panoramic photographs by overlapping images.

In 1847, Jones inherited the Heathfield estate in Swansea, which he developed and named Mansel Street after his brother.  He died in Bath and was buried at St Mary's Church, Swansea, but the grave was destroyed during the bombings of World War II.

The International Rugby Hall of Fame was created at its inaugural dinner on 4th December 1997 in New Zealand. 

The following are its current Welsh inductees;

WALES; Gareth Edwards, Barry John, JPR Williams, Cliff Morgan, Gerald Davies, Carwyn James, Mervyn Davies, Phil Bennett, Gwyn Nicholls and Ieuan Evans.  

Born on this day 1936 in Chepstow. 

Richard Meade - Olympic gold medal winning equestrian.  Meade was a member of Britain's gold medal winning team in the three-day event at both the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics and also won the individual gold in 1972, becoming the first British rider to win an individual Olympic gold medal.  His international record also includes two gold and two silver World Championship medals and three gold European Championship titles.  In 1972, he was voted BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

Kidwelly is one of the finest castles in South-West Wales and situated in a long disputed region, it remains remarkably intact after three centuries of Anglo-Norman/Welsh warfare.

A timeline of the history of Kidwelly Castle;

c.1100  Shortly after the Norman conquest, the lordship of Wales's south western coastal plain was awarded by Henry I, to Roger, Bishop of Salisbury.

1106  Roger built a motte-and-bailey type castle, to defend the road to west Wales on the estuary of the river Gwendraeth, defended on one side by the river and on the other by a deep crescent shaped ditch.  Roger also established a Benedictine priory nearby and the burgeoning town of Kidwelly began to develop 

1136  The Welsh rose in revolt against the Norman occupation in south Wales. Gruffudd ap Rhys, prince of Deheubarth, rode north to plead for aid from  Gwynedd, while his wife, Gwenllian, led a Welsh army against Kidwelly. Gwenllian was defeated and killed at Maes Gwenllian, just north of the castle, by the English under Maurice de Londres.

1159  Rhys ap Gruffudd  (The Lord Rhys) took the castle while Henry II was away in France

1163 Henry II returned from France and invaded Deheubarth, stripped Rhys of l his lands and took him prisoner.

1171 Henry II made peace with Rhys. Rhys was to pay a tribute of 300 horses and 4,000 head of cattle but was confirmed in possession of  most of the lands he had taken from Norman lords, but not Kidwelly Castle

1189 Henry II died and was succeeded by Richard I. Rhys considered that he was no longer bound by the agreement with Henry and attacked the Norman lordships, capturing Kidwelly as well as  the castles of St Clears, Laugharne and Llansteffan. 

1197 Rhys died and the castle fell back under English control

1215 Rhys's son Rhys Gryg in alliance with Llywelyn ap Iorweth (Llywelyn the Great) attacked and captured many castles in South Wales including Kidwelly. 

1220  The castle was back in English hands under Hawise de Londres,

1231  The castle resisted an attack from Llywelyn ap Iorwerth 

Hawise's sons Pain and Patrick de Chaworth then rebuilt much of the earlier castle, creating much of the fortress we see today.  In the late 13th century  It passed into royal ownership and in the 14th century began to be used as an administrative centre for the powerful Lancaster family. 

1403 when it was attacked by Henry Don, a supporter of Owain Glyndwr's rebellion. The town was sacked, but Kidwelly Castle held out. 

Though repairs continued over the subsequent centuries, the castle was no longer needed for military purposes and fell into a gradual decay. Unlike many Welsh castles, Kidwelly played no part ion the English Civil War and was eventually purchased by Earls of Cawdor

1927  The castle passed into government care.   

In December 1946, the U.K's first Remploy factory was opened, in Bridgend,  with the aim of offering work to disabled people. Over the following decades, Remploy established a network of 83 factories across the UK.

Remploy was originally subsidised by the government, however at the beginning of 21st century, it became the policy to encourage disabled people to have mainstream jobs, which resulted in the closure of most Remploy factories.

Born on this day 1910 in Oswestry

Dr. Robert Arthur Hughes, who was a medical missionary for the Presbyterian Church of Wales.  He trained as a surgeon in London prior to working at the Welsh Mission Hospital in Shillong (the capital of the state of Assam in India), from 1939-1969, where under his direction, the hospital was able to employ more nurses than the rest of the hospitals in Assam combined. He also;

*  Set up a travelling unit to dispense medicines and provide aid to the surrounding provinces.

*  Worked on trying to get rid of malaria from the area.

*  Introduced a treatment to alleviate pain from peptic ulcers.

*  Introducing a rickets treatment in the infant population,

*  Recognizing a protein calorie deficiency disorder called kwashiorkor in the Indian population,

*  Founding the area’s first blood bank.

*  Performing the first lower segment Caesarean section without antibiotics in India.

*  Expanding educational training for medical and nursing organizations.   

On 3rd December 1935, Felinfoel brewery produced Britain's first ever can of beer.

Felinfoel was the first brewery outside the USA to commercially can beer and it was to transform Britains alcohol buying habits.  The cans were made from tinplate, produced in South Wales, which from the late 18th century until the early 20th dominated the world's production.  So much so that in the early 1890s, 80% of all tinplate was produced in South Wales.  

On 3rd December 2011, Shane Williams scored his 58th Test try in his final Welsh appearance, with the last move of the match against Australia.  He scored his try with a celebratory somersault and was treated to a standing ovation at the final whistle.    

Born on this day 1925 in Crynant, near Neath 

Roy John - former Wales and Lions rugby international.  John was capped 19 times for Wales and was a member of the 1950 and 1952 Grand Slam winning teams as well the Welsh side that beat New Zealand in 1953.  In 1950 he was also selected for the Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia, where his excellent ability in the line out as well as his swerve and dummy, earned him the nickname “The King”.   John had a powerful standing leap and was reported to be able to leap up and grab the crossbar, which is 10 ft 6ins high.

On 3rd December 1984, the first McDonald's fast food restaurant in Wales opened in Cardiff. 

* The McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, with approximately 68 million daily customers in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets, employing more than 1.7 million people. 

* The company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald; 

* In 2012, McDonald's Corporation had annual revenues of $27.5 billion, and profits of $5.5 billion.   

On 2nd December 1868, the Whigs who under William Gladstone, had begun referring to themselves as Liberals, won the general election and became the dominant political party in Wales.

A brief history of the Liberal party, with specific reference to Wales;

1885 - In the general election held on 24th November 1885, the Liberals had a candidate in every Welsh constituency, winning 30 out of 34.

1887 - Gladstone, with the support of the Welsh Liberals, attempted to convince Parliament to accept Irish Home Rule. The proposal split the national party and Parliament rejected the measure.  

1897 - The Liberal Council for Wales, who campaigned for Home Rule for Wales, was founded by David Lloyd George,

1902 - Lloyd George led a successful rebellion by the Liberal-run Welsh councils, whose refusal to implement the Conservative's hated Education Act made him a Liberal hero.

From 1905 until 1922, Welsh Liberals held some of the most senior political positions in government. 

1906 - The Welsh Liberals reached their highest point, when 35 out of the 36 Welsh seats, returned a Liberal MP.

1908 -  Liberal Prime Minister, Henry Campbell-Bannerman died and was replaced by Herbert Asquith who appointed Lloyd George as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lloyd George, who had been a long opponent of the Poor Law in Britain, introduced the old age pension for people over seventy.

1909 - Lloyd George announced what became known as the People's Budget.  In which, people on lower incomes were to pay lower taxes.  After a long struggle with the House of Lords, he finally got his budget through parliament.

1910 - The Welsh Liberals fought the election using the slogan “The Liberals always deliver more than the Tories promise”.

1911 - Lloyd George's next reform was the National Insurance Act, which gave the British working classes the first contributory system of insurance against illness and unemployment. 

1913 -  Lloyd George underwent  a parliamentary inquiry into the claims of corruption involving shares in Marconi and although he had profited directly from the policies of the government, it was decided that he was not been guilty of corruption. 

1915 - 1916 -  After the outbreak of the war,  the Conservatives began to question Asquith's abilities as a war leader and Lloyd George agreed to collaborate with the Conservatives, to remove Asquith from power.  The coalition government led by Lloyd George gave the Welsh Liberal Party its first ever prime minister, but in Wales, there was much disagreement over whether or not to support the coalition. 

1918 -  After the war, Lloyd George wanted to bring in more reforms, but was frustrated the Conservative members of the coalition and eventually ousted from power.

During the 1920s, the Labour Party replaced the Liberals as the voice of opposition to the Conservatives and the Liberals went into decline, so much so that by 1926, Lloyd George was seen by the Liberals as a villain who was destroying their party.

1945 - In the year of the death of David Lloyd George, Welsh Liberals had just seven MPs  and two of these, Gwilym  and Megan Lloyd George, both the children of Lloyd George, defected to the Conservative and Labour parties, respectively. 

1966 - Emlyn Hooson, set about rebuilding the Welsh Liberal Party establishing the Welsh Liberal party as a separate state party within the Liberal Party's federal structure.

1979 - The Welsh Liberals suffered from the Lib-Lab pact and support for the failed devolution referendum resulted in a poor election for the Liberals with over half of the 28 seats it contested losing their deposit.

On 1st December 1865, Llandrindod Wells was linked to the rail network for the first time

The history of Llandrindod is heavily connected beneficial effects of the local waters and although these would have been known as far back as Roman times, the development of the town only took place after the arrival of the railway in 1865, when it became a fashionable Victorian tourist destination. 

The first attempt at developing the mainly agricultural area was in 1749 when a Mr Grosvenor built a large hotel on the banks of the present lake.  This venture, however, was unsuccessful as the hotel acquired a dubious reputation and closed shortly after 1787.

Then the railway arrived, bringing visitors from London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham and the town took off, with hotels and apartments springing up to cater for the approximated 80,000 visitors that visited the town every year.

The depression that followed the First World War and the popularity of seaside holidays saw a dramatic decline in the number of visitors to the town.  But in recent years, the town has again started to see the visitor numbers increase.  

On 1st December 1835, John Owen, mayor of Newport, cut the first sod as construction began on Newport Docks. 

However, despite its initial success, it soon became apparent that the dock was too small to deal with the rapidly increasing trade and in 1868 work began on the Alexandra Dock, which opened in 1875.  This along with the downturn in trade in the 1920’s led to the Town Dock being closed in October 1930.

On 1st December 1860, an explosion at the Black Vein Colliery at Risca killed more than 140 men and boys as well as 28 pit ponies.  They called this pit, the Death Pit because the methane gas was so bad, causing regular explosions and killing so many.

There is a Memorial Stone to the 50 men & boys who were unclaimed or unidentified on the hillside on the opposite side of the valley, which was donated by Lord Tredegar.   

Today is the feast day of Saint Tudwal

Saint Tudwal - Born c. 528 is said to be a son of Heol Mawr and brought up in Lydstep (nr Tenby), from where he travelled to Ireland to learn the scriptures, before becoming a hermit on what is now called Saint Tudwal's Island East, which is off the Llyn Peninsula.  Later, Tudwal travelled to Brittany and settled in Lan Pabu, where he founded a monastery under the patronage of his cousin, King Deroch of Domnonee.

Tudwal was later made Bishop of Treguier on the insistence of Childebert I, King of the Franks and is considered one of the seven founder saints of Brittany. In iconography, Tudwal is shown as a bishop holding a dragon, now the symbol of Treguier.    

On 1st December 2005, the village of Ystradfellte in the Brecon Beacons was the last in Wales to be connected to mains electricity.

Ystradfellte is chiefly known in Welsh history for being the spot where the Welsh nobleman and rebel leader Llywelyn Bren surrendered at the conclusion of his revolt of 1316. Llywelyn, who gave himself up on the condition that his men be spared, was put to death in 1318 at Cardiff.  The village is popular with tourists for hillwalking or to visit the nearby waterfalls and caves, such as Porth yr Ogof,  the biggest cave entrance in Wales.

Gerald of Wales made his first visit to Rome on November 30th 1199 

Gerald of Wales (c. 1146 – c. 1223), also known as Gerallt Gymro or Giraldus Cambrensis, was a medieval clergyman and chronicler. Born at Manorbier Castle in Pembrokeshire, he was of mixed Norman and Welsh descent. His father, William FitzOdo de Barry, was one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman barons in Wales and his mother Angharad was a first cousin of Rhys ap Gruffydd, the Lord Rhys.

Gerald became a royal clerk and in 1185 was chosen to accompany the future King John on an expedition to Ireland. He wrote an account of this journey and followed it with an account of Henry's conquest of Ireland.

Gerald was consequently selected to accompany Baldwin, the Archbishop of Canterbury on a tour of Wales in 1188, the purpose being to recruit for the Third Crusade. The 'Itinerarium Cambriae' (1191), an account of that journey, and the ' Descriptio Cambriae' (1194) remain valuable historical documents, significant for their descriptions of Welsh and Norman culture.

Born on this day 1945 in Brecon

Roger Glover - bass guitar player, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the bassist for the hard rock band Deep Purple. More recently, Glover has developed a solo career and has produced five albums to date.

Born on this day 1852 in Llangernyw, Conwy.

Sir Henry Jones - philosopher and academic. 

Henry Jones studied at Bangor Normal College, then on deciding to enter the Presbyterian ministry, he went to the University of Glasgow and later studied in Oxford and Germany. He was instrumental in the establishment of the University of Wales and the 'penny rate' for education. Jones was knighted in 1912.   

The new covered market hall at Builth Wells was opened on 30th November 1877.

Despite being an increasingly prosperous Spa town, in the 1870's, Builth – the main market town in the area – had no covered market hall, with farm produce being sold from stalls amongst the High Street livestock market.

In 1876, John Davies formed a limited company to construct a building which would combine market hall, assembly rooms and concert hall.  

The Assembly Rooms  could seat 500; at street level was a row of shops, and the market hall was at river level.

The building was opened with a grand ceremony attended by a large and fashionable crowd including 'a good sprinkling of the aristocracy of the neighbourhood.' The celebrations included concerts to raise funds for the clock that was to adorn the Hall's spire.