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The Bristol Channel floods of 30th January 1607 resulted in an estimated 3,000 people downing. It is thought that the cause may well have been a tsunami type wave as high as 25ft high and travelling at 38mph. Houses and whole villages were swept away, with the devastation particularly severe along the coast from Laugharne to Chepstow. Cardiff was particularly affected, with the foundations of St Mary's Church destroyed. The event is recorded on plaques in the Monmouthshire Churches of Goldcliff, St. Brides, Redwick and Peterstone.
On this day 1826, The Menai Suspension Bridge was opened. It was designed by Thomas Telford and it was the first modern suspension bridge in the world.
The bridge was important for the economy of Anglesey, as previously it was difficult to move goods from the island, in particular, cattle had to be swum across the Menai Straights. Also after the Act of Union of 1800, it was increasingly important to secure more reliable transport between Ireland and Britain and as Holyhead was one of the principal terminals, easier access to and from it was essential, in fact, it reduced the journey time from London to Holyhead from 36 to 27 hours.
Born this day 1974 in Haverfordwest
Christian Bale, an actor best known for his starring roles as Batman (Bruce Wayne) in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
On 30th January 1164, David Fitzgerald, Bishop of St David’s, was among the signatories of the Constitutions of Clarendon, which was an attempt by Henry II to exert state control over the Church in England and ultimately resulted in the disagreements between Henry and Thomas Beckett.
David FitzGerald was the son of Gerald of Windsor and Nest, daughter of Rhys ap Tewder and the uncle of Gerald of Wales whom he took into his household and arranged for his education. Fitzgerald was bishop of St David's from 1148 to 1176 and is described as a greedy man, ambitious and a despoiler of his bishopric, who used the lands of the bishopric to endow his family with lands and offices. He was also involved in the politics of the invasion of Ireland.
St David's was the seat of Welsh bishops from the eighth century. The first Norman bishop was Bernard, appointed in 1115, who built a cathedral church at St David's in 1131. The second bishop was David Fitzgerald who was consecrated bishop on 19 Dec 1148 at Canterbury by Archbishop Theobald, with the understanding that he abandon the efforts of St David's to be elevated to an archbishopric.
In 1162 Fitzgerald took part in the consecration of Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury and in Sept 1171, Henry II made a pilgrimage to St David's and is recorded as dining with David FitzGerald at his court. David fitzGerald was said to be constantly at loggerheads with his chapter and as his diocese was poor and suffered from plundering by local magnates, in particular, Mahel, the Earl of Hereford who forced Fitzgerald to flee into exile in England. However Mahel was killed in 1175 when a stone fell on his head in Bronllys Castle, and Fitzgerald was able to return. Fitzgerald died 23 May 1176 and there is a monument to him in the cathedral.
Born on this day 1836 in Caernarfon
Lewis Jones, one of the founders of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia.
Lewis Jones (1836-1904) worked as a printer in Holyhead and Liverpool and during his time in Liverpool, he became a prominent member of a group looking into the establishment of a Welsh settlement. In 1862, he and Captain Love Jones-Parry travelled to inspect the selected land in Patagonia, returning in 1865 with Edwin Cynrig Roberts to get things ready for the first settlers.
The initial period proved extremely difficult for the settlement and some the settlers became discontented, blaming Jones for their hardship. Disillusioned, Jones left Patagonia and became a printer in Buenos Aires, but on hearing in 1867, that some of the settlers were going to to leave, he came back and persuaded them to stay, returning himself with his family in 1871.
Jones later established the Settlement's first printing press and newspapers and was also instrumental in the construction of the railway from Porth Madryn to the Chubut Valley, with the new town at the end of the line named Trelew in his honour and a statue of him erected and a statue of him erected in the town's Parque Centenario. Jones's daughter Eluned, later Eluned Morgan, later became a prominent figure in the life of the Welsh settlement and is considered to be one of the finest Welsh language writers produced by Patagonia.
Born on this day 1813 in Falmouth
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles - Biblical scholar, textual critic, and theologian.
For a time, Tregelles worked at the ironworks at Neath Abbey, where in his spare time, he learnt Welsh, Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. Tregelles was a devout protestant and used his Welsh to spread the word of God amongst the local Welsh people who he considered being under threat from atheism, Roman Catholicism and Mormonism.
Born on this day 1878 in Crickhowell,
Reg Skrimshire, who was a Welsh international rugby union forward who was the only Welsh representative on the 1903 British Lions tour to South Africa.
He later became a civil engineer, building railways and bridges for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Ceylon, Southern Africa and India. His most notable work being the railway from Johannesburg, which included the famous bridge over the Victoria falls .
Today is the feast day of Saint Gildas
Born c.500, Gildas was a cleric, historian and writer, the earliest British writer whose work is still available. He wrote the De Excidio et Conquestu Britannie (the Ruin and conquest of Britain), about the post-Roman history of Britain.
There are two main narratives for his life which agree in several aspects, and can be harmonized as follows;
Gildas was born in Scotland on the banks of the Clyde of a noble Brythonic speaking family. He was much travelled, he studied in Wales under St. Iltutid and with his companion St Samson embraced the monastic life at Llancarfan (Glamorgan). He then travelled to Ireland, where he founded monasteries and churches, and then to Northern England before returning to Ireland. He is also said to have made a pilgrimage to Rome and on his return in a quest for solitude he retired to Brittany, where he established a monastery at Rhuys. He is the patron saint of Welsh Historians.
Born this day 1909 in Port Talbot
George Thomas (1st Viscount Tonypandy), former Secretary of State for Wales and Speaker of the House of Commons, in which role his Welsh-accented cries of "Order! Order!" were well known and widely imitated.
Sir George Lockwood Morris, iron foundry owner and Wales rugby international. Morris was the great-grandson of Sir John Morris, the coal and copper magnet, after whom Morriston is named
Morris played club rugby for Swansea, captaining the club for two seasons. His rugby career was also notable for him being the first Swansea player to represent Wales, playing for Wales in their first international against Ireland in 1882 and the first rugby international to be played in Wales, at St Helens's, Swansea, in 1883.
Born on this day 1846 at New Mills near Monmouth.
John Pugh - Founder of the Calvinistic Methodist Forward Movement.
Pugh had been a rebellious teenager, but when he moved with his family to Tenby, he converted to the Calvinistic Methodist Church that his parents attended and was soon the leader of a group of young people taking open air services.
He then trained for the ministry and was appointed to Tredegar in 1872, where he became concerned about the Godliness, poverty and poor living conditions that accompanied the rapid expansion of the industrial towns of South Wales and took his services outside the Town Hall in order to try and reach the working men who frequented the surrounding public houses.
Although he received opposition from both publicans and many within his own church who believed he was lowering the prestige of the church, Pugh persisted and grew his congregation to more than 400 people. During the next ten years, Pugh then moved on to Pontypridd where he preached from a spot surrounded by 17 pubs and to Cardiff in 1891, where he continued his unorthodox preaching. His success led to his methods being accepted by his church and being called the "Forward Movement", with Pugh its first superintendent. In this role, he established forty-eight mission-halls, a home for destitute women and edited several journals.
The Forward Movement swept through many other Welsh towns and thousands were converted. The Calvinistic Methodist Church is now often known as ‘The Presbyterian Church in Wales’.
Born this day 1457 in Pembroke Castle
King Henry VII (Henry Tudor) - Welsh-born King of England,
Henry's father Edmund was a descendant of the royal house of Gwynedd and had died shortly before Henry's birth. Henry's tenuous claim to the English crown was through his mother Margaret Beaufort, who was the great, great granddaughter of Edward III. During Henry's early years, Edward IV, a Yorkist, became King of England in 1461 and Henry although only four years old was seen as a rival claimant from the House of Lancaster and therefore in danger of his life. He was carried for safety from one castle to another until his uncle Jasper Tudor took him to Brittany to seek refuge and where he remained safe.
Meanwhile back in England the tyrannical reign of the then King Richard III had driven more Lancastrian Englishmen to champion Henry's claim to the throne and an in 1485 an expedition consisting of mainly French mercenaries and Lancastrian exiles was raised. They landed at Dale in Pembrokeshire where Henry made capital of his Welsh ancestry by marching under the Red Dragon banner of Cadwaladr. He attracted military support and safe passage for his army's march through Wales on its way to the Battle of Bosworth, at which on August 22nd 1485, Henry defeated Richard and was crowned King of England. He later married Elizabeth of York, thus ending the divisive war and thereby securing the Tudor succession.
Welsh people hoped that Henry's reign would put an end to the subjugation that Wales and its people had suffered for centuries, but historians are divided on the actual impact his reign on Wales and he is not reported to have set foot in Wales after his coronation.
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
Henry Morton Stanley was born John Rowlands on 28th January 1841 in Denbigh.
He is known as a journalist and explorer, famous for his search for David Livingstone and his part in the European colonisation of Africa.
His parents were not married, and he was brought up in a workhouse, so in 1859, he left for America as a worker on a ship, which he jumped in New Orleans and there decided to change his name. He fought on both sides in the American Civil War, before becoming a journalist with the New York Herald, persuading the paper's editor to commission him to go to Africa to find David Livingstone, who he located on Lake Tanganyika on Nov. 10, 1871 and it was his reports on this expedition that made him famous.
He then went on to explore vast areas of central Africa, followIng the Congo River from its source to the sea and with the support of King Leopold II of Belgium, he returned with plans to develop the region and worked to open the lower Congo to commerce by the construction of roads, although his methods of using forced labour during this time have stained his reputation in recent histories. On his return to Europe in 1890, he began a worldwide lecture tour. He became the member of parliament for Lambeth and was knighted in 1899, he died in London on 10 May 1904.
Born this day 1929 in Cardiff
Clem Thomas - former Welsh rugby captain and Lions international. After his retirement from playing, Thomas became a much-respected writer on the game.
Born on this day 1948 in Leeds
Paul Ringer, former rugby union and rugby league international. He was an uncompromising forward, most remembered for his controversial sending off in a match against England in 1980 for a challenge on John Horton.
On 28th January 1316 - Llywelyn Bren led a revolt against the Anglo-Norman persecution of the people of Glamorgan by attacking Caerphilly Castle
In 1267 Llywelyn's father, Gruffudd ap Rhys, Lord of Senghenydd was dispossessed of his lordship by Gilbert de Clare, a powerful Anglo-Norman lord who had been given the castles of Abergavenny and Brecon as a reward for supporting Prince Edward (the future Edward I) and had built the castle at Caerphilly in 1268
The death of Gilbert's son at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 left a power vacuum in the region, so Edward II appointed a new administrator, Payn de Turberville of Coty who proceeded to persecute the people of Glamorgan. In defence of his people, Llywelyn appealed to Edward, but was ordered to appear before Parliament to face the charge of treason and if found guilty, he would be hanged. Llywelyn therefore, fled and prepared for war.,
On 28th January 1316, Llywelyn laid siege to Caerphilly Castle, capturing the Constable and burning the town. The revolt then quickly spread, Kenfig and Llantrisant castles were sacked and those at St Georges-super-Ely, Llangibby and Dinefwr were attacked.
Edward ordered Humphrey de Bohun, Lord of Brecon to crush the revolt and he gathered forces from Cheshire, North Wales and West Wales and advanced from Cardiff. The forces met at Castell Mor Graig and Llywelyn was obliged to retreat up to the north Glamorgan plateau where the Earl of Hereford's forces were also headed to intercept him.
Realising the fight was hopeless, Llywelyn surrendered at Ystradfellte but pleaded that his followers should be spared. However in 1318, Hugh Despenser , reputedly King Edward's lover, who had become Lord of Glamorgan, had Llywelyn executed without trial at Cardiff Castle and had the parts of his body exhibited in various part of the county, before burial in the Grey Friars at Cardiff.
Dissatisfaction with Despenser led to a revolt by an alliance of local Welsh and Marcher Lords which would eventually lead to the overthrow and death of Edward II and the execution of Despenser. The estates in Senghenydd were restored to Llywelyn Bren's sons — Gruffydd, John, Meurig, Roger, William ad Llywelyn in 1327.
On 28th January 1543, Bishop Rowland Lee died. He was Lord President of the Council of Wales and the Marches and Henry VIII's enforcer of the Acts of Union between England and Wales. He was also described as a "great despiser of Welshmen"
With the implementation of The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542, the legal system and administration of England were applied in Wales and English became the official language. The act also divided Wales into 13 counties each governed by a Justice of the Peace appointed by Henry. These were the existing counties of the principality and included Marcher Lordships being converted into the new counties of Monmouthshire, Brecknockshire, Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire, Denbighshire.
Henry figured that bringing the Welsh into the Union would require strong measures and appointed the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, Rowland Lee as Lord President of the Council of Wales and the Marches, tasked with bringing law and order to the Welsh regions.
What ensued was a reign of terror. Lee, who believed the Welsh could not be trusted boasted of hanging 5000 Welshmen during his five years in charge, which resulted in him being referred to as the "hanging Bishop". According to one account, his fervor for hanging was so great that he even hanged a the body of a dead man, because of his disappointment at missing an opportunity to do so when he was alive.
On 28th January 1896 an underground explosion at Tylorstown Colliery in the Rhondda Valley killed 57 miners.
The subsequent inquest found the cause to be the firing of an explosion shot into air that was full of gas and that it was accelerated by coal dust. Also, as the explosion occurred between shifts the death toll of 57 would have been much higher had it occurred during a full shift of over 300 men.
The local paper, the Rhondda Chronicle told of how thousands of people had gathered at the pit-head and also reported on the massive local funerals and how the bodies of those who were from outside the area were transported for burial in Welshpool, Cheltenham, St Clears and Aberystwyth.
Tylorstown is named after Alfred Tylor who sunk the village's first colliery in 1872 and like many other Rhondda villages was initially overcrowded with the influx of workers leading to them being initially housed in poorly built wooden huts. However, following the success of the mine, the village became a thriving town, with thirteen places of worship.
How the Tylorstown mining disaster on 28th January 1896 was the inspiration for using canaries to detect dangerous gases underground.
Previously, it was believed that miners killed in explosions had died from the force of the blast itself. However Scottish Professor John Scott Haldane stood virtually alone in his belief that suffocation was a far greater killer and following the Tylorstown disaster, he insisted on going underground to see the victims before they were moved. He saw that there was hardly a mark on them and following post-mortems discovered that the pink tinge which was thought to be bruises or burns were in fact caused by the blood's haemoglobin combining with the poisonous carbon monoxide.
Over the next few months Haldane, tested the effects of carbon monoxide on himself and a series of smaller animals and concluded that canaries were 20 times more susceptible to the gas than humans. The use of canaries in coal mines became redundant in 1986 when they were phased out in favour of electronic carbon monoxide detectors.
On 28th January 1963 Castell Coch, situated above the village of Tongwynlais, near Caerphilly, became a Grade I listed building.
A history of Castell Coch;
Castell Coch is 19th-century Gothic Revival castle constructed on the remains of an earth and timber motte castle, built at the end of the 11th century, during the initial Norman expansion into Wales and refortified in stone by Gilbert de Clare between 1267 and 1277.
The de Clare dynasty had originated with Gilbert, Count of Brionne in Normandy a guardian of the young William the Conqueror. Gilbert's son Richard fought with William in 1066 and after the conquest of England received huge estates including Clare in Suffolk, hence the name of de Clare. Over successive generations, the family had been rewarded with lands in Wales and in 1217 the Lordship of Glamorgan passed to them. Gilbert de Clare, therefore, inherited the Lordship of Glamorgan in 1263.
At this time, much of upland Wales was still under the control of the native Welsh and neighbouring Gilberts' lordship, was the powerful native Welsh Lordship of Senghenydd, under the rule of Gruffydd ap Rhys. In 1267, Gilbert launched an attack on Senghenydd and captured Gruffydd ap Rhys. To secure the area Gilbert then embarked on building a series of large fortresses including the rebuilding in stone of Castell Coch, because of its strategic importance, commanding both the plains area and the entrance to the Taff valley.
This brought Gilbert into direct conflict with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the Welsh Prince of Wales, who saw the attack on Senghenydd as a direct challenge to his rule and seized Senghenydd in September 1268. This, which was the start of a feud between the two men, which lasted until Llywelyn's death in 1282, when Gilbert was finally able to occupy and fortify the area.
Sometime in the 15th century, Castell Coch was ravaged by fire and undermining and rendered derelict. Then in 1871, John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, ordered its full reconstruction. In 1950, the 5th Marquess of Bute gave the castle to the Ministry of Works and it is now administered by Ca dw.
Born this day 1829, in Groes, Denbighshire,
Isaac Roberts, who was best known for his work as an astronomer and has t he Roberts crater on the moon is named after him.
Roberts also helped make considerable advancements in the field of astrophotography and invented a machine called the Stellar Pantograver that could engrave stellar positions on copper plates. Although spending most of his adult life in England, he remained a patriotic Welshman.
Born this day 1790, in St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire,
William Davies Evans - inventor and originator of a world famous chess opening gambit, known as 'The Evans Gambit'. His most famous invention was the tri-coloured lighting on naval vessels designed to prevent collisions at night.
Born on this day 1972 in Carmarthen.
Wynne Evans, who is a tenor, is best known for the "Go compare" television adverts. He also famously responded to the All Blacks "Haka" in the Wales versus New Zealand rugby international of 2004, by singing Cwm Rhondda. He has subsequently gone on to sing at over 30 Welsh International matches.
On 27th January 1883, in the same ferocious storm, the vessel James Gray was wrecked on the Tusker Rocks off Porthcawl and the ship The Agnes Jack off Port Eynon. The Mumbles lifeboat put out, and 5 of its crew were drowned in the rescue attempt.
On 27th January 1884, 18 men were killed in a gas explosion at the Naval Collieries, Penygraig in the Rhondda Valley. It was reported that a white column shot up from the pit's mouth followed by clouds of sparks and showers of fiery dust.
Ironically, the explosion occurred during a safety inspection and those who lost their lives were company officials, firemen and the attendants of the pit horses.
On 27th January 1940, Wales was engulfed by a freak ice storm
It had been an extremely cold January in Wales, with a temperature of -23 being recorded in Rhayader a few days earlier. The precipitation of 27th January was of the supercooled nature, so when the rain hit the surface it would freeze instantly. This is a rare event in the UK and the 1940 ice storm is reckoned to be the severest that has struck the UK in recorded history.
The storm lasted for 48 hours in places, causing telegraph poles and wires to snapped, unable to cope with the weight of the ice. Tree branches were snapped off and birds were grounded. Travel was nearly impossible as roads iced over and inclines were impossible to climb.
Today is Australia Day (also referred to as Invasion Day by indigenous Australians)
On this day 1788, Mary Watkins, a 20 year old from the Vale of Glamorgan, along with four Welshmen men and two other women from Wales, were passengers of the six convict ships that had docked in Port Jackson (now known as Sydney) and a deputation had been sent ashore to establish the first permanent European colony on the Australian continent.
Mary's adventure had begun after being sentenced to seven years transportation overseas for stealing sixpence worth of clothing. She was boarded onto the "Friendship" in Portsmouth and the fleet set sail on 13 May 1787. Conditions on board were harsh and food soon ran short, as officials organising the trip had underestimated what was needed for the 8-month voyage.
Mary went ashore with the other women on the 6th February and set up camp. However, that night soon descending into chaos, as there was a violent storm that flattened many of their tents and the men broke into the women's quarters. Order was restored the following morning and the convicts put to work, building houses and clearing land, but life remained hard. Crop failures, drought and bushfires were common and food became short when the cattle they had brought with them were lost in the bush.
To alleviate the food shortage, some of the party, including Mary, were sent to Norfolk Island, where she and her partner, Issac Tarr, converted 3/4 acre of bushland into farmland and bought a sow, which produced litters and thus a supply of fresh meat. The last record of Mary is in 1794 after she had returned to the mainland with Issac.
It was the discovery of copper and gold in the early 1850s which caused the provinces Welsh population to increase sharply. The census of 1851 indicates that there were about 1,800 Welsh-born settlers in Australia and by 1871, there were almost 7,000 in Victoria alone, which increased to 12,000 by the turn of the century. However, not all settlers came to find work in the mines. Joseph Jenkins, from Cardiganshire, fled from a nagging wife in 1868 at the age of 51. Later he became an infamous swagman in rural Victoria. It was the chapel and the Welsh language which provided a sense of cohesion and identity to the emerging Welsh communities at this time. In Victoria, the chapel leaders organised Cymanfa Ganu and the first Welsh-Australian Eisteddfod in 1863.
The Abermule train disaster on the 26th January 1921 resulted in the death of 17 people.
The crash was a head-on collision between a train from Whitchurch and another from Aberystwyth, which arose from a miscommunication, which allowed both trains onto a section of the line that was single tracked. The subsequent enquiry found that safety measures had been relaxed and resulted in major changes to British Rail's safety procedures.
The Menace of the U-Boats;
On 26th January 1918, twelve crew were killed, when an Irish steamship, the Cork, was torpedoed by a U-boat off Point Lynas in Anglesey.
This followed the Kaiser declaring in 1915, that the waters around the British Isles were a war zone and he also instructed U-boat captains to sink merchant and neutral ships without warning. Subsequently, over 6,000 such vessels were sunk during World War One, including the RMS Lusitania with the loss 1,198 lives. To counteract the threat, Britain introduced escorted convoys, which ultimately allowed enough Allied shipping to survive.
Born this day 1934 in Butetown, Cardiff,
Joe Erskine - heavyweight boxing champion, who was a credit to both Wales and boxing game he graced with such dignity.
The great Joe Erskine defeated many of the big names of his time, including Henry Cooper and Brian London. He was considered small for a heavyweight, relying on outmanoeuvring rather than overpowering his opponents and it was said of him that had been just a bit bigger he would have been World Champion. After his glory days, Erskine he died broke and alone in his Adamsdown flat.
Died on this day 1716.
The Rev Dr Daniel Williams (born in Wrexham, c.1643 – 26 January 1716) - benefactor, Presbyterian minister and theologian ( Presbyterians are Christians outside the Church of England, who govern themselves by representative assemblies of elders)
Williams left the majority of his £50,000 estate, to charities including the formation of Dr Williams's Library, in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London, a centre for research on English Dissenters (Christians who parted with the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries). He also left money to aid the foundation of seven charity schools in North Wales.
St Dwynwen's Day
St Dwynwen, the patron saint of friendship and love, is celebrated in Wales on 25th January.
Dwynwen was one of the prettiest daughters of the 5th-century King of Brycheiniog, Brychan Brycheiniog's 24 daughters. She was already betrothed when she fell in love with Prince Maelon Dafodrill from Gwynedd. Maelon became so annoyed that he forced himself upon Dwynwen, who fled into the woods and prayed that God would make her forget all about Maelon. Dwynwen then fell asleep and received a visit from an angel, who gave her a potion to make her forget Maelon, who had been turned into ice.
God then granted Dwynwen three wishes, to which, she asked for Maelon to be thawed, for God to give true lovers all their hopes and dreams and also that she would never marry. The three wishes were granted and Dwynwen dedicated the rest of her life to God. The remains of Dwynwen's church are still visible today on Llanddwyn Island off Anglesey, where there is also a well, allegedly containing a sacred fish, whose movements forecast the romantic future of visiting couples.
On 25th January 2008, Tower Colliery officially closed.
Tower Colliery , situated in the Cynon valley, near Hirwaun, was the oldest working coal mine in the UK, dating back to 1808 when it was owned by the Crawshay family and called Goitre Colliery.
The colliery was originally closed by British Coal in 1994, as being unproductive, however, 239 of the redundant workforce, led by Tyrone O'Sullivan, the NUM Branch Secretary, used their redundancy money to buy back the colliery and against expectations, this venture was a success.
On 25th January 1327, King Edward II of England was forced to abdicate, with Wales playing an important part in his downfall.
In November 1326, Edward, along with his close friend and probable lover, Hugh Despenser the Younger were captured by the forces of his wife, Queen Isabella, whilst making their way from Neath Abbey to Caerphilly Castle.
Edward, who was born in Caernarfon Castle, had succeeded his father Edward I in 1307 and the following year, he married Isabella of France. He had become generally unpopular following the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and his constant quarreling with his barons.
Also, his close friendship with the much hated Hugh Despenser the Younger had damaged his relationship with Isabella, who fled to France and then returned with an army, led by her ally Roger de Mortimer, to overthrow Edward. Isabella's army marched on London and when Edward realised the support she had, he fled to the security of Caerphilly Castle, with Despenser.
Then the news came through that Isabella's forces had taken Bristol Castle, which was held by Despensers father, Hugh Despenser the elder, who had been executed. Edward and Despenser, apparently panicked and left Caerphilly for Neath Abbey, from where they attempted to negotiate for peace with Isabella.
However, when they were unable to reach an agreement with Isabella, Edward and Despenser, attempted to return to Caerphilly, but were intercepted and detained at Llantrisant Castle.
The king was deposed and sent to Berkeley Castle, with his son, Edward III, proclaimed king on 25 January 1327. Despenser was tried and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, with his head subsequently placed on top of London Bridge. There were unsuccessful attempts to rescue, but in September 1327, it was announced that he too was dead.
Welsh Love Spoons.
Traditionally, lovespoons were decoratively carved spoons presented by young men to their loved one as a token of affection. They were usually made from a single piece of sycamore or poplar, using a small pocket knife to carve romantic symbols into the spoon, such as hearts representing passion, balls within cages representing the number of children desired by the couple, chain links representing loyalty and faithfulness, keys and keyholes representing security or the key to one's heart and wheels representing the carver's intention to work hard and provide for his loved one.
Welsh Courting Customs.
* Rhamanta - was a way of trying to foretell the future. In Glamorgan for example, a young couple would place two grains of wheat on a shovel, which was placed over a fire. If, when the shovel was hot enough and the grains jumped off together, it signified that the couple would marry, however if they jumped off separately, it was likely that the couple would separate.
* Mutton- In Pembrokeshire, a girl was said to dream about a future lover if a shoulder of mutton, pierced by nine holes was placed under her pillow, her shoes arranged in a T pattern and a rhyme spoken above her.
* The custom of jumping the broomstick originated with newly married Romany couples as a fertility rite.
* The throwing of confetti at married couples as they left the church developed from the ritual of throwing grain to ensure a fruitful union.
* Welsh brides also believed that if their wedding dress was torn on the wedding day that it denoted a happy marriage.
The California Gold Rush began 24th January 1848. It was to attract many Welsh people especially those from coal mining communities, who were able to use their skills and expertise to good effect.
Gold was first discovered near a saw mill at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountain where it was literally picked off the ground. As the surface gold became less plentiful, prospectors began panning for gold in the nearby streams and rivers and later as word got out, thousands of people arrived from all over the world and mining companies were established, using more complex methods, such as hydraulic mining.
Life as a prospector was not easy, as with such a large population explosion, there were numerous reports of lawlessness, drunkenness and violence. However, it is also reported that many Welsh-language chapels were established in the gold fields and in the town of North San Juan, a Welsh run Temperance Association was established.
Born on this day 1815 in Denbigh.
Thomas Gee - Nonconformist preacher, journalist and publisher.
Gee started in his father's printing office at 14 and later moved to London to improve his skills. In 1838, he came back to Wales and published many notable works, including the newspaper Baner Cymru, which joined with Yr Amserau in 1859, to become Baner ac Amserau Cymru, a paper that was at the forefront of promoting the nationalist and home rule movements of Wales.
"Y Dyn Na Fu Erioed" - "The Man Who Never Was"
In 1943, the Allies planned an invasion of Sicily, but in order to reduce German defences, it was necessary to have them believe that Greece was the intended location of the invasion. Therefore, the ministry came up with Operation Mincemeat, in which the body of a drowned officer, carrying documents suggesting that the Allies were to attack through Greece was to be found by the Germans.
The corpse that was used was that of Glyndwr Michael from Aberbargoed who had died on 24th January 1943. Michael was an uneducated orphan who had ended up broke and homeless in London. He had died in an abandoned warehouse, having probably inadvertently eaten bread smeared with rat poison.
In April, Michaels body, disguised as Major William Martin, was released into the sea where the tides took it off Huelva in southwestern Spain. It was found by a fisherman and came to the attention of the Germans, who subsequently fell for the deception and the Allied invasion was a success.
Michael had been buried as Major Martin in Huelva's cemetery, but when the body's actual identity was revealed by the British Government in 1998 revealed the body's true identity, a plaque was added to his gravestone, stating " Glyndwr Michael; Served as Major William Martin". There is also a commemorative plaque on Aberbargoed's war memorial, headed "Y Dyn Na Fu Erioed" ( "The Man Who Never Was")
The founding father of Khasi literature.
Thomas Jones (24th January 1810 – 16th September 1849) was a Welsh missionary, notable for writing the first books in the Khasi language. Khasi is the language spoken primarily in Meghalaya state in India by the Khasi people.
Jones was the son of a carpenter from Montgomeryshire. He became a Calvinistic Methodist minister in 1840, after which he chose to become a missionary in India. and shortly afterwards set out for India with his wife Anne. After their arrival, the couple set up home in the Khasia Hills, where he learnt the local language in order to preach to the local people. He was very popular with the natives and built a school for them, where he produced a Khasi dictionary and translated Welsh works into Khasi, which was the first literature written in the Khasi language.
The Berwyn Mountain Incident.
On 23rd January 1974 there was a reported sighting of a UFO crashing in the Berwyn Mountains in North Wales.
Unusual lights were seen in the sky, followed by a startling shaking of the ground. At first, it was thought that it was an aircraft crashing or a meteorite hitting the earth, but when the police and RAF found nothing and their searches were called the following day, speculation started that it was a UFO that had crashed. There were further rumors of alien bodies being found and that the area had been cordoned off to prevent the public from seeing the wreckage.
However, subsequent scientific enquiries found that the area had experienced a force 3.5 earthquake, which combined with a reported bright meteor had given the false impression of UFO landing.
Born on this day 1900 in Merthyr
William Ifor Jones - conductor and organist.
Born into a large coal-mining family, Williams went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London after which, he worked with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the British National Opera Company. In 1930, he emigrated to the United States, where he became a conductor with the world renowned Bach Choir of Bethlehem.
Born on this day 1848 in Treboeth, Swansea.
Daniel James- poet and hymn writer, who is best remembered for writing the words of the hymn "Calon Lan"
Jones, who is also known by his bardic name of Gwyrosydd, worked as an iron and tinplate worker in Morriston, Landore, Dowlais, Tredegar, Blaengarw, and Mountain Ash.
Born on this day 1971 in Bridgend
Ian Scott Gibbs - former Wales and Lions rugby union international and Wales and Great Britain rugby league international.
Gibbs was named Player of the Series during the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa and is perhaps best remembered for his jinking run and match-winning try against England in 1999.
On 23rd January 1853, six crew members of the Rhyl Lifeboat were drowned when their boat, Gwylan y Mor capsized whilst they were going to the aid of a vessel in distress on the Hoyle Bank off the Dee Estuary. They left 4 widows and 7 children and the current Rhyl crew are in the process of organising a permanent memorial to the men who were lost.
Born on this day 1833 in Carmarthen.
Sir Lewis Morris, was a popular poet of his time who graduated with honours from Jesus College, Oxford in 1856. He narrowly missed being appointed Poet Laureate, possibly because of his association with Oscar Wilde.
