0:00:02 > 0:00:0623 minutes past seven, Wales has a new national poet, Ifor ap Glyn.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08And guess where he grew up -
0:00:08 > 0:00:10London. But he writes in Welsh and with a name like that,
0:00:10 > 0:00:12what else could he be but Welsh?
0:00:12 > 0:00:13What does it mean, though, being...
0:00:13 > 0:00:19In March 2016, I was appointed as the new National Poet of Wales.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22We have a long tradition of honouring our bards in this country,
0:00:22 > 0:00:24and each year at the National Eisteddfod,
0:00:24 > 0:00:27the winning poets are acclaimed with due pomp and ceremony.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33This year marks the centenary of the poet who was perhaps Wales'
0:00:33 > 0:00:37best-known national winner - Hedd Wyn.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40It's a uniquely Welsh tale -
0:00:40 > 0:00:44a talented young man with little formal education succeeds in winning
0:00:44 > 0:00:46one of the major prizes at the National Eisteddfod,
0:00:46 > 0:00:49but then tragically is killed in the Great War
0:00:49 > 0:00:51before he can claim his award.
0:00:52 > 0:00:58It's a story that symbolises the sacrifice and terrible waste of war.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01And no wonder it became the subject of an Oscar-nominated film.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Although Hedd Wyn wrote in Welsh,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08his tragic story transcends language,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12and in 2014, after their qualifying match against Belgium,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14the Welsh national football squad
0:01:14 > 0:01:16paid their respects at his graveside.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21But what exactly is it about the Hedd Wyn story that continues
0:01:21 > 0:01:22to fascinate us today?
0:01:46 > 0:01:48In this programme,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51we'll retrace Hedd Wyn's footsteps in Wales, England,
0:01:51 > 0:01:53France and Belgium,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57but the central location in his story is his home here at Yr Ysgwrn
0:01:57 > 0:01:59near Trawsfynydd in North Wales.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04This was the place that inspired him as a poet
0:02:04 > 0:02:07and visitors have been coming here ever since his death
0:02:07 > 0:02:09to try and get closer to the man behind the myth.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17To mark the centenary of his death,
0:02:17 > 0:02:21nearly £3 million has been spent over the last two years to create
0:02:21 > 0:02:26a new visitor centre and exhibition spaces in the old outbuildings.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32The aim is to reinterpret Hedd Wyn for future generations.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36But the house is a veritable time capsule
0:02:36 > 0:02:39that's hardly changed since 1917
0:02:39 > 0:02:43and ever since then, this is where Hedd Wyn's family have been showing
0:02:43 > 0:02:45visitors the six chairs that he won.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50This is Hedd Wyn's nephew, Gerald Williams.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23But who was Hedd Wyn?
0:03:24 > 0:03:27This is his statue, here in the middle of Trawsfynydd,
0:03:27 > 0:03:29and it's worth remembering that statues of working class men
0:03:29 > 0:03:32like Hedd Wyn are few and far between here in Wales.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37When this statue was unveiled in 1923,
0:03:37 > 0:03:41Hedd Wyn had become a hero to the ordinary people of Wales.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44And indeed, it was their pennies and shillings that paid for it,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47with contributions flooding in from all over the country,
0:03:47 > 0:03:49and even from Welsh exiles in England and America.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53In a war that saw destruction and loss of life
0:03:53 > 0:03:55on an unprecedented scale,
0:03:55 > 0:04:00Hedd Wyn came to represent a whole generation of lost Welsh talent.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04He's portrayed here not as a soldier with his rifle or even
0:04:04 > 0:04:08as a poet with his pen, but as an ordinary working man.
0:04:08 > 0:04:09As a shepherd.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19Ellis Evans, or Hedd Wyn as he later became known,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22was born in 1887, the son of a farmer.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26He was the eldest of 11 children but was more interested in his poetry
0:04:26 > 0:04:28than in running a farm.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31According to a newspaper interview
0:04:31 > 0:04:33with his mother shortly after his death...
0:04:33 > 0:04:34He was no shepherd.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37I would tell him, "What if you get married, my boy?"
0:04:37 > 0:04:39"Your poor wife will starve."
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Perhaps his mother was being a little harsh.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47After his death, the press were keen to project the image of Hedd Wyn
0:04:47 > 0:04:51as an otherworldly romantic dreamer.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54But his parents were undoubtedly supportive of their son
0:04:54 > 0:04:56and his poetic gifts.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59He would pen his compositions at night,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03between half past ten in the evening and three in the morning.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06The next day, we'd let him get up as he pleased.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Hedd Wyn's father introduced him to poetry when he was 11
0:05:12 > 0:05:15and soon he was competing at his local chapel in Trawsfynydd.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21The chapel has since been demolished but it was in a meeting on this site
0:05:21 > 0:05:24that Hedd Wyn apparently won his first-ever prize as a poet,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26aged only 12 years old.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36In 1901, when he was 14 years old,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Hedd Wyn left school to help on the family farm.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43But his talents as a poet would frequently be in demand,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46composing poems for weddings, funerals,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49indeed any kind of special occasion, as is still the tradition today.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55He was a poet rooted in his community
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and a valued commentator on its various events.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Hedd Wyn excelled at writing poetry in cynghanedd,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04in traditional Welsh meter.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06It's an intricate and demanding form
0:06:06 > 0:06:08in which every line must be written
0:06:08 > 0:06:12according to set rules of alliteration and internal rhyme.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14Now, there are three kinds of cynghanedd.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17The first one involves internal rhyme.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19For instance...
0:06:21 > 0:06:26The "ard" in "bard" rhymes with the "ard" in "Cardiff".
0:06:26 > 0:06:29The second kind of cynghanedd involves alliteration.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32The consonants in the first part of a line must be repeated
0:06:32 > 0:06:35in the same order in the second part of the line.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37So, as an example...
0:06:41 > 0:06:44The T-R-T-V in "to write verse"
0:06:44 > 0:06:48are repeated in the second part of the line -
0:06:48 > 0:06:49"eat root veg."
0:06:49 > 0:06:51T-R-T-V.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54The third kind of cynghanedd is a combi-cynghanedd
0:06:54 > 0:06:58that involves both alliteration and internal rhyme.
0:06:58 > 0:06:59As an example...
0:07:03 > 0:07:04"Line" rhymes with "mine",
0:07:04 > 0:07:09and then the "M" in "mine" alliterates with the "M" in moaned.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12So, that's cynghanedd.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Quite easy to explain, but not so easy to write.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Hedd Wyn also excelled at writing simple lyrical poems,
0:07:22 > 0:07:24inspired by the beauty of his surroundings.
0:07:45 > 0:07:46But unfortunately,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49there was little money to be made in farming the land
0:07:49 > 0:07:52and even less in writing about it, and in 1908,
0:07:52 > 0:07:57Hedd Wyn joined the exodus to the booming coalfields of South Wales.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00He found work here in Abercynon.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07He lived in this house, on Glancynon Terrace
0:08:07 > 0:08:10lodging in all probability with Mr and Mrs Robert Morris.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Mr Morris, like Hedd Wyn, hailed from Meirionnydd.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19He was one of the 2,500 men who worked at this pit.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22It was quite a change for the young man
0:08:22 > 0:08:25from the heart of rural Meirionnydd,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28but he would recall afterwards that the spirit of community,
0:08:28 > 0:08:33the willingness to share, was just the same in Abercynon as at home.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36He would repeat one of the miners' favourite phrases,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39tra bo chwech 'da fi, bydd tair 'da ti, bachan -
0:08:39 > 0:08:42while I've got sixpence, there's thruppence here for you.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47Whilst the proverbial generosity of the miner may well have appealed
0:08:47 > 0:08:50to Hedd Wyn, working underground certainly didn't.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54After just a few weeks here in Abercynon,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57he wrote this note to his friend Jane Williams,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00who was in the same Sunday school class as him, home in Trawsfynydd.
0:09:17 > 0:09:18And he kept to his word.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20He only stayed for three months
0:09:20 > 0:09:23before returning home to Trawsfynydd.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Only one short poem has survived from his time here in Abercynon
0:09:26 > 0:09:28and its last two lines go like this...
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Yn y South fy nghorffyn sydd
0:09:32 > 0:09:35A f'enaid yn Nhrawsfynydd.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38My body may in south Wales live
0:09:38 > 0:09:41My soul is in Trawsfynydd.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53Gerald Williams was the last of Hedd Wyn's family to actually live
0:09:53 > 0:09:55in the old farmhouse at Yr Ysgwrn.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59But as he is in his 80s and has no children, in 2012,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01he had to make a difficult decision.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26The Snowdonia National Park are the new owners of Yr Ysgwrn,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29with Gerald now living in a nearby bungalow.
0:10:30 > 0:10:31In 2014,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35the Park made a successful bid to the National Lottery for funds
0:10:35 > 0:10:38to restore the farmhouse and to develop the outbuildings.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42This was the day the work began in earnest.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45First, the entire contents of the house had to be catalogued.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Naomi Jones and Jess Enston are part of the team
0:10:50 > 0:10:54who look after Yr Ysgwrn on behalf of Snowdonia National Park.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02Hugh Haley from St Clears
0:11:02 > 0:11:06is one of Britain's leading furniture conservators.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09The job this week is to remove the chattels from the house,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11and the furniture,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14so that the conservation work can be done to the house itself.
0:11:19 > 0:11:20There you go, try that.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25We will be back up here next week.
0:11:25 > 0:11:26How are you bearing up, Gerald?
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Yes. Good question.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48The bed won't go down the stairs. We'll have to dismantle it.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00The six chairs that Hedd Wyn won in different eisteddfodau
0:12:00 > 0:12:02are handled with particular care.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07What do you think of that? Good idea?
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Wow, Gerald. 'Dach chi'n cael specialist treatment!
0:12:10 > 0:12:13SHE LAUGHS
0:12:15 > 0:12:17Thank you very much.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25According to the specialists,
0:12:25 > 0:12:3095% of the contents of the house date back to Hedd Wyn's time.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Including, of course, the chairs that he won.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Hedd Wyn would compete regularly at eisteddfodau.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42Apart from anything else, the prize money gave him a source of income.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46His parents couldn't afford to pay him a wage for working at home
0:12:46 > 0:12:48on the farm - just pocket money, occasionally.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53With the money that he won at eisteddfodau,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57he would treat his friends to a celebratory pint.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59On one such occasion, having won three shillings
0:12:59 > 0:13:03at the Llan Ffestiniog Eisteddfod for a verse in praise of Y Moelwyn,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07a local mountain, he took his mates to the pub to celebrate.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11After they drank the prize money, which was worth about 12 pints,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Hedd Wyn exclaimed, "This is quite something.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18"We have drunk a whole mountain in a quarter of an hour."
0:13:23 > 0:13:27But if Hedd Wyn enjoyed the company of his contemporaries in the pub,
0:13:27 > 0:13:31he also enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of his peers.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Although he'd left school at 14, he was still keen to learn.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40He read the works of Shelley, and would spend time
0:13:40 > 0:13:43with the local journalists and ministers of religion -
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Silyn Roberts, for instance,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47introduced him to the principles of socialism.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52One such friend was John Morris, a local teacher at the time.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Perhaps Hedd Wyn was a little careless
0:14:35 > 0:14:39with his work once it was completed, but as that story indicates,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43the standard of his poetry was improving all the time.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47He won his first bardic chair in 1907, and the other poets
0:14:47 > 0:14:50in the area began to take notice of this young talent.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Although we have been referring to him as Hedd Wyn,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57he was actually 23 years old before he acquired that name.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04The poets of the Ffestiniog area would come together
0:15:04 > 0:15:07every now and then in order to induct new members into their midst
0:15:07 > 0:15:09and to give them bardic names,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12by which they would henceforth be known.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Now, this is a practice that continues to this day.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19My bardic name, although I don't use it very often, is Tafwysfardd -
0:15:19 > 0:15:21The Poet of the Thames.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25And it was on this spot in August 1910,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28on the outskirts of Llan Ffestiniog,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30that Ellis Evans from Trawsfynydd
0:15:30 > 0:15:33had the bardic name Hedd Wyn conferred upon him.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Hedd means peace or tranquillity, Wyn means white, or sacred.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43And from that day on, to all but his closest family and friends,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46he would be known as Hedd Wyn.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49THUNDER RUMBLES
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Storm clouds were gathering over Europe, however,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02and in Trawsfynydd, they were more aware than most
0:16:02 > 0:16:04of the military build-up.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Even though Hedd Wyn lived here
0:16:08 > 0:16:10in the heart of the Meirionnydd countryside,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12the sound of heavy artillery firing
0:16:12 > 0:16:15would not have been entirely unfamiliar to him.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Since the early 1900s, soldiers had been coming
0:16:20 > 0:16:23to the Trawsfynydd area on military exercises.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30By 1914, the War Office had over 8,000 acres under its control
0:16:30 > 0:16:33and a permanent camp had been established at nearby Rhiw Goch.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Trawsfynydd train station was expanded to handle
0:16:37 > 0:16:40the increasing numbers of men and guns
0:16:40 > 0:16:42who were sent here for artillery training.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50In July 1914, according to the Congregationalist minister
0:16:50 > 0:16:54J Dyfnallt Owen, the firing around this small chapel
0:16:54 > 0:16:56here at Pen y Stryd had been so intense
0:16:56 > 0:16:59that the walls had cracked and the windows had shattered.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01But more interesting for us, perhaps,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05is the fact that he also recorded what Hedd Wyn thought about this.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09When Hedd Wyn was told about the consequences
0:17:09 > 0:17:13of the incessant firing, his eyes lit up in anger.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15And nobody spoke out more vehemently than he did
0:17:15 > 0:17:19against this loathsome profanity that was corrupting the area.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24So when war broke out soon afterwards,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27it's perhaps not surprising that Hedd Wyn was not amongst those
0:17:27 > 0:17:29who felt compelled to join up -
0:17:29 > 0:17:32though, of course, many of his contemporaries did.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35And it was that that moved Hedd Wyn during the months that followed
0:17:35 > 0:17:38to write a number of poems in response to the war.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42These poems weren't so much in support of the war
0:17:42 > 0:17:44as to let his friends in the Forces
0:17:44 > 0:17:46know how much they were missed at home.
0:18:01 > 0:18:02As the casualties mounted,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06he was called upon increasingly to write memorial poems
0:18:06 > 0:18:09for the local men who had been killed.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11This is one of the best-known examples,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14and has been used to commemorate several soldiers,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17including, ultimately, Hedd Wyn himself.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40However, Hedd Wyn did not write exclusively about the war
0:18:40 > 0:18:43and its impact on the local community.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48By 1915, he had won five bardic chairs in local eisteddfodau
0:18:48 > 0:18:52and now he had his sights on the ultimate prize -
0:18:52 > 0:18:55the chair of the National Eisteddfod.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59He sent in a poem to the National Eisteddfod at Bangor in 1915.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Unfortunately, it wasn't very well received.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05In 1916, the National Eisteddfod visited Aberystwyth,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and this time, Hedd Wyn came second with his poem.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12In fact, one of the judges wanted to give the chair to him.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13The following year,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16the National Eisteddfod was set to visit Birkenhead
0:19:16 > 0:19:19and the Welsh expatriate community there.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Could Hedd Wyn go one better this time?
0:19:23 > 0:19:24He began to write.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29The competition required him to write a 500-line poem in cynghanedd
0:19:29 > 0:19:32on the subject of Yr Arwr - the hero.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36However, before he could finish his poem,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39he had been conscripted into the Army.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Military conscription had been introduced for all men
0:19:42 > 0:19:46aged between 18 and 41 at the beginning of 1916.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50It was possible to be exempted if you were employed in work that was
0:19:50 > 0:19:54of national importance, and helping his ageing father
0:19:54 > 0:19:57run the family farm certainly fell into that category.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01And besides, as his girlfriend of the time, Ginny Owen,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04recalled years later, Hedd Wyn was no soldier.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25But exemptions were only granted for a few months at a time.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Then you had to reappear before the military tribunal
0:20:28 > 0:20:32and make your case all over again.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34According to Hedd Wyn's sister, Enid,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37it was the process of constantly appealing for exemption
0:20:37 > 0:20:39that ground him down in the end
0:20:39 > 0:20:42and he chose not to oppose his conscription any further.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Although the family were allowed to keep one son of military age
0:21:10 > 0:21:13at home to help run the farm, Hedd Wyn knew full well
0:21:13 > 0:21:16the authorities would never allow two of them to stay at home.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20So, as his younger brother Bob was about to turn 18,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Hedd Wyn came to a heroically unselfish decision.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Despite his own socialist and pacifist leanings,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Hedd Wyn joined up so that his younger brother might be spared
0:21:31 > 0:21:32to work on the farm.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36After he passed his medical at the barracks in Wrexham,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38at the beginning of 1917,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Hedd Wyn was sent to join the Royal Welch Fusiliers in a training camp
0:21:42 > 0:21:45at Litherland on the outskirts of Liverpool.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50If I'd been standing here 100 years ago,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53I'd have been right in the middle of the Army camp
0:21:53 > 0:21:55where Hedd Wyn was sent for his military training.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58You can still see the church behind me over there.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01However, it was a bleak enough place in Hedd Wyn's time.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Just behind the church over there was a munitions factory
0:22:04 > 0:22:05and the smoke from its stacks
0:22:05 > 0:22:08stung the soldiers' eyes terribly, apparently.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11However, it appears that Hedd Wyn, at first, at least,
0:22:11 > 0:22:13settled quite well into his new life as a soldier.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17He wrote this verse about the camp at Litherland.
0:22:36 > 0:22:37And every now and then,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41the soldiers would be let out of the camp to go into town.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46This is York Hall in Bootle where the Liverpool Welsh community
0:22:46 > 0:22:48would host fortnightly gatherings
0:22:48 > 0:22:51for the Welsh soldiers from the nearby camp.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55This hall could seat approximately 200 people and in one concert
0:22:55 > 0:22:57that was reported in the local paper,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59there were over 20 different items,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03mostly musical but with some comic recitations
0:23:03 > 0:23:05that had the soldiers in stitches.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08And at the end of that meeting in March 1917,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11it was Hedd Wyn who was asked to give a vote of thanks
0:23:11 > 0:23:13on behalf of his fellow soldiers,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16which shows how well-regarded he was by his comrades.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20The soldiers showed their heartfelt gratitude
0:23:20 > 0:23:22with a deafening hip-hip-hooray
0:23:22 > 0:23:26and then sang Cwm Rhondda with great emotion before leaving
0:23:26 > 0:23:28that world of blessing and privilege
0:23:28 > 0:23:32to return to the cold and inflexible world of duty.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Although Hedd Wyn enjoyed the social evenings at York Hall,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45how was his long poem for the National Eisteddfod coming along?
0:23:45 > 0:23:48The given title was Yr Arwr - the hero,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51and he'd written nearly half of it before leaving home.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55But the constant routine in camp didn't suit him creatively,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57as he recorded in a letter to a friend.
0:24:07 > 0:24:08To his great surprise,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Hedd Wyn did get a chance to finish his poem in the spring of 1917,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15thanks to the intervention of one of his friends at Litherland,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Jack Buckland Thomas from Seven Sisters,
0:24:18 > 0:24:20who was on the camp's administrative staff.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Battalion orders asked for a list of experienced farm workers
0:24:25 > 0:24:29in order to get more land in Wales under the plough.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31As everyone knows, Hedd Wyn was a shepherd,
0:24:31 > 0:24:35but I don't think I upset anyone when I put him top of the list
0:24:35 > 0:24:37of ploughman from D company.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43By 1917, so many men had been conscripted into the Armed Forces
0:24:43 > 0:24:45that at certain points in the agricultural calendar
0:24:45 > 0:24:48there was a severe manpower shortage -
0:24:48 > 0:24:51for instance, at harvest time or spring ploughing.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54The answer to this was to release men from the Army
0:24:54 > 0:24:56on a temporary basis to help out.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59But Jack Buckland Thomas had not only managed to get Hedd Wyn's name
0:24:59 > 0:25:02onto the list of men who were to be released,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05he'd also spotted that Yr Ysgwrn was one of the farms that was
0:25:05 > 0:25:09supposed to receive help, so Hedd Wyn effectively was sent home.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14This was the chance of which he'd been dreaming,
0:25:14 > 0:25:15to finish his Eisteddfod poem.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18According to his father, Evan Evans,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Hedd Wyn managed to write 250 lines during the six weeks
0:25:22 > 0:25:24he was at home to help with the ploughing -
0:25:24 > 0:25:26around half the completed poem.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29By the time he returned to Litherland,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32he only needed to polish and tidy what he'd already written.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Most of the hard work had already been done.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46He left Trawsfynydd on May 11th 1917.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50That was the last time his family would ever see him alive again.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54His sister Enid was ten at the time
0:25:54 > 0:25:57and three quarters of a century later,
0:25:57 > 0:25:58still remembered that day well.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49By the beginning of June 1917,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Hedd Wyn and his battalion had crossed over to France
0:26:52 > 0:26:56and he was at the fifth infantry base depot in Rouen.
0:27:31 > 0:27:32As we see from that letter,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Hedd Wyn simply just couldn't stop himself from searching out
0:27:35 > 0:27:38the poetic potential of his new surroundings.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41His battalion had been sent here to Flechin to be trained up for
0:27:41 > 0:27:45the coming assault and it was while he was in camp here that he finally
0:27:45 > 0:27:49succeeded in completing his poem for the Eisteddfod,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52and he posted it off to Birkenhead from here
0:27:52 > 0:27:55on July 13th 1917.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27I've returned to Hedd Wyn's former home in Trawsfynydd.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32The site is being transformed by a 15-month programme
0:28:32 > 0:28:35of major building works, and the most radical transformation
0:28:35 > 0:28:38is taking place in one of the old outhouses.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42This is where I met Jess Enston from the Snowdonia National Park
0:28:42 > 0:28:45in order to get a better idea of how the building
0:28:45 > 0:28:47will eventually be used.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50So, this will be one of the first places that people will see
0:28:50 > 0:28:53- when they visit the site. - Yes, they will,
0:28:53 > 0:28:55they'll come across from the car park over there
0:28:55 > 0:28:58and then they'll come into a reception area.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01- Which will be... - Will be just through there.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04And then once they've seen us and had a sense of what we're all about,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07because, obviously, some people won't know the story
0:29:07 > 0:29:10or the background, they'll come through here then
0:29:10 > 0:29:12and this'll be an education community space,
0:29:12 > 0:29:16so this is where we're going to be able to do more workshops with
0:29:16 > 0:29:18- schoolchildren and communities. - Right.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20And what will be nice about this building
0:29:20 > 0:29:23is there'll be glass walls so that you'll be able to sit
0:29:23 > 0:29:26in the landscape and get a sense of the landscape around you
0:29:26 > 0:29:28and what inspired Hedd Wyn.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Because this was a barn for keeping hay, yeah, originally?
0:29:31 > 0:29:33It was, for keeping hay and stock.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36It will still feel like an agricultural building.
0:29:36 > 0:29:37It won't look much different.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40But then they'll go through to the space there,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42which will have a rather different feel.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44That will definitely have a different feel.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48From the outside, at the moment, it looks like a bit of a monstrosity,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51but what we're going to be doing is we're going to push the earth
0:29:51 > 0:29:54back to where it was, so it will be covered.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56So it's freestanding at the moment but it will sort of
0:29:56 > 0:29:58disappear back into the mountain.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00It will, and then a grass roof will be put on the top of it,
0:30:00 > 0:30:03so it will be hidden inside the landscape.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05And what else will be in this particular space?
0:30:05 > 0:30:07So, it will be quite quirky.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10When you come round, what you'll see is sort of a bench,
0:30:10 > 0:30:15it'll look like a bench, but within the bench you'll see artefacts,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18catalogued artefacts. So you'll have letters from Hedd Wyn,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21you'll have some family photographs, you'll have his medals.
0:30:21 > 0:30:22On the end of the bench,
0:30:22 > 0:30:24you'll be able to hear a recording from Simon Jones,
0:30:24 > 0:30:27- who was in the war... - One of his fellow soldiers.
0:30:27 > 0:30:28..in Passchendaele with Hedd Wyn.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Let's walk through the wall while we can.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Simon Jones came from Llanuwchllyn
0:30:38 > 0:30:42and he joined the army on the same day as Hedd Wyn.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44The two of them had trained together at Litherland
0:30:44 > 0:30:48but nothing there could have prepared them for the sheer squalor
0:30:48 > 0:30:49of life in the trenches.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42On the 23rd July, Hedd Wyn's battalion was sent
0:31:42 > 0:31:46into the front line for the first time near Ypres.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50The British trenches at this time ran parallel to this canal.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53It's a pretty enough site today, but back in 1917,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56it would have been choked with rubble and with soldiers' refuse
0:31:56 > 0:31:59and crawling with the rats who gorged themselves
0:31:59 > 0:32:01on the flesh of the dead.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11At 6pm, the battalion paraded in fighting kit to march to
0:32:11 > 0:32:14where the assembly trenches for the offensive were to be dug.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Gas shells were sent over by the enemy during the night.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22And that, according to the battalion war diary,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26was how Hedd Wyn and his comrades spent their first night
0:32:26 > 0:32:30in the trenches - digging more trenches prior to the big attack.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33The idea was to create spaces where men could congregate
0:32:33 > 0:32:36before going over the top.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40This trench dates back to 1917 and was discovered recently
0:32:40 > 0:32:44whilst clearing land to extend the surrounding industrial estate.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56None of Hedd Wyn's letters have survived from this time,
0:32:56 > 0:33:00but after a week spent in and out of the front line near Ypres,
0:33:00 > 0:33:02the Royal Welsh Fusiliers were ready to take part
0:33:02 > 0:33:04in the big push against the Germans.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16Zero was timed for 3:50am, July 31 1917.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18Once having got clear of Canal Bank,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21it was fairly easy-going for the battalion as far as Pilckem.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29When Hedd Wyn's battalion moved forward that morning,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33the weather was fine, but it soon deteriorated and heavy rain made it
0:33:33 > 0:33:36difficult to move the guns forward to support the advance.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41The casualties began to mount up in the face of German resistance
0:33:41 > 0:33:44and some time that morning, Hedd Wyn was hit.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Thousands of troops were lost that day as they crossed the ground
0:34:20 > 0:34:22from Ypres over there to here.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26It would appear that Hedd Wyn did receive some medical treatment
0:34:26 > 0:34:30for his wounds but it was too late.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32He died a few hours later,
0:34:32 > 0:34:37in all probability in the ruins of a building that stood on this site.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44This trilingual plaque was unveiled here at Langemark
0:34:44 > 0:34:47to mark the 75th anniversary of Hedd Wyn's death.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57His little sister Enid had vivid memories of how that sad news
0:34:57 > 0:35:01first reached Yr Ysgwrn back in the summer of 1917.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42When he was killed, Hedd Wyn was just 30 years old.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47As the sad news spread,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51these letters of condolence began to flood into Yr Ysgwrn.
0:35:51 > 0:35:52Here are some examples.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57"I was truly sorry to hear about your gifted boy.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00"Such a flood of grief has never been seen in this area before."
0:36:03 > 0:36:06"Losing a lad as talented as Hedd Wyn
0:36:06 > 0:36:08"is a loss of national proportions."
0:36:08 > 0:36:11These are the recurring themes in these letters,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14the talent that had been lost and what might he have achieved
0:36:14 > 0:36:15had he but lived.
0:36:16 > 0:36:21But there was still one last chapter in the story of Hedd Wyn,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23the National Eisteddfod of 1917.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27That year, it was in Birkenhead, near Liverpool.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31This was a time when the Eisteddfod frequently crossed the border
0:36:31 > 0:36:35to visit the expatriate communities in London and on Merseyside.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41It was actually the sixth time the Eisteddfod had been held
0:36:41 > 0:36:45outside of Wales within less than 40 years and this stone was erected
0:36:45 > 0:36:48to mark that occasion. And in these fields in front of me here
0:36:48 > 0:36:52stood a temporary pavilion where the Eisteddfod's competitions were held.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06WD Williams was at the Eisteddfod that year
0:37:06 > 0:37:08and remembered the occasion well.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28After the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George,
0:37:28 > 0:37:30had given a speech from the Eisteddfod stage,
0:37:30 > 0:37:32it was time to move on to the chairing ceremony.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36The judges of the competition delivered their verdict
0:37:36 > 0:37:38and announced that there was a winning poem
0:37:38 > 0:37:40that was worthy of the chair.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44But what followed next was completely unexpected,
0:37:44 > 0:37:48as the Archdruid Dyfed stepped up at the side of the stage.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56Dyfed, coming gravely forward,
0:37:56 > 0:37:59announced that the victor had fallen in battle
0:37:59 > 0:38:02and lay in a silent grave in a foreign land.
0:38:03 > 0:38:08In view of what had happened, there could be no chairing ceremony.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Instead of that, the chair would be draped in black.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40THUNDER RUMBLES
0:38:53 > 0:38:56There have been few times in Meirionnydd as stormy as the day
0:38:56 > 0:39:01that Hedd Wyn's empty chair was brought home to Trawsfynydd.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Heavy rain fell all day until the rivers overflowed
0:39:05 > 0:39:08and the wheat fields were waterlogged, and yet,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12despite the storm, the assembly hall at Trawsfynydd was packed
0:39:12 > 0:39:15last Thursday night when the empty chair was unveiled.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20It's a custom that survives to this day for the people
0:39:20 > 0:39:24of a poet's home town to celebrate when he or she has won
0:39:24 > 0:39:27one of the major prizes of the National Eisteddfod.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30It's a chance for those who weren't present on the big day
0:39:30 > 0:39:33to congratulate the poet personally,
0:39:33 > 0:39:35it's a chance for them to see the big prize itself,
0:39:35 > 0:39:37in this case, the chair.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41And imagine how different the evening would have been
0:39:41 > 0:39:44when the people of Trawsfynydd gathered here in this hall
0:39:44 > 0:39:47in September 1917 to honour Hedd Wyn.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50If only the poet himself could have been present.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55But of course, the pride felt by the community of Trawsfynydd
0:39:55 > 0:39:59because of the success of Hedd Wyn was tempered
0:39:59 > 0:40:03by a huge sense of loss, knowing that the poet had been killed
0:40:03 > 0:40:05before he could claim his prize.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11And the chair itself was set up there, centre stage,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14a silent witness to the evening's proceedings.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22This chair has become a national icon
0:40:22 > 0:40:24and because it was awarded posthumously,
0:40:24 > 0:40:28it's become known as Gadair Ddu, the Black Chair.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34It was carved in the Birkenhead workshop of Eugene Vanfleteren,
0:40:34 > 0:40:36one of a quarter of a million Belgian refugees
0:40:36 > 0:40:41who had fled before the German invasion of their country in 1914.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Vanfleteren was an expert woodcarver
0:40:45 > 0:40:48and the 1917 chair is his masterpiece.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54It's one of the ironies of the Hedd Wyn story,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57that his most famous chair was carved by a Belgian
0:40:57 > 0:41:00who came from a town not far from where he died.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20This is the military ceremony at Artillery Wood near Boezinge
0:41:20 > 0:41:24on the outskirts of Ypres where Hedd Wyn was buried.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29A cursory examination of the cemetery visitor book
0:41:29 > 0:41:32reveals a constant stream of Welsh visitors.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44In 2014, the Welsh football squad came here
0:41:44 > 0:41:47after their group qualifier against the Belgians.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Gareth Bale had asked specifically to see Hedd Wyn's grave,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55having been told the story by his mother.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59This tradition of visiting Hedd Wyn's grave
0:41:59 > 0:42:02stretches back the best part of a century.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04One of the first Welsh visitors to this cemetery
0:42:04 > 0:42:09was Hedd Wyn's friend Silyn Roberts in 1923.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12He'd been instrumental in arranging the Welsh inscription
0:42:12 > 0:42:14on Hedd Wyn's gravestone.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18Only those who have won a chair or crown at a National Eisteddfod
0:42:18 > 0:42:22are entitled to be called Prifardd, or Chief Poet.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32In 1934, Hedd Wyn's own brother, Bob,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35came here as part of a group of Welsh visitors
0:42:35 > 0:42:37touring around the cemeteries of Ypres.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40They held a service here and sang hymns at his graveside.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53The thousands of Welsh soldiers who were killed in the Ypres area
0:42:53 > 0:42:57are commemorated at this new memorial near Langemark.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03And the local businesses make sure that the Welsh visitors
0:43:03 > 0:43:05know that they're welcome.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10But there's a particular interest in Hedd Wyn.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14A special walking route retraces his last steps,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17a selection of his work has just been translated into English,
0:43:17 > 0:43:18French and Flemish.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23But without doubt, one factor in the continuing interest
0:43:23 > 0:43:26in Hedd Wyn was the film that brought his story
0:43:26 > 0:43:28to a new audience in the 1990s.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46The film is studied as part of the A-level Welsh course.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50It was shown internationally and was the first-ever Welsh language film
0:43:50 > 0:43:53to be nominated for an Oscar in 1993.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07If the film has raised Hedd Wyn's profile abroad,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10it has also renewed the interest in his home near Trawsfynydd.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15The work on the outbuildings is nearing completion and will no doubt
0:44:15 > 0:44:19result in ever increasing visitor numbers when Yr Ysgwrn reopens.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30But what's surprising is that visitors began turning up
0:44:30 > 0:44:33unannounced at Yr Ysgwrn almost from the very day
0:44:33 > 0:44:35that Hedd Wyn won his chair.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38One of the first recorded visits is by a couple of journalists from
0:44:38 > 0:44:42a Carnarvon newspaper who came here as early as September 1917.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46The article describes their breathy excitement
0:44:46 > 0:44:49as they approached the farm gate.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10The reporters seemed to be hoping
0:45:10 > 0:45:12for some kind of spiritual connection.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14They haven't even got to the house yet
0:45:14 > 0:45:16and there're already employing the kind of language
0:45:16 > 0:45:20that one would more usually associate with a pilgrimage.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23Their report was published in September 1917,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25just a few weeks after he died,
0:45:25 > 0:45:27and yet already the myth of Hedd Wyn,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31one might almost say the cult of Hedd Wyn, is taking shape.
0:45:33 > 0:45:38And that tradition of visiting Yr Ysgwrn has continued for 100 years.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44I wonder how many of the children in this footage from the 1970s
0:45:44 > 0:45:47have brought their own children, or grandchildren, even,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49back since then to visit the place.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52For children and adults alike,
0:45:52 > 0:45:56the key attractions at Yr Ysgwrn over the years
0:45:56 > 0:45:58have been Hedd Wyn's chairs.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01Awarding a poet a chair is a tradition that dates back
0:46:01 > 0:46:03to the Middle Ages, when the foremost poet
0:46:03 > 0:46:05would be given a chair at the King's table,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08such was the respect accorded to poetry in Wales.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13And of the six chairs that Hedd Wyn won,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16this chair from the 1917 National Eisteddfod
0:46:16 > 0:46:18is the most treasured of all.
0:46:20 > 0:46:25In 2013, it was scanned in 3D so a replica could be made,
0:46:25 > 0:46:28just in case anything happened to the original.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31A certain amount of wear and tear has occurred over the years.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00And the man who's been given the responsibility
0:47:00 > 0:47:04of restoring the chair to its former glory is Hugh Haley,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07one of Britain's leading furniture conservators.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12I visited him at his workshop in St Clears.
0:47:12 > 0:47:13- Oh, and the chair. - Here is the chair, yes.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15Gosh. So, how's it going? Are you on schedule?
0:47:15 > 0:47:18It's going well. Yes, yes, I think we are.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21If you'd asked me a month ago, I would have doubted it,
0:47:21 > 0:47:23but we seem to be getting there.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25Something I've been wanting to ask you, I mean, to me,
0:47:25 > 0:47:29as a layman, this is an amazing piece of furniture, but to you,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32as somebody who works with intricately-carved pieces
0:47:32 > 0:47:36of furniture every day of the year, just how good is this piece?
0:47:36 > 0:47:37Oh, it is extraordinary.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39There's no doubt.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42All eisteddfod chairs tend to be heavily carved
0:47:42 > 0:47:47and are all pretty impressive, but this one is definitely a cut above.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50The closer you look, the more you find.
0:47:50 > 0:47:55- Really?- And particularly, you'd have to come round to this side to see...
0:47:57 > 0:48:01..the work just continues to get more and more extraordinary.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04This is clearly the work of Eugene Vanfleteren.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06So would it all have been his own work?
0:48:06 > 0:48:08No, I think...
0:48:08 > 0:48:13We know that the chair was ordered six months before the Eisteddfod,
0:48:13 > 0:48:18so he couldn't possibly have carved the whole thing in six months.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20And in actual fact,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23when you come to study it, you can see the different hands,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25- almost like handwriting...- Really?
0:48:25 > 0:48:27..of the different people who worked on it.
0:48:27 > 0:48:28Can you give me an example?
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Well, an example would be that perhaps his best carver
0:48:31 > 0:48:35did the back. Around here you get the work of the master.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37This is certainly Eugene.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42And then in places here and here, there's the apprentice.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45Oh, yes, they're not quite as confidently executed, are they?
0:48:45 > 0:48:50Absolutely. So to appreciate the work of the master, so to speak,
0:48:50 > 0:48:52we will have to resort to the magnifier, if you could.
0:48:52 > 0:48:58In the corner here, what looks like a smudge is actually three horses.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01On something about the size of a 50p piece.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03- It's like fine lace, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07Carvers all over the country have studied this and everyone is agreed
0:49:07 > 0:49:09it's bordering on impossible.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13- Really?- Absolutely. Oak is a very coarse timber.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17As you carve it, little pieces will just flake away
0:49:17 > 0:49:19and yet that hasn't happened.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22All the way round, it's absolutely perfect.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25But the main work we've been doing has been the dragons, of course,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28which I think the last time you saw this...
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Yes, it was missing. Well, the other one still is missing.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34Hugh then took me next door to see the other dragon
0:49:34 > 0:49:36that he was still working on.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39- Oh.- And this is the problem that we've had with the dragon.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41It looks as if you have to be very good at jigsaws to do this job.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43Absolutely.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45According to tradition, the wood for the chair
0:49:45 > 0:49:49came from ancient roofing timbers salvaged from Valle Crucis Abbey
0:49:49 > 0:49:52near Llangollen, one of the monasteries that was closed down
0:49:52 > 0:49:55and burned in the time of Henry VIII.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Experts have tended to dismiss the story but Hugh
0:49:58 > 0:50:02has made some intriguing discoveries that suggest otherwise.
0:50:02 > 0:50:03Because on taking this piece apart -
0:50:03 > 0:50:07this had been glued up with a modern white PVA glue -
0:50:07 > 0:50:10and there within the body of the dragon...
0:50:10 > 0:50:12- A scorch mark. - ..there's a scorch mark.- Gosh.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14And as well as scorch marks
0:50:14 > 0:50:16there's evidence of death-watch beetle,
0:50:16 > 0:50:20and death-watch beetle comes in damp roofing timbers.
0:50:20 > 0:50:21Ah, not in furniture?
0:50:21 > 0:50:24Not in furniture, which is too dry for them.
0:50:24 > 0:50:30So, if that's the case, the monastery was built in 1201,
0:50:30 > 0:50:34which makes this an 800-year-old piece of oak.
0:50:34 > 0:50:39Now, timber shrinks over time, as it seasons.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43That means that this timber has now become extraordinarily tightly...
0:50:43 > 0:50:46Ah, so the loose grain becomes tighter grain.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48And will take that level of detail.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52- So this tree was an acorn in the year 700.- Wow!
0:50:52 > 0:50:54THEY LAUGH
0:50:54 > 0:50:57- That's incredible.- Yeah. - So, in mending it, this piece here,
0:50:57 > 0:51:02the wing tip there, you've carved that in as a new piece?
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Yes. This is the last bit of carving to be done.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09This piece was missing altogether, so I've grafted a bit on
0:51:09 > 0:51:11and that's what I'll be doing this afternoon now,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13is quietly chipping this into shape.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15OK, well, I know you're on a tight schedule, so, Hugh,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18- thank you very much for your time. - It's been a pleasure.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21The pleasure's all been mine. Thanks very much indeed. Bye-bye.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38A few weeks later, I returned to Yr Ysgwrn.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47Having worked for over a year on the chairs and all the other
0:51:47 > 0:51:50pieces of furniture from the house,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52today was the day that Hugh was bringing everything
0:51:52 > 0:51:54back home once again.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59The return of the Black Chair was a news item in itself
0:51:59 > 0:52:01and Gerald was called on to pose for pictures.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09The fitting out of the various exhibitions
0:52:09 > 0:52:11in the farm outbuildings is underway.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14As well as telling Hedd Wyn's story,
0:52:14 > 0:52:18these will also tell the agricultural history of Yr Ysgwrn
0:52:18 > 0:52:22and look at the wider impact of the Great War on life in Trawsfynydd.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31These are the 33 young men from the Trawsfynydd area
0:52:31 > 0:52:34who died in the Great War.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37Every community in Wales had to endure similar losses.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43In remembering Hedd Wyn, we honour the memory of his comrades too.
0:52:44 > 0:52:49It's very difficult to comprehend the loss of thousands of men
0:52:49 > 0:52:52in one day, but Hedd Wyn's story helps to personalise
0:52:52 > 0:52:54the wider tragedy for us.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59But is there a danger that his story comes between us
0:52:59 > 0:53:02and a true appreciation of his work?
0:53:02 > 0:53:05In this respect, Hedd Wyn is similar to another famous Welsh poet,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07Dylan Thomas.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Although they are poles apart in terms of language and lifestyle,
0:53:10 > 0:53:12they both have this much in common -
0:53:12 > 0:53:16their colourful and ultimately tragic stories
0:53:16 > 0:53:18can overshadow their achievements as poets.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31So, how good was Hedd Wyn as a poet?
0:53:31 > 0:53:34His chair-winning poem, Yr Arwr, The Hero,
0:53:34 > 0:53:36certainly brought him his greatest success,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39but was perhaps not his greatest poem.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42Although impressive in terms of its technique and its ideas,
0:53:42 > 0:53:44its romantic approach to its subject matter
0:53:44 > 0:53:47would soon be considered outmoded.
0:53:47 > 0:53:52However, Hedd Wyn was also already embracing a sharper,
0:53:52 > 0:53:55more modernist style in some of his shorter poems
0:53:55 > 0:53:58and it's for this work that he is best remembered today.
0:55:09 > 0:55:10At the beginning of June,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13the first school trip was welcomed to the new-look Ysgwrn.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32A news crew is keen to get the young people's first impressions.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50When they'd left, I was keen to talk again to Gerald himself.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54An important part of the Hedd Wyn story
0:55:54 > 0:55:57has been his family's readiness to welcome visitors.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02Gerald was raised by his grandmother, Hedd Wyn's mother,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04and she instilled in him the importance
0:56:04 > 0:56:06of never turning anyone away,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09of always keeping an open house for visitors.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13How does he feel about the changes at Yr Ysgwrn,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16as it enters this new phase in its history?
0:57:18 > 0:57:21We remember Hedd Wyn not just as a poet
0:57:21 > 0:57:25but as a symbol of Welsh loss in World War I.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29He was killed by a shell and by a strange irony,
0:57:29 > 0:57:32in one of his last letters from the Front,
0:57:32 > 0:57:35he writes of how the creative impulse
0:57:35 > 0:57:39can triumph over destruction, even with shells.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27There's a combination of optimism and sadness in those words
0:58:27 > 0:58:31by Hedd Wyn and perhaps that's how we should remember him too -
0:58:31 > 0:58:34with sadness because of the untimely nature of his death
0:58:34 > 0:58:37and the deaths of millions of his contemporaries,
0:58:37 > 0:58:41but Hedd Wyn's legacy lives on in the form of his poems
0:58:41 > 0:58:45and his home here at Yr Ysgwrn, and that, surely,
0:58:45 > 0:58:47is a cause for optimism.