Monument to John Jones (Talhaiarn, 1810-1869), Llanfair Talhaearn NLW3363867

John Jones (19 January 1810 – October 1869), known by his

bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh term bardd ("poet") originally referred to the Welsh poets of the Middle Ages, who m ...

of Talhaiarn, was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

poet and architect.

Life and reputation

Jones was born at the ''Harp Inn'' (now known as ''Hafod y Gân'') in

Llanfair Talhaearn Llanfair Talhaiarn ( cy, Llanfair Talhaearn), abbreviated to ''Llanfair TH'', is a village and community (Wales), community approximately south of Abergele in Conwy county borough, Wales. Until 1974 it was included in Denbighshire. The villag ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

. He was probably apprenticed to and then working for the architect and

county surveyor A county surveyor is a public official in the United Kingdom and the United States. United Kingdom Webb & Webb describe the increasing chaos that began to prevail within this same period in field of county surveying in England and Wales, with c ...

Thomas Penson Thomas Penson, or Thomas Penson the younger (c. 1790 – 1859) was the county surveyor of Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire. An innovative architect and designer of a number of masonry arch bridges over the River Severn and elsewhere. He was th ...

between 1830 and 1843. After that he served with ecclesiastical architects in London, being employed, for instance, by

Sir Joseph Paxton ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

to oversee the building of

the Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibit ...

. He became a prominent a member of Cymdeithas y Cymreigyddion in London, and its president in 1849. Suffering from ill health, he returned to Wales in 1865 and in 1869 took his own life by shooting himself in his bedroom at the ''Harp Inn''. He is buried under a yew tree at St Mary's Church in Llanfair Talhaearn. Talhaiarn lived in England and in France, but wrote in

. His works included well-known

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

such as ''

Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn "Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn" ( en, Watching the White Wheat) is an 18th-century traditional Welsh love song. It describes the tragic love affair between Wil Hopcyn and Ann Thomas (The Maid of Cefn Ydfa) from the village of Llangynwyd in Glamorganshi ...

'' (Watching the Wheat), and ''Mae Robin yn Swil'' (Robin is Shy). His bardic name is derived conventionally from the place of his birth, but probably refers also to

Talhaearn Tad Awen Talhaearn Tad Awen (''fl'' mid-6th century), was, according to medieval Welsh sources, a celebrated British poet of the sub-Roman period. He ranks as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, named poets to have composed and performed in Welsh. ...

, a noted 6th-century Welsh poet. Although he was accepted into Gorsedd y Beirdd in Bala in 1869, he is known to have failed several times to win the chair at the

Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

. In 1849 at the

Aberffraw Aberffraw is a village and community on the south west coast of the Isle of Anglesey ( cy, Ynys Môn), in Wales, by the west bank of the Afon Ffraw (Ffraw River). The community includes Soar and Dothan. Located near the A4080 and the nearest ...

eisteddfod he rose to his feet to contest the adjudication and defend his defeated

awdl In Welsh poetry, an ''awdl'' () is a long poem in strict metre (i.e. ''cynghanedd''). Originally, an ''awdl'' could be a relatively short poem unified by its use of a single end-rhyme (the word is related to ''odl'', "rhyme"), using cynghanedd; ...

. In 1863 at the

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

eisteddfod he held that the

Nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

judges were biased against him as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Publications

John Jones collaborated with John Thomas on compiling a series of books called "Welsh Melodies with Welsh and English Poetry". It was a collaborative work, with Jones creating the Welsh words,

Thomas Oliphant Thomas Oliphant is an American journalist who was the Washington correspondent and a columnist for ''The Boston Globe''. Life and career Oliphant was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from La Jolla High School in California and in 196 ...

, the artist and musician, writing the English (often not a translation) and John Thomas the Welsh composer and harpist, acting as author. There were four volumes, the first two published in 1862, the third in 1870 and the fourth in 1874.British Library. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Talhaiarn 1810 births 1869 deaths Welsh-language poets Welsh architects Suicides by firearm in Wales 19th-century Welsh poets 19th-century Welsh architects