Owen Gethin Jones (1816 - 1883), 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 ...

building contractor, quarry owner and prominent poet.

Early life

Jones was born on 1 May 1816 at Tyn-y-Cae,

Penmachno Penmachno is a village in the isolated upland Machno valley, south of Betws-y-Coed in the county of Conwy, North Wales. The B4406 road runs through part of the village. The village is at the confluence of the Glasgwm and Machno rivers. It has ...

, to parents Owen and Grace Jones.

Family

In 1843, Jones married Ann Owen of Bwlch Bach,

Dolwyddelan Dolwyddelan ( ; ; ) – in Victorian times, often spelled Dolyddelen – is a village and community in Conwy county borough, Wales, on the main A470 road between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed. As a community, the population of Do ...

. Their son Owen Jones died in 1877 of liver failure. Their youngest daughter Jeanie G. Jones was married in 1884.

Writer

Jones was a prominent poet in

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 ...

circles and was a noted local historian. His essay on Penmachno, written in the mid 19th century, was first published in 1884 (after his death) in "Gweithiau Gethin" ''(The Works of Gethin)''. The essay refers to the first

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 ** ...

sermon in the parish in about 1784 at Penrhyn Uchaf; it describes the buildings at Dugoed farm () (the oldest part of the farmhouse was built around 1517) and reflects on the possible sites of historical significance on the farm itself, including Tomen y Castell as a possible fort and the field Cae'r Braint ("Field of Honour") which may have contained a great

Bardic In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...

circle. In 1875, he was a member of the committee organising the

National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors ...

Pwllheli Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh language, Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the pl ...

Contractor and quarry owner

Between 1861 and 1863, Jones built the

Rhiwbach Tramway The Rhiwbach Tramway was a Welsh industrial, narrow gauge railway connecting the remote slate quarries east of Blaenau Ffestiniog with the Ffestiniog Railway. It was in use by 1862, and remained so until progressively closed between 1956 a ...

serving eight of the slate quarries at

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,00 ...

. He also built the

Betws-y-Coed Betws-y-coed (; '' en, prayer house in the wood'') is a village and community in the Conwy valley in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located in the historic county of Caernarfonshire, right on the boundary with Denbighshire, in the Gwydir Forest. ...

and Pont-y-Pant stations and the Pont Gethin viaduct on the Conwy Valley Line spanning the

Lledr Valley The Lledr Valley () is a valley in Snowdonia in north Wales. It runs from the top of the Crimea Pass, north of Blaenau Ffestiniog down to Betws-y-Coed. The A470 road follows the line of the valley, as does the railway line from Blaenau Ffestin ...

, and

St Mary's Church, Betws-y-Coed St Mary's Church, Betws-y-Coed, is in the village of Betws-y-Coed, Conwy, Wales. It is an active Anglican parish church of the Church in Wales, in the deanery of Arllechwedd, the archdeaconry of Bangor and the diocese of Bangor. The church is d ...

. Jones built the parsonage at

Llandrillo, Denbighshire Llandrillo (or, in full, Llandrillo yn Edeirnion) is a small village and community in the Edeirnion area of Denbighshire in Wales, between Bala, and Corwen on the B4401 road. It was historically in the county of Merionethshire, and has a popula ...

in 1872. In the mid 1870s, Jones opened the Bwlch Gordduant quarry in the Crimea Pass between

and

. This was not a great success and he sold the quarry to the owner of the

Prince Llewellyn quarry The Prince Llewellyn quarry (also known as Bwlch Cynnud quarry, Y Foel quarry, Hendre Ddu quarry, or Prince Llywelyn quarry) was a slate quarry that stands on the west side of the Lledr Valley, ENE of Dolwyddelan. It was worked from around 1820 ...

in late 1876.

Death

In early 1882, Jones was paralysed and subsequently confined to his home. He died on 29 January 1883, at Tyddyn Cethin in Penmachno (as recorded in 1871 and 1881 Wales censuses and National Probate Calendar for 1883, but currently known as Tyddyn Gethin ()) .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Owen Gethin 1816 births 1883 deaths Welsh-language poets People from Penmachno Welsh civil engineers