Category: Cragen Beca

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Educate, agitate, organise

An exhibition of radical history posters // arddangosfa posteri hanes radical

Ochr yn Ochr Prosiect Cragen Beca, rydym yn dangos arddangosfa o bosteri hanes radical rhwng 25 Ebrill – 7 Mai yn Oriel Bevan Jones yn Ynghaerfyrddin ar y llwybr o’r Parêd Cragen Beca.

Bydd oriel yn agor yn arbennig ar diwrnod parêd, Dydd Sul 1 Mai 1-4pm.

Diolch i’r Arts Care // Gofal Celf am eu cefnogaeth o’r arddangosfa, mae Shaun Featherstone a Josh McPhee, ‘Just Seeds’ am cyfrannu casgliad o bosteri o’r cyfres Celebrating People’s History.

Oriel Bevan Jones, Stryd y Brenin, Caerfyrddin SA31 1BS

Alongside the Cragen Beca project, we’re showing an exhibition of radical history posters from 25 Abril – 7 May at Oriel Bevan Jones Gallery in Carmarthen along the route of the Cragen Beca Parade.

The gallery will open especially on parade day, Sunday 1 May 1-4pm.

Thank you to Arts Care // Gofal Celf for the generous support of the exhibition, Shaun Featherstone for curating the show and Josh McPhee from Just Seeds for kindly donating a collection of posters from the Celebrating People’s History series, many of which will be on show.

King Street, King Street, Carmarthen SA31 1BS.

Please check the gallery channels for opening times.

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Cragen Beca a Talog

Rhoddwyd Cregyn Rebeca i Amgueddfa Sir Gaerfyrddin, gan ddisgynnydd y perchennog gwreiddiol, Gwynfor Phillips yn yr 1980au ac roedd hanes y gragen hon yn rhan o’r ddogfen a’i gwasanaeth.

Cragen Beca – Hanes byr

Pan oeddwn yn blentyn cadwyd “Cragen Beca” o dan glo mewn cwpwrdd pren bychan, wedi’i guddio y tu ôl i soffa ym mharlwr fy mam-gu yn Nhalog. Ar un adeg bu ei chartref yn dafarn y “Castle Inn”, lle y bu ei thad a’i thad-cu yn dafarnwyr, ac ymhen amser etifeddodd hi y cartref.

Yn ystod Terfysgoedd Beca (1839-46) rhoddwyd y gragen hon (Cragen Beca) i’r tafarnwr, sef fy hen hen dad-cu, ac fe’i defnyddiwyd ganddo i alw’r dilynwyr i gyfarfodydd cudd ac ati. Ef oedd y cynullydd swyddogol. O’r herwydd roedd ganddo ran bwysig iawn yn y Terfysgoedd oedd yn ei roi mewn sefyllfa o berygl sifil mawr. Pan ddaeth Terfysgoedd Beca i ben aeth yr awdurdodau ati i gorlannu pawb fu’n gysylltiedig â’r terfysgoedd. Cafodd llawer eu dal, carcharwyd rhai, trawsgludwyd eraill, ac aeth llawer o ddynion o Dalog i guddio mewn llofftydd ffermydd a hyd yn oed yn y coed a amgylchynai’r pentref. Mae’n amlwg y bu’r tafarnwr yn ofalus iawn trwy gydol y cyfan gan na chafodd ei amau hyd yn oed!

Dim rhyfedd felly y cafodd y Gragen ei chuddio mor ofalus – am ganrif gyfan cafodd ei chyfrinachau eu cadw mor dawel fel na fyddai fy mam-gu ond yn ei dangos ar adegau prin, ac ni fyddai ond yn sibrwd amdani hyd yn oed! Unwaith yn unig y’i clywais yn cael ei chwythu’n gyhoeddus, a hynny’n ddiarwybod iddi hi. Yr achlysur oedd llwyddiant ymgeisydd Rhyddfrydol mewn etholiad seneddol. Roedd fy ewythr wedi mynd â’r gragen o’i chuddfan a chwythu ei lawenydd o ben y bryn, gweithred ffôl ac annisgybledig a barodd iddo gael ei gosbi’n eiriol a chorfforol gan ei fam!

A dyma droi at darddiad Cragen. Byddai’r rhan fwyaf o haneswyr yn cytuno mai’r trefnydd athrylithgar y tu ôl i Derfysgoedd Beca yng ngorllewin Cymru oedd cyfreithiwr o Gaerfyrddin, Mr. Hugh Williams, brodor o Fachynlleth a briododd wraig o Sanclêr, gan weithio’n gyfreithiwr yng Nghaerfyrddin ond byw yng Nghydweli. Derbynnir fod ganddo dueddiadau radical a bod ganddo gydymdeimlad â’r Siartwyr. Ffermwyr a gweithwyr fferm oedd Merched Beca yn bennaf, y rhan fwyaf ohonynt yn anllythrennog, ac ni fyddai gan y rhan fwyaf ohonynt y gallu i drefnu ymgyrch guddiedig ond disgybledig iawn o’r fath. Roedd yn galw am feddwl craff, deallus i gynnull cymunedau gwasgaredig o ffermwyr rhwystredig iawn yn rym effeithiol, a phwy well na’r cyfreithiwr pragmataidd o Gaerfyrddin?

Mae’n ymddangos fod gan Hugh Williams frawd a wasanaethai yn gonswl neu’n Was Sifil yn Sierra Leone, a’i fod wedi’i leoli yn Freetown, a sefydlwyd yn wreiddiol yn Granville yn 1788 yn gartref i gaethweision o Affrica a ryddhawyd. Roeddent wedi dod o ynysoedd y Caribî a thir mawr America.

Yn ystod rhyfel 1939 – 45 gwasanaethais yn y Llynges Frenhinol, ac yn ystod un o fy ymweliadau â Freetown gwelais angladd brodor. Arweinydd y cynhebrwng oedd dyn a chwythai’r gragen dro, gan gyfeirio’r sain tuag at y môr. Roedd y sain yn ddigamsyniol, yr un sain “hwtian” adleisiol ag a glywais yn Nhalog flynyddoedd ynghynt! Buom yn siarad â’r dyn hwn a esboniodd mai’r traddodiad oedd hysbysu’r ysbrydion oedd yn byw yn y môr pryd bynnag y byddai enaid morwr yn dychwelyd i’w orffwysfan terfynol. Fe’m hatgoffwyd yn syth o dduw Triton yn chwedloniaeth Roeg a reolai’r tonnau trwy chwythu ei gragen dro.

A yw’n rhy annhebygol i dybio y cafodd Hugh Williams y gragen, a ddaeth yn “Gragen Beca”, gan ei frawd, a bod yntau yn ei dro wedi’i rhoi i dafarnwr y Castle Inn Talog i’w defnyddio gan y “cynullydd” i alw’r dilynwyr?

(A chan nad yw’r gragen yn gynhenid i Orllewin Affrica, a yw y tu hwnt i ffiniau posibilrwydd y daethpwyd â hi i Sierra Leone gan un o’r caethweision a ryddhawyd?

*Dyfalu yw hyn, wrth gwrs.

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Cragen Beca and Talog

Cragen Beca was given to Carmarthenshire Museum in the 1980s by descendant of the original owner, Gwynfor Phillips. This evocative account of the shell was part of the accession documentation.

Cragen Beca – A brief account

When I was a child “Cragen Beca” was kept under lock and key in a small wooden cabinet, hidden away behind a settee in my grandmother’s parlour in Talog. Her home had once been the “Castle Inn” public house, where her father and grandfather had been inn-keepers and which she inherited in due course.

During the Rebecca Risings (1839-46) this conch shell (Cragen Beca) had been given to the inn-keeper, who was my great great grandfather, and was used by him to muster the rioters to clandestine meetings etc. He was the official ‘whipper-up”. His involvement in the Riots was therefore most significant and put him in great civil danger. When the Rebecca Riots ceased there was a general round-up of all who were connected with the risings. Many were apprehended, some were imprisoned, others were transported, and many Talog men went into hiding in farm lofts and even in the woods which surrounded the village. It is obvious that the inn-keeper had kept a very low profile throughout because he was not even suspected!

No wonder then, that the Cragen was so carefully hidden – for a whole century its secrets were so closely kept that my mamgu would only show it on rare occasions, and even spoke about it in whispers! Only once did I ever hear it being blown in public, and that was without her knowledge. The occasion was the success of a Liberal candidate in a parliamentary election. My uncle had taken the conch from its hiding place and trumpeted his joy from the hilltop, for which indiscretion and indiscipline he was verbally and physically chastised by his mother!

And now to the origin of Cragen Beca. Most historians would agree that the organising genius behind the Rebecca Riots in west Wales was a Carmarthen solicitor, Mr. Hugh Williams, a native of Machynlleth who had married a St Clears lady, practiced law in Carmarthen but resided in Cydweli. It is accepted that he had radical tendencies and was sympathetic to the Chartists. The Rebecca Rioters themselves were mostly farmers and farmworkers, most of whom were illiterate and quite unable to organise such a covert, but highly disciplined crusade. It required an astute, intelligent brain to bring scattered communities of highly charged farmers together into a viable force, and who better than the pragmatic lawyer from Carmarthen?

It transpires that Hugh Williams had a brother serving either as a consul or else a Civil Servant in Sierra Leone, and that he was stationed in Freetown, originally founded as Granville in 1788 as a home for liberated African slaves. These had come from the Caribbean islands and from the mainland of America.

During the 1939 – 45 war I served in the Royal Navy, and during one of my visits to Freetown I witnessed a native funeral. Proceeding the cortege was a man who blew a conch shell, the sound being directed towards the sea. The sound was unmistakable, it was the same reverberating “hoot” that I had heard in Talog years previously! We spoke to this man who explained that it was traditional to inform the spirits who dwelt in the sea whenever a fisherman’s soul was returning to his final resting place. I was immediately reminded of the god Triton in Greek mythology who ruled the waves by blowing his conch.

Is it too improbable to assume that Hugh Williams was given the conch, that became “Cragen Beca”, by his brother, and that he in turn gave it to the inn-keeper of Castle Inn Talog to be used by the “whipper-up” to summon the rioters?

(And since the conch is not indigenous to West Africa, is it beyond the bounds of possibility that it was brought to Sierra Leone by one of the liberated slaves? *)

*This is supposition, of course.

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Menywod mewn Ffocws // Women in Focus

Carmarthen School of Art’s International Women’s Day 2022 Symposium in collaboration with Oriel Myrddin Gallery
Imagine a gender equal world.

A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.

This symposium will look closely at our position as women, and those who identify as female who are freelancers, artists, and those working in the creative or educational sectors through debate, dialogue and collaboration. As educators, artists, makers how are we influencing future students through mentoring, visibility, promotion and access?

Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.

Symposiwm Diwrnod Rhyngwladol y Merched 2022 Ysgol Gelf Caerfyrddin mewn cydweithrediad ag Oriel Myrddin Gallery
Dychmygwch fyd cyfartal rhwng y rhywiau.

Byd sy’n rhydd o ragfarn, stereoteipiau a gwahaniaethu. Byd sy’n amrywiol, yn deg ac yn gynhwysol. Byd lle mae gwahaniaeth yn cael ei werthfawrogi a’i ddathlu. Gyda’n gilydd gallwn greu cydraddoldeb menywod. Gyda’n gilydd gallwn ni i gyd #BreakTheBias.


Dathlu cyflawniad merched. Codi ymwybyddiaeth yn erbyn rhagfarn. Gweithredu dros gydraddoldeb.
Bydd y symposiwm hwn yn edrych yn fanwl ar ein sefyllfa fel menywod, a’r rhai sy’n uniaethu fel merched sy’n weithwyr llawrydd, yn artistiaid, a’r rhai sy’n gweithio yn y sectorau creadigol neu addysgol trwy ddadl, deialog a chydweithio. Fel addysgwyr, artistiaid, gwneuthurwyr sut ydyn ni’n dylanwadu ar fyfyrwyr y dyfodol trwy fentora, gwelededd, hyrwyddo a mynediad?