85748_Brycheiniog_Vol_46:44036_Brycheiniog_2005 3/3/15 08:04 Page 1 BRYCHEINIOG Cyfnodolyn Cymdeithas Brycheiniog The Journal of the Brecknock Society CYFROL/VOLUME XLVI 2015 Acting Editor JOHN NEWTON GIBBS Cyhoeddwyr/Publishers CYMDEITHAS BRYCHEINIOG A CHYFEILLION YR AMGUEDDFA THE BRECKNOCK SOCIETY AND MUSEUM FRIENDS 85748_Brycheiniog_Vol_46:44036_Brycheiniog_2005 3/3/15 08:04 Page 2 CYMDEITHAS BRYCHEINIOG a CHYFEILLION YR AMGUEDDFA THE BRECKNOCK SOCIETY and MUSEUM FRIENDS SWYDDOGION/OFFICERS Llywydd/President Mr Ken Jones Cadeirydd/Chairman Dr John Newton Gibbs Ysgrifenyddion Anrhydeddus/Honorary Secretaries Mrs Gwyneth Evans & Mrs Elaine Starling Aelodaeth/Membership Dr Elizabeth Siberry Trysorydd/Treasurer Mr Peter Jenkins Archwilydd/Auditor Mr Nick Morrell Golygydd/Editor Vacant Golygydd Cynorthwyol/Assistant Editor Mr Peter Jenkins Uwch Guradur Amgueddfa Brycheiniog/Senior Curator of the Brecknock Museum Mr Nigel Blackamore Pob Gohebiaeth: All Correspondence: Cymdeithas Brycheiniog, Brecknock Society, Amgueddfa Brycheiniog, Brecknock Museum, Rhodfa’r Capten, Captain’s Walk, Aberhonddu, Brecon, Powys LD3 7DS Powys LD3 7DS Ôl-rifynnau/Back numbers Mr Peter Jenkins Erthyglau a llyfrau am olygiaeth/Articles and books for review Dr John Newton Gibbs © Oni nodir fel arall, Cymdeithas Brycheiniog a Chyfeillion yr Amgueddfa piau hawlfraint yr erthyglau yn y rhifyn hwn © Except where otherwise noted, copyright of material published in this issue is vested in the Brecknock Society & Museum Friends Website: http://www.brecknocksociety.co.uk 85748_Brycheiniog_Vol_46:44036_Brycheiniog_2005 3/3/15 08:04 Page 3 CYNNWYS/CONTENTS Officers 2 Editorial 5 Reports: John Gibbs Chairman’s Report for 2014 7 Glyn Mathias The Roland Mathias Prize 13 Nigel Blackamore Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery 2014 14 Ryland Wallace Crickhowell Cricket Club: a social history of the first hundred years 17 J. Graham Jones Richard Livsey, Lord Livsey of Talgarth (1935–2010), and the politics of Brecon and Radnor 47 A. Cynfael Lake The fifteenth-century poet Hywel Dafi and his connection with Breconshire 67 Robert Gant Brecknock Union Workhouse: a census-based profile of inmates 1841–1911 83 Elizabeth Siberry A Crickhowell Crusader: the case of the missing hands 101 Colin Hughes The Talgarth British School and the development of a system of education 109 Stephen Rowson Belgian Refugees in Ystradgynlais in the Great War 137 Frank Olding “In Praise of Hywel ap Goronwy” – an inauguration poem for a king of Brycheiniog? 147 85748_Brycheiniog_Vol_46:44036_Brycheiniog_2005 3/3/15 08:04 Page 4 Book Reviews: Peter Jenkins The Brecon Jazz Story in Photographs by Gena Davies. Ed. David Moore 153 Gwyneth Evans Searching for Family and Community History in Wales. Ed. Rheinallt Llwyd and D. Huw Owen 154 Elizabeth Siberry Brecon Beacons by Jonathan Mullard 155 Elizabeth Siberry Stained Glass from Welsh Churches by Martin Crampin 156 85748_Brycheiniog_Vol_46:44036_Brycheiniog_2005 3/3/15 08:04 Page 5 EDITORIAL As mentioned in the last issue of Brycheiniog, a review of the Journal has taken place during the last year. The review group comprised three council members, namely myself, Elizabeth Siberry and Nigel Clubb. As described in the Chairman’s Report, later in this volume, the draft report was considered at a full Council meeting early in 2015 and was approved with a few small additions (a copy can be found on the web-site). Subsequent to that meeting the review group produced both a job description for the Editor and a list of the qualities and skills that are necessary or desirable for the Editor to have. In addition it has recommended the creation of an Editorial Board, comprising at least four members, two of whom should be members of the Executive Council. These Board members will provide support to the Editor in whatever ways may prove most helpful. A list will also be created of people willing and able to act as referees for articles submitted to the Editor. Work in this area of activity will be completed after this volume of the Journal has gone to press and until such time as details of our search for an editor are circulated more widely, anyone interested in knowing more about the role of Editor should contact me direct. My two year stint as acting editor has made me realise how interesting and rewarding the job can be! In this issue we have already instituted a few changes in presentation. Thus the author’s name appears straight after the title of the paper, rather than at the end as formerly, and we provide a brief biographical description after the article rather than on a separate page at the beginning of the Journal. After a lapse of several years we have been able to reinstate a section dealing with book reviews. The articles in this issue are, I think, sufficiently varied in style and content to arouse the interest of the reader. In the span of historical time they range from Frank Olding’s article on an inauguration poem from (perhaps) 1100 to Graham Jones’s paper on Richard Livsey and the 20th Century politics of Brecon and Radnor. Our geographical range is considerable also, although I would like to appeal for more contributions from right across Brecknock. In this context it is very good to welcome the article by Stephen Rowson on the Belgian Refugees in Ystradgynlais. In my editorial of last year I expressed the Society’s thanks to Brynach Parri for his five years as Editor. I would like to end this editorial by paying tribute to Edward Parry, Editor of this Journal for eighteen years. In the course of our review, several people, active in the Society for many more years than me, pointed out that the establishment of Brycheiniog as a well- respected journal of local culture and history owes a very great deal to him. 85748_Brycheiniog_Vol_46:44036_Brycheiniog_2005 3/3/15 08:04 Page 6 6 Brycheiniog Pamela Redwood wrote to me ‘as you review the journal for the 21st century, I hope you will notice that the success of the 20th century has been largely due to the editorship of Edward Parry’. This is a debt of gratitude that I, on behalf of many authors of many articles, am very happy to acknowledge! JOHN GIBBS Acting Editor [email protected] or 01874 730747 85748_Brycheiniog_Vol_46:44036_Brycheiniog_2005 3/3/15 08:04 Page 7 REPORTS CHAIRMAN’S REPORT FOR 2014 In recent years the Chaiman’s review of the past year has become a regular feature of the Annual General meeting. It seems a natural step to move to a written version within the pages of Brycheiniog, and the idea of such a report was one of one of the recommendations in the Review of Brycheiniog that was approved by the Council of the BS&MF in January of this year (see below). Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery An account of the latest position with respect to the Museum and Art Gallery is described in the Curator’s report. Our Council member, Mervyn Bramley, represents the Society at the regular progress meetings that Powys CC holds to oversee the management of the project. There is now also a wider Stakeholder Group on which many local Societies and organisations are represented and which is also attended by councillors from Powys and from the town of Brecon. I attend this group on behalf of the BS&MF. Winter meetings We started the year with a January talk in the Guildhall Council Chamber by our President Ken Jones on the theme ‘Walter Wilkins (1741–1828) of Brecon – Member of the Governing Council of Bengal, joint founder of the Old Brecon Bank and incorruptible M.P. for Radnorshire’. Ken has made a unique contribution to knowledge through his studies of the five men from Breconshire who worked for the East India Company in the decades after 1750: Walter Wilkins being arguably the most influential. In February we went to Gliffaes Hotel (2 miles west of Crickhowell and commanding spectacular views down to the river Usk) for a talk on the history of fly-fishing in Breconshire and the borders by Roger Smith. As well as for its fishing, Gliffaes is famous for its afternoon tea and this formed an integral part of the event! The 17th Sir John Lloyd Lecture This year’s lecture was entitled ‘The Archaeology and History of Breconshire from the air’ and was delivered to a full house in Theatr Brycheiniog by Dr Toby Driver of the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments in Wales. He looked at nearly three decades of exploratory reconnaissance and aerial investigation in southern Powys, ‘showcasing’ some of the major discoveries and demonstrating how much work remains to be done; this point being well illustrated by the discovery, in the dry summer of 2013, of a previously unsuspected Roman fort complex to the east of Brecon. Also he 85748_Brycheiniog_Vol_46:44036_Brycheiniog_2005 3/3/15 08:04 Page 8 8 Brycheiniog showed how LIDAR (Airborne Laser Scanning) used by the military can be successfully utilised by archaeologists. Dr Driver ended with some dramatic pictures showing the damage caused and the archaeology revealed by the severe storms of the recent winter. The Sir John Lloyd lectures are often published in Brycheiniog but in this case Dr Driver (for the RCAHMW) will be collaborating with the BS&MF and the Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust to produce a book Breconshire from above. Immediately prior to the lecture, the Museum’s education officer Stephanie Dempsey described the participation of Brecknock primary schools in the Victor Jones Local History Competition for Year 6 pupils which is sponsored by the BS&MF. Dr Driver presented the awards. First prize went to Rosie Tustin of Cradoc School for her project ‘The Evacuee’s Journey to Brecon’ which followed the story of her grandfather’s evacuation during the Second World War, his adoption by a Welsh family and his career as an auctioneer in Brecon.