Cymdeithas Hynafiaethwyr a Naturiaethwyr Môn YN DATHLU
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H A N E S Y R H Y N A F I A E T H W Y R Cymdeithas Hynafiaethwyr a Naturiaethwyr Môn YN DATHLU CAN MLYNEDD A N T I Q U A R I A N A N G L E S E Y CELEBRATING ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF The Anglesey Antiquarian Society & Field Club H A N E S Y R H Y N A F I A E T H W Y R A N T I Q U A R I A N A N G L E S E Y Y dyddiau cynnar Early days ymhell cyn sefydlu Cymdeithas hynafiaeth - Tad archaeoleg fodern ym Môn oedd Yr Anrhyd - Long before the foundation of the Anglesey wyr Môn cyfeiriai haneswyr at yr ynys wrth eddus WILLIAM OWEN STANLEY , Penrhos Antiquarian Society the island held a no - ysgrifennu am y cyfnod cynhanesyddol ym (1802-84). Er ei fod yn dirfeddiannwr gweithgar table place in people’s appreciation of Brit - Mhryd ain. adroddwyd hanes concwest yr iawn ac yn AS dros yr ynys am nifer o flynyddoedd, ish prehistory. The Roman historian Tacit us ynys yn O.C.60 gan Tacitus, yr hanesydd rhuf - neilltuodd amser i astudio, cloddio a chyhoeddi had provided a dramatic account of its con - erthyglau o’r safon uchaf. Gyda nifer o gyfeillion einig, ac yn sgil hyn fe ddaeth ynys Môn neu quest in AD60, so every educated person oedd yn archaeolegwyr blaenllaw ym Mhrydain, ‘Mona Insula’, fel y cyfeirid ati yn Lladin, yn llwyddodd i ddwyn sylw cenedlaethol i’w waith knew of ‘Mona Insula’, as the Isle of Anglesey gyfarwydd i bob person dysgedig. ar aneddiadau cynnar yng Nghaergybi. was known in Latin. Rhwng 1536 a 1539 teithiodd John Leland, yr The antiquary John Leland travelled Tair tudalen o lyfrau nodiadau W O Stanley hanesydd trwy Gymru, ac yn ei Deithlyfr cyfeiri - (Casgliad Gwasanaethau Archifau Ynys Môn) , a through wales between 1536 and 1539, and odd at y siambrau cerrig phortread o Stanley gan G F Watts, 1876 in his Itinerary commented on the great stone mawr a ddatgelwyd wrth i (trwy garedigrwydd Arglwydd Stanley o Alderley) chambers exposed by farmers as they re - fferm wyr symud cerrig o’r Engrafiad o ‘Dderwydd’ dychmygol moved cairns to build field walls. In the late carneddau i godi waliau i’r o Mona Antiqua Restaurata , 1723 seventeenth century Edward Lhuyd and his Three pages from the notebooks of W O caeau. Erbyn diwedd yr ail Stanley (Anglesey Archives Service collection), correspondents were noting inscriptions and ganrif ar bymtheg roedd and a portrait of Stanley, by G F Watts, 1876 monuments across the island. (by courtesy of Lord Stanley of Alderley). Edward Lhuyd, ac eraill yn But i t was in the eighteenth century that an - The father of modern archaeology in Anglesey The engraving of an imagined ‘Druid’ is was The Honourable William OWen Stanley yr un maes, yn cofnodi ar - glesey gained a particular importance in the from Mona Antiqua Restaurata, 1723. of Penrhos (1802-84). ys grifau a henebion drwy’r national view of the past — as the centre of Despite a very active career as a landowner and Edward Lhuyd, 1660-1709 ynys. druidic learning. In his book Mona Antiqua as MP for the island for many years, he found time Ond erbyn y ddeunawfed ganrif roedd Restaurata (‘ancient anglesey restored’), the to study, excavate and publish to the highest arwydd ocâd arbennig i Ynys Môn yn ein hanes reverend henry rowlands of Llanidan standards. With many friends among the leading — a hynny fel canolfan ddysg y Derwyddon. (1655-1723) described the island’s antiqui - archaeologists of Britain, he brought his work on Dan ddylanwad Tacitus aeth y Parchedig Henry ties. Inspired by his reading of Tacitus, his early settlements at Holyhead to the forefront of Rowlands, Llanidan, (1655-1723) ati i lunio’r speculations about the druids captured the national debate. gyfrol Mona Antiqua Restaurata ac ynddi mae’n public imagination and influenced people’s disgrifio hynafiaethau’r ynys. Cydiodd ei syl - views of the past. wadau am y Derwyddon yn nychymyg pobl From the mid-nineteenth century, gan liwio eu barn am y gorffennol. welsh antiquaries had their own debating O ganol y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg, society. The Cambrian archaeological as - roedd gan hynafiaethwyr Cymru eu cymdeithas sociation was founded in 1847 and pub - drafod eu hunain. Sefydlwyd Cymdeithas Hyna - lished a journal named Archaeologia fiaethau Cymru yn 1847 a chyhoeddodd gylch - Cambrensis (‘archaeology of wales’). grawn o’r enw Archaeologia Cambrensis (‘Arch - From then on information about monu - aeoleg Cymru’). O hynny ymlaen rhannwyd ments and artefacts, and an under - gwybodaeth am henebion ac arteffactau, ac am standing of their true date and role, be - eu gwir ddyddiad a’u pwrpas. came much more widespread. Roedd sawl erthygl am Ynys Môn yn y cyfro - anglesey featured strongly in the lau cynnar, yn sôn am waith maes a dargan - early volumes, recording the fieldwork fydd iadau ysgolheigion clerigol o bwys, W and discoveries of notable clerical Wynn Williams Menaifron (1798-1882), Harry scholars, w wynn williams of Menai - Longue ville Jones (1806-70) a Hugh Prichard fron (1798-1882), harry Longueville Jones (1807-1907). (1806-70) and hugh Prichard (1807-1907). H A N E S Y R H Y N A F I A E T H W Y R A N T I Q U A R I A N A N G L E S E Y Cymdeithas i Fôn A Society for Anglesey yn y blynyddoedd cyn y rhyfel Byd Cyntaf ugain mlynedd nesaf, a dan ei olygyddiaeth In the years before the First World War (1914- Baynes (1861-1951), and Samuel J Evans (1914-18), roedd diddordeb cynyddol yng gadarn ef bu’n gyfrwng i ehangu gwybodaeth 18), there was a growing fascination with (1870-1938) the headmaster of Llangefni ngorffennol ynys Môn, ac roedd yr ynys yn am hanes cymdeithasol a gwleidyddol yr Angle sey’s past, inspiring many amateur his - County School. an island-wide membership destun ysbrydoliaeth i nifer o haneswyr am - ynys. roedd pob un o’r awduron yn aelodau, torians. Welsh history itself was under the developed quickly. atur. roedd hanes Cymru o dan y chwydd - yn gyf uniad o haneswyr amatur a phro ff esi - spotlight and being re-evaluated. The new society had a priority — to halt fur - wydr ac yn cael ei ail-werthuso. ynol yn cynnwys Nesta Evans, Syr J E Lloyd, One expression of the new enthusiasm for ther destruction of the island’s historic mon - un enghraifft o’r diddordeb brwd hwn Syr Ifor williams, E Neil Baynes, Lucy williams, local history in Wales was the pioneering uments. Local observers were established in mewn hanes lleol yng Nghymru oedd cym - harold hughes, E Gwynne Jones, a’r ddau Angle sey Antiquarian Society & Field Club. fifteen districts. Their resulting reports helped deithas arloesol — Cymdeithas hynafiaeth - athro T Jones Pierce a w Ogwen williams. It held its first meeting at Shire Hall in secure now famous sites such as Bryn Celli Uchod . Ar y chwith : Aelodau o Gymdeithas Above . Left : Visiting Cambrian Archaeological wyr a Naturiaethwyr Môn. Cynhaliwyd cyfar - Llangefni in November 1911. ddu, din Lligwy, and Pant y Saer. In parallel, Parhaodd brwdfrydedd y Gymdeithas ar ôl yr Hynafiaethau Cymru yn cyfarfod aelodau Society members meet early members of fod cyntaf y gymdeithas yn Neuadd y Sir yn cynnar o Gymdeithas Hynafiaethwyr Môn yn the Anglesey Antiquarian Society at the the Society’s Excavation Fund enabled fresh Ail Ryfel Byd (1939-45). Mae’r Gymdeithas yn dal safle Din Lligwy cyn iddo gael ei gloddio. Ar y unex cavated Din Lligwy site. The Society’s prime movers were George Irby Llan gefni ym mis Tachwedd 1911. archaeological explorations. i gyhoeddi llyfrau yn y gyfres arbennig ‘Astud - dde : ‘Adroddiad gan Arsylwr’. Isod . Aelodau Right : An ‘Observers Report’. (6th Baron Boston, 1860-1941, an anglesey cyntaf. Ar y chwith : Arglwydd Boston (ar y pen Below . Founder members. Left : Lord Boston Tri gŵr allweddol y tu ôl i sefydlu’r gymdeith as iaethau Hanes Môn’ — prosiect sirol cyd - ar y chwith) ac E Neil Baynes (ar y pen ar y dde). (far left) and E Neil Baynes (far right). Right : S J landowner with a passion for geology and ar - By the early 1930s the Society had become a oedd George Irby (6ed Barwn Boston, 1860- na bydd edig sydd wedi ennill clod eang. Ar y dde : S J Evans a thîm hoci’r Ysgol y Sir. Evans and a County School hockey team. chaeology), his relative by marriage E Neil focal point for keeping Anglesey’s historical (Trwy garedigrwydd Archifau Ynys Môn) (All images courtesy of Anglesey Archives) 1941, tirfedd iannwr o Fôn oedd â diddordeb records. Church documents, wills, enclosure brwd mewn daeareg ac archaeoleg) , E Neil deeds and historic diaries were being col - Baynes (1861-1951) oedd yn perthyn iddo trwy lected and studied. This resulted in a grow - briodas, a Samuel J Evans (1870-1938) oedd yn ing body of learned articles in the Society’s brifathro Ysgol y Sir Llangefni. Yn fuan iawn, annual Transactions. This journal, edited roedd gan y gymdeithas nifer fawr o aelod au o from 1919 for twenty years by the formida - bob cwr o’r ynys. ble Hugh Owen (1880-1953), extended Blaenoriaeth y gymdeithas newydd oedd atal knowledge of the island’s social and political henebion yr ynys rhag dirywio ymhellach. history. The writers, all members, were both Dewiswyd arsylwyr lleol mewn pymtheg ardal, amateur and professional historians. They a gyda chymorth eu hadroddiadau hwy, llwydd - included Nesta Evans, Sir J E Lloyd, Sir Ifor wyd i achub safleoedd fel Bryn Celli Ddu, Din Williams, E Neil Baynes, Lucy Williams, Lligwy a Phant y Saer.