‘Cofiwch Dryweryn’ saved for the nation
ASYMBOLIC wall bearing the nation’s most famous Welshlanguage graffiti has been bought in a bid to safeguard its future.
The Cofiwch Dryweryn – Remember Tryweryn – mural near Aberystwyth has been bought by Dilys Davies and a
charity will now be set up to preserve the monument.
Dr Davies said: “The wall will be transferred to a charity called Tro’r Trai whose purpose is to promote our Welsh language and culture. This will ensure a secure future for the wall, and the monument will be preserved by the charity for good.”
The wall was originally painted in the 1960s by the then young nationalist Meic Stephens in a move that has become highly significant for Wales’ nationalist and language movements.
He was determined that the UK Government’s decision to drown the village
of Capel Celyn near Bala to create a reservoir supplying water for Liverpool City Council would never be forgotten.
Earlier this year, however, the wall was almost destroyed by vandals on two separate occasions and repaired by volunteers each time. In February the graffiti was painted over with the word “Elvis”, and in April is was partially ripped down.
Dozens of copycat Cofiwch Dryweryn murals have appeared across Wales in tribute to its importance. One also appeared in Chicago in the United States.
Now it will be announced in a special S4C programme tomorrow called Huw Stephens: Cofiwch Dryweryn that the original wall has been sold to Dr Davies.
A psychiatrist at Guy’s Hospital, London, who has written about colonialism’s effect on the Welsh psyche, she said: “I, like so many others, felt angry and hurt when the symbolic Cofiwch Dryweryn wall was damaged twice earlier this year. It led me to think of what I could do. For certain I could not run up to Llanrhystud late at night, climb over fences and repaint the wall, so I contacted Elin Jones to ask how I could help.”
Within a few days of her contacting Ms Jones, who is the AM for Ceredigion and the National Assembly’s Presiding Officer, the wall’s owners also contacted Ms Jones and expressed their interest in selling the land where the wall stands to safeguard it.
Ms Jones said: “Through an amazing coincidence I received a message from the farmers who owned the wall and Dilys who wanted to buy the wall within a few days of each other. I arranged for us all to meet by the Tryweryn wall, and within 10 minutes Dilys and the farmers had agreed on a price.
“My thanks go to the farmers who have looked after the wall for 50 years before transferring it to Dilys Davies, who will now ensure its safety and how it is interpreted in the future. The Tryweryn wall is a message to spur us on to demand respect and freedom for our country.”
Although Dr Davies has bought the wall, she said a charity will be set up to look after it.
She explained: “In terms of the future of the wall, I didn’t want to make that decision myself, because there are many ways of preserving it. You could put a fence around it, but on the other hand there is something nice about the street art element and that it has been re-done after the original was done [by Meic Stephens].
“I would like to think that, although I own the wall, it belongs to all of us.”
Mr Stephens’ son, the presenter and DJ Huw Stephens, asks in tomorrow’s programme why the mural has fired the imagination of a new generation who want to safeguard Wales’ history.
Huw Stephens said: “The Cofiwch Dryweryn wall is an important part of our history, and for everybody in Wales. As a family we are very pleased that – thanks to Dilys – the wall is being put into the hands of a charity, to preserve it, so that what happened in Tryweryn will never be forgotten.”
There will be a special event discussing Cofiwch Dryweryn with Huw Stephens at the S4C stand at the National Eisteddfod at 1.30pm today.
IT IS excellent news that the Cofiwch Dryweryn wall has been saved for the nation. When it was damaged earlier this year, many people were saddened as well as angered at what appeared to be deliberate acts of vandalism towards an important symbol of the nation’s history.
The drowning of the village of Capel Celyn, and the transformation of the Tryweryn valley into a reservoir for the benefit of Liverpool, was a prime example of how the rights of Wales were trampled on.
Over the years the message has become an important rallying call for those who believe Wales should have more control over its own destiny.
It is remarkable that a two-word monument can carry such emotional power, and resonate down the generations.
Dr Dilys Davies’ decision to buy the wall and to set up a charity to maintain it in a secure condition is admirable, and a practical solution to the problem of how to preserve it.
But it’s important that the story of how the valley was flooded is taught to the children of today as a significant milestone in Wales’ modern history.
Tangible incidents like the flooding of Tryweryn are far more effective in helping people understand their country’s history than volumes of theoretical polemic. They deserve to be explained and interpreted.
Tryweryn was the moment when many people were persuaded that our country was at a crossroads: either Wales allowed itself to be used as a resource by interests over the border in England, or it decided to embark on a journey that would lead to home rule, when decisions that affected Wales were taken within Wales.
It took more than three decades for a majority of people to take on board the lessons of Tryweryn, and vote for the establishment of a National Assembly.
But that was by no means the end of the story. Even now, 20 years after the body was set up, there are battles to be fought.
There’s a real danger that significant powers could be grabbed back from Wales by the UK government, not least the management of regional aid money after Brexit.
The Cofiwch Dryweryn wall isn’t a monument simply of historic significance – important though that is.
It’s a living reminder that the oppression of the past could return in the future, and that there’s a need to be constantly vigilant.