The Sampler Sleuth: Welsh Samplers
The History of Wales & Its Textile Heritage
The story of Wales is home to historical facts and legends that have shaped the people of the country for centuries. The keepers of Welsh heritage have proudly retained their unique language, history, myths and traditions, heralding the artistic expression of their Welsh foremother’s imaginative skill in sampler making.
The Mother of Wales Sampler featured in this issue of Just CrossStitch was inspired by the Anne Davis 1869 sampler kept in the collection of Historic Handworkes.
The term “Welsh” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for foreigner; the Celtic people who settled in Wales called themselves Cymry (comrades) and called their country Cymru. Now a part of the United Kingdom, the country of Wales is located on the island of Great Britain, to the west of England. It is divided into 22 counties and has six major cities. The capital of Wales is the city of Cardiff (spelled Caerdydd in Welsh).
The major symbol of the country’s flag is the red dragon, thought to originate from the legendary House of Pendragon, into which King Arthur is said to have been born. Wales’ motto is Cymru am byth, meaning “Wales Forever” or “Long Live Wales.”
Celebrated Welsh sampler motifs include St. Giles’ Church, located in the town of Wrexham in North Wales. Birds are very dominant in many samplers across the historical textile spectrum, but in samplers hailing from Wales, they are known as the “Carmarthen birds” as seen on the Mary Roberts 1846 pictorial of St Giles’ Church in Wrexham, which is considered one of the seven wonders of Wales.
Another fine example of these distinct Welsh birds can be recognized on the Mary Humphreys 1859 sampler.
Predominant archetypal Welsh sampler motifs can also include themes of land, sea, animals, flocks of birds, Adam and Eve, and vases of flowers. But one notable Welsh distinction is a central stylized urn with three oversized carnations, called the “Carmarthenshire flower,” appreciated on the Margaret Griffiths 1866 sampler and on the Anne Davis 1869 sampler.
Other motifs include large central ships, often seen with the letters “R & C” for Royal Charter, one of the most famous ships in Welsh maritime history. Such wonderful examples of nautical motifs can be seen on the large sailing ships of the Margret Davies 1853 sampler and the Sarah Jones 1875 sampler. Ship motifs celebrated the heavy maritime industry of Caernarfon in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Of historical note, the Royal Charter was built on the River Dee in 1855, an iron-hulled ship of 2,719 tons powered by sail and steam. Returning from Australia to Liverpool in
1859, the ship was wrecked on the rocks at Porth Alerth on the north coast of Anglesey with a loss of over 440 lives. It
was the highest loss of life of any shipwreck on the Welsh coast.
Charles Dickens related the aftermath of the disaster in a book of collected stories, The Uncommercial Traveller, published 1860/1861, after his visit to Anglesey in 1859.
Welsh samplers cannot be mentioned without honoring the vibrant and unique “Welsh Woolly” textiles. These samplers are a type of Berlin embroidery in worsted wools and are highly prized, appreciated on the colorful Anne Davies Mantag 1873 sampler.
When the craze for Berlin wool work swept across Europe, canvas and wool became more affordable and young women of limited means could then make a sampler. Welsh girls took up the challenge using bright wools and large meshed canvas instead of the more costly imported silks and linens. They added their own artistry of the time, combining new and old Berlin motifs to their samplers. Numerous Welsh Woolly samplers were stitched with wool on Penelope canvas, a double-thread canvas background.
The Welsh foremothers also had the talent and tenacity to bring thread to life with colorful dyes from natural sources. For example, the dye carmine (deep red) comes from the cochineal insect, and ocher (light brownyellow) comes from a mixture of minerals.
Plants were also a source of dyes. The color red was derived from the roots of the madder plant. Washing, drying and grinding it into a powder made for a palette called
“turkey red.”
The color blue was dyed from woad, a common shrub, which was eventually supplanted by indigo as it needed no mordant or chemical reaction to obtain the desired color.
Women’s cloaks (y clogen) in Wales before 1860 were mostly dyed blue. In the book Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards (third edition, 1808) by Edward Jones, he writes the Welsh proverb “Y gwír lás, ni chyll mo’ i liw” (The true blue keeps its hue).
“Blue is the color of Wales” wrote English novelist and famed letter-writer Catherine Hutton in her description of the cloaks she saw during her tour of Wales in 1796. Her account of her numerous tours of North Wales with her father, William Hutton, in the regions of Mallwyd, Barmouth and Llangollen, can be read in the book of her collected letters, Reminiscences of a Gentlewoman of the Last Century and in Audrey Duggan’s book titled A Lady of Letters.
Welsh samplers give us an open door to historical time periods of the country. From early maritime history we see nautical motifs celebrating the navigational and trade routes of the sea. Religious motifs extol innovation and building, commemorating the St. Giles’ Church at Wrexham. The celebration of nature is represented in the motifs of the Carmarthenshire birds and flowers that are indigenous to Wales and celebrated in Welsh textiles.
Their foremothers’ spirits shine in their choices of color, motif and verse, creating a unique brand of Welsh textile art. From a small country whose motto is “Long Live Wales,” the Welsh language and culture have endured from a mythic past into the 21st century.
Welsh samplers have endured as well. The surviving
Welsh samplers from earlier centuries provide a glimpse of a special country whose distinctive art resonates through time alongside legend and lore. These tangible pieces of art extend an opportunity to explore and celebrate a heritage which continues to teach and inspire.
We in the 21st century can revere the imaginative skill of Welsh needle women and keep their legacy of sampler making alive for future generations to come.