Wales and its History

 This post was inspired by comments made by Neil Kinnock, who called Welsh kings and princes ''ennobled brigands.'' This comment is so far from the truth , you need to ask , has this man ever read a Welsh history book? If he had, he surely himself would know he is talking utter rubbish; the kings and princes of Wales built grand abbeys and castles, held courts, created charters, led armies of 10,000 or more, had relations with other countries and were recognised by popes The motive for his comment is to discredit the very idea of a Welsh nation. During the 1979 devolution referendum campaign, the no-to-devolution side was extremely negative and anti-Welsh. Their job was to convince the Welsh people that Wales is a glorified county with no history and no achievements, held back by a language that should have died long ago. Anything that gave Wales a separate identity or made Welsh people proud was attacked. Anyway, back to the comment, I did a post a while back showing w...

In 395 AD a college of priests called Cor Tewdws was founded at Llantwit Major. Some say Cor Tewdws was the earliest school in Britain, and arguably the oldest college in the entire world. After the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century the college was left to defend itself against raiders, and in 446 AD Irish pirates burned the college to the ground. One story says that St Patrick was kidnapped from Cor Tewdws by the pirates. After the sack of the College of Theodosius, the site lay barren for 62 years, until it was re-established by St. Illtud c. 508. Accor ding to the Book of Llandaff, St. Dubricius commissioned Illtud to re-establish the college. It was once a seat of learning that was unrivaled anywhere in the western world. ''At its height had more than 2,000 students. Apparently, the place was graced with at least six separate halls and was able to boast around 400 teaching houses and places of accommodation'' 'Many well-known Celtic saints are said...

For the last year or so I have been making an interactive map of all the churches in Wales with links to the medieval period. Throughout all this, I have come across people who claim that nearly all historical Welsh churches were built by the Normans (English). This isn't even close to being true. The majority of the most historical sites seem to have been built by the Welsh themselves. The Welsh kings and princes were very active in building religious sites and many still stand today. Here are some of my favourites that were built by the Welsh. I will add more at a later date Llewelyn’s Church Llanrhychwyn "Llanrhychwyn's main claim to fame is its parish church, which many claim is the oldest in Wales, marking the site where Rhychwyn originally established his church in the 6th century. The church is known locally as Llewelyn’s Church, and the oldest part dates from the late 11th century. Llywelyn Fawr, Prince of Gwynedd and de facto Prince of Wales, had a...