Yr Ysgwrn

Yr Ysgwrn, an 18th Century farmhouse in Trawsfynydd, came to international prominence in 1917, as the home of the chair-winning poet Hedd Wyn. Hedd Wyn was the bardic name of Ellis Humphrey Evans, the poet-shepherd who enlisted to the 15th Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers at the turn of 1917 and killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele, on 31st July, 1917.

Six weeks later, at the 1917 Birkenhead National Eisteddfod, it was announced that Hedd Wyn was the winner of the Eisteddfod chair. The chair was draped in black cloth and has been known ever since as The Black Chair. Kept at Yr Ysgwrn ever since, thousands of visitors flock to Yr Ysgwrn each year, to see the chair.

In March 2012, the Snowdonia National Park Authority announced that with the support of the Welsh Government and the National Heritage Memorial Fund, it had purchased Yr Ysgwrn for the nation. As we approach the centenary of Hedd Wyn’s death, the Authority’s aim is to develop Yr Ysgwrn into a national heritage site, over the next four years, continuing the tradition of keeping the door of Yr Ysgwrn, open.

For more information on Hedd Wyn and Yr Ysgwrn, go to:

eryri-npa.gov.uk/yrysgwrn