Dic Penderyn Tribute - memorial walk and meeting. 3 August 2012 ... Marys
Churchyard (where Dic Penderyn is buried), St. Marys Place, Port Talbot SA12
6DZ.www.pcs.org.uk/en/wales/whats-new-in-wales.cfm/id/C7CFAEF1-9841-4514-9403891F565FEA61 - 18k - Similar pages
Churchyard (where Dic Penderyn is buried), St. Marys Place, Port Talbot SA12
6DZ.www.pcs.org.uk/en/wales/whats-new-in-wales.cfm/id/C7CFAEF1-9841-4514-9403891F565FEA61 - 18k - Similar pages
Now; August; July; 2012; 2011; Started .... DIC PENDERYN TRIBUTE -
MEMORIAL WALK AND MEETING ... The event was initiated by NUT Cymru and
is also supported by PCS; UCATT; the Port Talbot and Merthyr trades councils;
the Muslim ...
MEMORIAL WALK AND MEETING ... The event was initiated by NUT Cymru and
is also supported by PCS; UCATT; the Port Talbot and Merthyr trades councils;
the Muslim ...
www.facebook.com/radicalwales - 149k - Similar pages
Now; July; June; 2012; 2011; Joined Facebook ... Just to let you know that there
will be a Dic Penderyn memorial march on 12th August. It will involve a walk from
Bridgend town centre to St. Mary's graveyard, Port Talbot, with marchers ...
will be a Dic Penderyn memorial march on 12th August. It will involve a walk from
Bridgend town centre to St. Mary's graveyard, Port Talbot, with marchers ...
www.facebook.com/swanlabstudents - 88k - Similar pages
From The Socialist newspaper, 8 August 2012 ... Trade unionists in Wales
continue to commemorate the revolt and remember the unjust execution of Dic
Penderyn. On 12 August there is a memorial walk ..... Port Talbot · Port workers ...
continue to commemorate the revolt and remember the unjust execution of Dic
Penderyn. On 12 August there is a memorial walk ..... Port Talbot · Port workers ...
www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/15019/08-08-2012/welsh-labour-red-flag-or-white-flag - 287k -Similar pages
44 minutes ago ... PARTISAN cymru/wales. Partisan To Beliefs, Ideas and Socialist Vanguard
Action! International in Theory and National in practice Promoting a ...
Action! International in Theory and National in practice Promoting a ...
partisan2011.blogspot.com/ - 72k - Similar pages
The Merthyr Rising of June 1831 by Steffan ap Dafydd.
We some times take for granted the rights that we enjoy today:
Our right to vote in public elecƟons and each vote having equal value
Our right as working people to freely join trade unions and associatons.
Today, we can protest over reduced wages and rising costs in the hope that those whom we elect will listen to our problems, but in 1831, there was no vote for the vast majority of people, who were looked down on as not fit to have that privilege. When wages were reduced and the price of bread was rising in Merthyr, families could not afford to survive and their goods were confiscated in lieu of debts. Something had to give. That was what brought about the Merthyr Rising, some times called the Merthyr Riots.People simply couldn’t take any more.
In history, this was the first tme that the now famous Red Flag was raised in an act of rebellion ‐ on that occasion, rags dipped in sheep’s blood. I write this as background to what follows about Dic Penderyn, the first Welsh Working Class Martyr (as he was unjustly executed) and a Welsh NaƟonal Hero. He was also a son of Aberafan — born here in 1808 and buried here in 1831. Dic Penderyn Sally Roberts Jones, the renowned authority on Dic Penderyn, wrote the excellent booklet Dic Penderyn – The Man and the Martyr in 1993. She lives in Port Talbot. This outline is based on that booklet, which sought to find the truth about the young man, who has taken on the guise of a legend.
It appears that he was born Richard Lewis, around 1808, in the Penrhiw area of Aberafan, not far from Pentyla, in a cottage known as “Penderyn”. The family were Methodists, and Welsh speaking; the dominant language in South Wales at that time. Dic is believed to have had some three years of educaton. Dic Penderyn was accused of wounding a soldier, Donald Black of the Highland Regiment, sent to quell the riot at the Castle Inn. Dic said that he was not there at the time of the incident, but he was arrested and, by 13th July, he was convicted at the Glamorgan Assizes and condemned to death. Joseph Tregelles Price, a Neath ironmaster, visited Cardiff Gaol (on the site of where Cardiff Market is today), then found witnesses in Merthyr who would testfy that Dic was not even present at the Ɵme of the wounding. Dic had made enemies, including James Above, a special constable and the key witness who tesƟfied that he had seen Dic stab the soldier with the soldier’s own weapon. It appears that the two had argued the previous year when Merthyr was illuminated in honour of Reform. Dic may have also crossed other special constables. Even ironmaster and magistrate William Crawshay contributed to the defence fund of those on trial, but Home Secretary of the time, Lord Melbourne, would not allow an appeal.
18 July 2012 At 8 o’clock on the morning of 13th August, Dic Penderyn declared in Welsh, “O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd!” (Oh, Lord, here is an iniquity) and was hanged – the site now the St Mary Street entrance of
Cardiff Market. He was twenty‐three years ld. On 14th August 1831, the gambo, on which his coffin lay, was transported from Cardiff, via Ely, Bridgend and Pyle to his natve Aberafan, with an increasing crowd following. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Richard Lewis was buried in St Mary’s churchyard, only a few hundred metres from where he was born; born in those few days too was the legend of Dic Penderyn – the innocent man who was executed because the rights that we have today were not available to ordinary working people. In 1874, the Reverend Evan Evans reported that he had been called to hear the death‐ bed confession in Pennsylvania of Ieuan (Ianto) Parker, from Cwmafan, who admitted stabbing Donald Black, before fleeing to America to escape justice.
Dic Penderyn Walk and National Tribute
On Sunday 12th August, there will be a Walk and Memorial to remember Dic Penderyn. The Walk will take us from Bridgend Council Offices to St Mary’s Churchyard. Each person who walks should be sponsored for a charity of her/his choice. We are committed this year to involving people of different faiths, trade union backgrounds and politcal (and no politcal)
affiliations to this walk. We want this to be a totally inclusive event. If people wish, they can bring their church or union banners.In commemoration of the historic raising of the red flag for the first time, as
happened in the Merthyr Rising in June 1831, red flags will also be carried.
Our provisional timings for the walk are as follows:
Set off from Bridgend Council Offices:
9.30 am
Stop at Pyle Co‐op:
11.40 am
Stop at Taibach bus stop:
1.35 pm
Arrive at St Mary’s Church:
2.55 pm
For those who want to walk, can you,
please contact me by email:
steffanap@msn.com
Or text me with your name and contact
details on 077 452 752 02.
The Tribute to Dic Penderyn will
commence at 4 pm. Bring your church or
union banners! In St Mary’s grounds, it will include:
A reading about the Merthyr Rising
by a representative of Merthyr Trades
Union Council;
A reading of the account of Dic
Penderyn’s hanging by Sally Roberts
Jones;
A reading of Dic Penderyn’s burial at
4 pm on 14th August 1831 by Sally
Roberts Jones;
A prayer over the grave, administered
by Fr Ben Rabjohns, in the presence
of other faith groups, including The
Port Talbot Muslim Welfare
Association;
Singing of the National Anthem.
