History

The Nannau ox painted with the family's cowman, Sion Dafydd, by Daniel Clowes of Chester. The ox was one of the last of an ancient herd of white cattle at Nannau.

Sir Robert Williames Vaughan (1768-1843). By permission of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales

The candelabrum made from the horns of the Nannau Ox, mounted onto two of its hoofs. The horns can be detached to form two drinking cups.

This oak and silver cup is part of a set of six acorn-shaped cups made for the 1824 birthday celebrations at Nannau, using the wood of the Ceubren yr Ellyll.

The White Ox

On 25 June 1824 one of Wales's grandest 21st-birthday celebrations took place for the son of Merioneth's biggest resident landowner. Held on the Nannau estate, Dolgellau, 200 guests sat down to an extravagant banquet that included a huge joint of beef from the white ox of Nannau. Various items produced to commemorate the event are now in the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru including a candelabrum made from the horns and hoofs of the prized white ox.

Heirs to landed estates

For centuries it was customary for communities to celebrate the coming of age of the heir to a landed estate. This seems to have been especially true in north Wales. Until the Parliamentary reforms of 1832, the region was socially conservative, and its traditional Welsh-language culture remained strong.

The best-documented celebrations were those of Robert Williames Vaughan of Nannau.

A pillar of the community

The young man's father, Sir Robert Williames Vaughan (1768-1843), 2nd baronet, was Merioneth's biggest resident landowner and its sole representative in Parliament for over four decades. A pillar of the community, he took pride in maintaining old Welsh customs and kept open house at Nannau, where the neighbourhood came to dinner daily without special invitation.

Beef for the poor, beer for the rich

The younger Robert Williames Vaughan's coming of age was marked not only by his family but also by the local inhabitants of the nearby towns. It was accompanied by illuminations, fireworks, balloon ascents and cannon fire, and also much eating and drinking, especially of beef, which the poor never otherwise enjoyed, and beer, which the wealthy usually avoided in favour of wine. Oxen were roasted for the poor of Corwen, Barmouth and Bala and subscription dinners were held in Conway, Dolgellau and Chester.

Tables bent under the weight of good things

The central event was the celebration at Nannau itself on 25 June 1824. A wood, canvas and thatch tent was built in front of the late 18th-century mansion. Here, played in to the tune of The Roast Beef of Old England, 200 guests sat down to "a most sumptuous and plentiful banquet". After a fish course, a huge joint or 'Baron' of beef from a prized white ox, weighing 166lbs, was escorted into the room by the family's cowman, Sion Dafydd. The tables literally bent under the weight of good things. As well as wines, enormous jugs of Cwrw Da ('beer') were placed at proper intervals on the tables.

The Vaughans had a long tradition of cultural patronage and Sir Robert's toast to his son encapsulates the spirit of the occasion: "May he fear God and Honour the King; show reverence to his superiors and respect to his inferiors. Heddwch, Dedwyddwch a Chymydogaeth dda".

Owain Glyndwr and the hollow oak of the demon

The white ox was commemorated in a painting by Daniel Clowes of Chester, and the horns and hoofs were made into a candelabrum. Sir Robert also had six special toasting cups made for the occasion. They were made from the wood of the Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyll, 'the hollow oak of the demon', an ancient tree at Nannau associated with Owain Glyndwr. These were subsequently cherished by the Vaughans, and are now also in Amgueddfa Cymru's collection.

The 1824 celebration was the highpoint of the family's influence. When the region marked Robert Williames Vaughan's wedding eleven years later in 1835 feeling in the neighbourhood was still said to be "worthy of old times when the words Radical & Reform were unknown", but he never enjoyed his father's prestige and died childless in 1859.

Article by: Oliver Fairclough, Keeper of Art, Amgueddfa Cymru

End of the line

Dinorwig Quarry. With the dawn of the Industrial Revolution slate was used to cover the roofs of factories and houses throughout Britain, mainland Europe as well as towns in North America and other parts of the world.

On 22nd August 1969 silence came to Dinorwig Quarry. After almost 200 years of hard toil, the quarry was closed and the men were sent home for the last time.

Not only did 350 men lose their jobs but a quarrying community and a way of life that had existed since the 1780's changed forever.

Everyone in the area had lived in the shadow of Dinorwig Quarry all their lives. Everyone had a father, grandfather, husband, uncle or brother who had worked there. A century earlier, closure would have been unimaginable. Dinorwig was one of the two largest slate quarries in the world ‐ and, along with its neighbour at Penrhyn, Bethesda, could produce more roofing slates in a year than all other combined slate mines and quarries world-wide.

Why did the quarry close?

Quarrymen at Dinorwig Quarry.

Dinorwig Quarry's demise didn't happen overnight. Things hadn't been going well for a number of years for various reasons:

• there was less demand for slate in the UK during the 20th century;
• Welsh slate was expensive compared to roofing tiles and slate from overseas;
• the quarry owners were competing against one another for a share of a fairly small market;
• Dinorwig Quarry hadn't been developed effectively. The slate that was easy to get at had been quarried by the 60s and investment was needed to develop further. The quarry owners didn't have the money for this investment. One of their mistakes was to invest heavily in Marchlyn Quarry, but this part of the mountain didn't make them any money. There was no slate worth working there at all;
• by the late 1960s, the quarry depended on orders from France to survive. In July 1969, these orders stopped. The final nail in the coffin.

By the 1960s, the slate industry in general was facing an uncertain future.

What next?

Dinorwig Quarry auction catalogue. December 1969

Many of the 350 who lost their work found other jobs, some locally, at Ferodo and Peblig Mills, others further afield at Dolgarrog, Trawsfynydd and Holyhead. Others went even further to find work — to Corby, the relatively new steel town in Northamptonshire.

October and December, 1969 saw the auctions — selling off anything and everything that was worth carrying from the workshops. Fortunately for us, here at the Museum, Hugh Richard Jones, Dinorwig Quarry's Chief Engineer, ensured that not everything was sold. With the help of like-minded visionaries, he was instrumental in ensuring that the water wheel wasn't broken up and taken away and in preserving the machinery in the workshops.

Three years following the closure of Dinorwig Quarry, in 1972, the National Slate Museum was opened at Gilfach Ddu, and Hugh Richard Jones became its first manager.

Introduction

Cockfighting featured prominently on the rural calendar, and was popular with all sections of society throughout Wales until the early 19th century.

Originally introduced to Britain by the Romans, cockfighting was popular among all social classes in Wales from the Middle Ages until the mid nineteenth century. Cockpits were common in most villages and spectators travelled from near and far to attend the fights.

Cocks would be trained for many months before fighting, and were looked after by men called 'feeders'. Birds practised sparring every day and after exercise were fed and watered. The correct diet was extremely important, and each feeder followed his own secret feeding programme: brandy, raw steak, maggots and even urine were just some of the varied ingredients used.

The fight

Spurs worn by fighting gamecocks.

Before a fight the cock was fitted with sharp steel or silver spurs (which could fatally wound an opponent in a single strike) and then brought to the middle of the pit. Here it stood, facing its opponent, only inches apart. At a signal from the master of the match, the battle began, and continued until one bird was killed or badly injured. Charms thought to protect and safeguard fighting cocks were sometimes used. These included biblical verses or cryptic words and signs, which were written on pieces of paper small enough to be slotted into the spurs. Superstitious owners also believed that birds fed with soil from under the church altar would become unbeatable and capable of killing all opponents. Such spells and charms were annulled, however, if the fight took place on the hallowed ground of a churchyard, where it was thought that bouts could not be affected by external forces.

The Welsh Main

Glass rummer from Pontypridd, inscribed with an image of fighting cocks, with the name J. Lewis. 1850.

A great number of cockfighting bouts were held during Easter. One of the severest tests on the cockfighting calendar was the Welsh Main, practised both in England and Wales, when only the best birds competed and large amounts of money were laid on the outcome. The Main usually featured over thirty birds, which fought each other head to head until only one was left standing. Other variants of cock fighting included 'shying at cocks', when spectators hurled pieces of wood at a bird in the pit, attempting to knock it over. 'Throwing at cocks' was particularly cruel and involved tying birds to a stake and shooting at them with staves.

The popularity of cock-fighting in Wales peaked during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, at a time when a series of religious revivals nationwide condemned sports and pastimes as sinful activities which guaranteed hell and damnation for all involved. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in 1849 made cock-fighting illegal, both to protect the birds' welfare and to stop the gathering of frequently unruly spectators who so enjoyed the gambling and heavy drinking usually associated with the contests. We can be sure, however, that cock fights continued to be held illegally long afterwards, and as late as 1952 a cockfighting act was passed making it an offence to possess any instruments associated with the sport.

Cockpits

Both covered and open air pits were used for cockfights. The circular indoor cockpit re-erected at St Fagans National History Museum stood originally in the yard of the Hawk and Buckle Inn, Denbigh, and although its exact date is uncertain, may well have been built during the late seventeenth century.

Since none of the cockpit's original indoor fixtures remained when it was acquired by the Museum in 1965, the centre stage, surrounding gangway and two-tiered seating accommodation are all modern constructions.

Further reading

Owen, Elias, 'Churchyard Games in Wales', The Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist, vol 2 (1896), 154-161.

Peate, Iorwerth C., 'The Denbigh Cockpit and Cockfighting in Wales', Denbighshire Historical Society Transactions, vol.19 (1970), 125-132.

Author: Emma Lile, Curator: Traditional Music, Sports & Customs. Amgueddfa Cymru

Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche (1796-1855)

The first geological map of Jamaica

Duria Antiquior

- A more Ancient Dorset. A watercolour painted in 1830 by Henry De la Beche. This was the first portrayal of a fossil environment in its entirety, showing the interactions of the various elements of the fossil fauna and flora, in particular the large marine reptiles of the early Jurassic Period.

De la Beche and his daughters in Swansea, 1853

The Department of Geology at Amgueddfa Cymru houses one of the most important geological archives in the world. It contains over 2,000 items - letters, diaries, journals, sketches and photographs - of one of the leading geologists of the early 19th century, Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche (1796-1855).

During the first half of the 19th century De la Beche played an important role in the new science of geology. In addition to his own scientific contributions, he established geology as a profession and founded several of Britain's major geological institutions, including

• the British Geological Survey
• the Museum of Practical Geology (later the Geological Museum and now part of the Natural History Museum in London)
• the School of Mines (now part of Imperial College London)
• and the Mining Record Office (now part of the Coal Authority).

De la Beche was born in London and brought up in Devon and in Lyme Regis in Dorset, where he developed an interest in geology through his friendship with a local fossil collector, Mary Anning (1799-1847).

Jamaica

His family wealth came from slavery, and a sugar plantation in Jamaica, and in 1823-4 he spent 12 months on the estate. He toured the island, examining its rock outcrops. On his return to England he published the first description of the geology of Jamaica and its first geological map. De la Beche is regarded as the 'Father of Jamaican geology'.

De la Beche began mapping the rocks of Devon in the early 1830s. However unrest in Jamaica, related to the abolition of slavery and the collapse of the sugar market, left him in financial difficulties and unable to continue his work. He wrote to the Board of Ordnance offering to complete the geological mapping of Devon for the Government for £300. His application was successful and he was appointed Geologist to the Ordnance Trigonometrical Survey.

Founding the British Geological Survey

Once the Devon work was completed, he successfully applied to continue with the geological mapping of Cornwall, and in 1835 the Ordnance Geological Survey was established. From this grew today's British Geological Survey. When most geologists were clerics or interested amateurs of private means, De la Beche was one of the first professionals.

In 1837, De la Beche moved his Geological Survey to Swansea, recognising the economic importance of the Welsh coalfield. He soon became involved in the local scientific scene as a member of the Swansea Philosophical and Literary Institution and a friend of the Swansea naturalist Lewis Weston Dillwyn.

De la Beche was accompanied by his 18-year-old daughter Elizabeth (Bessie). She soon got to know one of Dillwyn's sons,

Spectacular fossils discovered

The papers contain a wealth of information about the developing science of geology in the first half of the 19th century. The names of the geological timescale (Cambrian, Ordovician and so on) that we now take so much for granted were being proposed and argued over, new and spectacular fossils were being discovered and evidence of the Ice Age was being recognised for the first time.

De la Beche himself worked on the first descriptions of the large fossil marine reptiles, the ichthyosaurs and the plesiosaurs, and there is much in the papers on the formation of the Geological Survey and the other organizations he established.

Darwin writes to De la Beche

De la Beche corresponded with the leading geologists of the day and, with his experience of Jamaica, was often called on for advice relating to that island. One letter of 1842 in the collection quizzes him about the colours of horses, cattle and other animals bred for a number of generations on the island, and how they had changed. The author was Charles Darwin, at that time formulating his theory of evolution.

De la Beche was a skilled draughtsman and this is evident in the archive, for in addition to faithful landscape views, fossil illustrations and geological cross-sections, he sketched many caricatures and cartoons. Through these he would comment on developments in the science, or on his activities and those of his contemporaries.

The archive is an important resource for the history of geology and is frequently consulted by researchers from Britain and abroad - to arrange a visit, please