The wandering ballad singers of Wales 23 April 2007 Bertie Stephens Bertie Stephens, Carmarthenshire ballad singer (1900-1978) Wandering singers, or balladeers were once an important source of storytelling and entertainment in Wales before the rise of the music hall and cinema. 'Y Baledwr Pen Ffair 'Rwy'n cofio ers dyddiau am hen gymeriadau Yn canu baledi mewn marchnad a ffair, Hwy ganent mor ddoniol, mewn gair mor gartrefol, Nes twyllo o'r bobl eu harian a'u haur...' Dafydd Jones ('Isfoel'), 1881-1968 'The Balladeer at the Fair Oh, how I recall the old balladeers Singing their stories with sadness or mirth, From market to fair, they'd go a tramping, Taking your money for all they were worth...' The 19th century marked the golden age of ballad singers in Wales, when songs were composed and performed in fairs, markets and taverns. Of the several hundred archive recordings relating to folk song held at the National History Museum; St Fagans, many references are made by interviewees to these nomadic balladeers. Bertie Stephens was one such interviewee. Born in Abergorlech, Carmarthenshire in 1900, he was influenced by the balladeers from an early age. In total he recorded an astonishing 80 or so songs for the Museum. With his amazing memory he often remembered in detail where and by who the particular songs were sung, most being performed at the local fairs he visited as a boy. Stories told through song Designed to entertain, ballads were sung in plain, uncomplicated language, and usually covered a specific occasion or experience. Daily newspapers were not yet generally available, and many of the older generation at the turn of the 20th century were illiterate, and dependent on balladeers for the latest news. The lyrics were, therefore, paramount, for each composition was primarily a story narrated through song. Bertie Stephens began visiting fairs at five or six years old, and most of the songs he heard were sung by tramps, who often used their hats to collect money from spectators. Their ballads created such an impression on the youngster that he memorised them instantly. Hen Feible Annwyl Mam Hen Feibl Annwyl Mam Bertie Stephens vividly recalled his childhood songs when interviewed by the Museum. Religious pieces were his favourites: he considered them more substantial than comic ditties. Songs like Beibl Mam (Mother's Bible) could take hold of a performer, and he stressed how placing one's whole personality into a piece was essential. Another Bible-linked song, Hen Feibl Mawr y Teulu, (The Great Old Family Bible) he heard during a trip to Mumbles, from a shabbily dressed man with a collecting cap, carrying a Bible under his arm. Coming from a religious family, Bertie Stephens felt saddened that the singer used the Bible to raise money for beer. Balladeers often had dubious reputations, and the police were known to arrest scruffily attired, drunken tramps, for disturbing the peace. Bertie Stephens told how his family gave food and shelter one evening to two of these tramps, who in return taught him C'ân yr Asyn (Song of the Donkey). Bertie's father soon discovered that they had stolen some of his newly shorn wool. His son's rendition to the police of C'ân yr Asyn enabled them to catch the villains near Carmarthen, on account of their singing the same ballad in that area. New forms of entertainment With the rise of industry and the creation of cinemas and music halls, wandering balladeers gradually lost their appeal. By the early 20th century they had virtually disappeared. Fortunately, as these old customs disappeared, there began an interest in collecting melodies and related information. The Welsh Folk Song Society was formed in 1908. There is no doubting the value of ballads as important social comments and our knowledge of these historical customs is due to individuals like Bertie Stephens. Background Reading Ballads in Wales / Baledi yng Nghymru by Mary-Ann Constantine. Published by FLS Books (1999). I Fyd y Faled by Dafydd Owen. Published by Gwasg Gee, (1986).
An Albert Medal won in Cardiff 1919 23 April 2007 Walter Cleall, winner of the Albert Medal. Image copyright Kenneth Williams. The Albert Medal (front view) The Royal Hotel, Cardiff (photographed 2003). In 1919 Walter Cleall won the Albert Medal for gallantry in saving the life of Winnie Jones from a fire at the Royal Hotel, Cardiff. On the afternoon of 11 August 1919, an off-duty chambermaid named Winnie Jones found herself trapped in her 6th floor room at the Royal Hotel, Cardiff, by a severe fire. The Fire Brigade's ladders could not reach her. A crowd had gathered and two men - Tom Hill and Walter Cleall - ran into the hotel to try to rescue her. Somehow, Cleall reached the 6th Floor, but to get to the girl he had to smash a window and make his way round a narrow parapet, at places with a drop of nearly 30m (100 feet) to Wood Street, below. He then carried her back by the same route. As they left her room, the roof collapsed. Both the girl and her rescuer were later taken unconscious to hospital. The whole event was witnessed by a London barrister, who happened to be in Cardiff that day. He promptly wrote to the Home Secretary (another barrister) and within two days of the event the Home Office was investigating whether to reward Cleall's bravery. The following March, Cleall was invested by the King with the Albert Medal, then Britain's senior civil gallantry award. The Albert Medal was first awarded in 1866 for gallantry in saving life at sea. In 1877, it was extended to cover incidents on land, following the dramatic rescue of five miners who had been trapped underground for nine days at the Tynewydd Colliery in the Rhondda Valley. It rapidly became known as the 'Civilian Victoria Cross'. The creation of the George Cross in 1940 made the Albert Medal redundant, except as an occasional posthumous award, and in 1971 it was revoked. Its living holders were invited to exchange it for the George Cross. Walter Cleall was one of five who chose to donate their original award to the National Museum of Wales. Background Reading For Those in Peril, by Edward Besly. Published by the National Museums & Galleries of Wales (2004).
Traditional Welsh foods 23 April 2007 Margaret Maddocks baking round cakes in a Dutch oven, North Cornelly, Glamorgan.
More in Minneapolis and St Paul Chris Owen, 20 April 2007 Yesterday we visited a couple of great museums in the metro area. First we went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA). We had a very insightful meeting with Willy Lee, the webmaster at MIA. He told us some of the great ideas he has to incorporate social networking into MIA's website. Things like user tagging, which allows the users to tag objects to help with searches. They are ahead of us in getting their collections online, but they don't have as complicated a database structure as we do at National Museum Wales. The MIA is well worth a visit - online for their resources, and physically for the incredible artworks they have in their collections. We also took the time to cram in a visit to the Science Museum of Minnesota in St Paul, which was a mix of Techniquest and the Science Museum (UK). They had a lot of fun interactives that kept Chris and I occupied for hours, using various technologies from video streams to PCs and microscopes! They also had some very nice high resolution screens, which gave me some digital signage ideas. I hope I can get in touch with one of their staff, as I'd be interested to see what kind of resources they have to support their extensive interactive setup.
Cardiff – Coal and Shipping Metropolis of the World 18 April 2007 Cardiff: the pre-industrial port. Two sloops lying in the River Taff, as portrayed by Paul Sandby in 1776. Cardiff: the industrial port. An aerial view showing the completed dock system about 1948. A typical Cardiff tramp steamer - the SS Pontwen, built in 1914. The age of depression. Laid-up ships in Cardiff docks about 1930. Cardiff: the port transformed. Modern retail developments now stand where Cardiff once exported coal to the world. Second Marquess of Bute In 1862, 2 million tonnes of coal were exported from Cardiff Docks ; by 1913, this had risen to nearly 11 million. This was the heyday of the coal industry before the depression of the 1930s. Cardiff was the boom town of late Victorian Britain. For a few years before the First World War, the tonnage of cargo handled at the port outstripped that of either London or Liverpool. Yet in the late 18th century, Cardiff's trade was all transported by two small sloops sailing to Bristol on alternative days. So what had led to this transformation? It was the growth of the iron industry in the South Wales Valleys that caused Cardiff to develop a port. In 1794, the Glamorganshire Canal was completed, linking Cardiff with Merthyr, and in 1798 a basin was built, connecting this canal to the sea. Cardiff's foremost landowner, the 2nd Marquess of Bute, built West Bute Dock in 1839. Two years later, the Taff Vale Railway was opened. Coal overtakes Iron From the 1850s, coal began to replace iron as the industrial foundation of south Wales. South Wales steam coal was what oil is today, with yearly exports reaching 2 million tonnes as early as 1862. A further dock, the East Bute, was opened in 1859, but following the death of the 2nd Marquess in 1848, the Bute Estate trustees were over-cautious and reluctant to invest in new dock facilities. Coal exports reach 9 million tonnes Frustration at the lack of development at Cardiff led to rival docks being opened at Penarth in 1865 and Barry in 1889. These developments eventually spurred Cardiff into action, with the opening of the Roath Dock in 1887, and the Queen Alexandra Dock in 1907. By then, coal exports from Cardiff totalled nearly 9 million tonnes per annum, much of it exported by locally-owned tramp steamers. Tramp steamers and steamships Cardiff's first steamship was the little Llandaff of 1865, and she was the first of a fleet of steamships that grew rapidly in the late 19th century. By 1910, there were some 250 tramp steamers owned at Cardiff. Each day, the owners would meet to arrange cargoes of coal for their ships in the opulent Coal Exchange in Mount Stuart Square. The coal export industry reached its peak in 1913, when 10.7 million tonnes of coal were exported from the port. First World War After the First World War, there was a significant increase in shipping in Cardiff, with 122 shipping companies in business in 1920. The boom proved short-lived, however; oil was growing in importance as a maritime fuel, and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles soon flooded Europe with cheap German coal. By 1932, in the depths of the depression, coal exports had fallen to below 5 million tonnes and dozens of locally owned ships were laid-up. It was an era of depression from which Cardiff never really recovered, and despite intense activity at the port during the Second World War, coal exports continued to decline, finally ceasing altogether in 1964. Modern day Cardiff Today, the port of Cardiff presents a very different picture from that existing a century ago. The waterfront has been totally transformed. Exclusive flats now stand where coal hoists once stood, and the rough and ready sailortown pubs have been replaced by sedate bistros. Only two docks, the Roath and the Queen Alexandra, remain in use, and just two shipping companies remain. There is still some trade in timber, oil, and containers, but the days when the port was packed with tramp steamers, shrouded in coal dust as they loaded the 'black diamonds' of the valleys of south Wales, will never be seen again. Background Reading Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute, by John Davies. Published by University of Wales Press (1981). Cardiff Shipowners, by J. Geraint Jenkins and David Jenkins. Published by the National Museums & Galleries of Wales (1986). Coal Metropolis: Cardiff, 1970-1914, by Martin Daunton. Published by Leicester University Press (1977).
