Collections Online

Robe and stole worn by the Archdruid of the Gorsedd of the Bards (Gorsedd y Beirdd). Worn by successive Archdruids until 1959. A list of wearers supplied to the Museum by Archdruid Cynan in 1960 suggests that Hwfa Mon was the first to wear this robe in 1895. However, photographs and illustrations of Hwfa Mon's robes suggest otherwise. Hywel Teifi Edwards notes that the stole became part of the Archdruid's regalia in 1911 and that Archdruid Dyfed (Evan Rees) was the first to wear it.

The stole is made in four main sections with seams at the sides and centre. It is made from the same cream silk as the robe (silk satin with cotton wefts) with embroidery in silk, couched metal thread (gold-covered paper strips covering a red silk core) as well as raised work using metal purl at the ends. Represented are an eye, a bird, a rampant lion, a rose motif, the initials ‘MA’ and the inscription: ‘Y Gwir yn erbyn y Byd. Heb Dduw Heb Ddim. Duw a Digon’ (The Truth against the world. Without God without nothing. God is enough). The ends are trimmed with 10cm long gold fringes. There is a metal popper in the centre of the reverse which would have served to secure the stole to the centre back of the neck of the robe. The robe has been repaired with a fabric patch which now covers the area where the corresponding other half of the popper would have been attached. The popper must have been removed prior to the repair but stitch holes and remains of thread are still evident when examining the reverse. A further embroidery motif is a harp which is stitched to the middle of the stole. This area has been previously repaired. A 13cm section of the original ground fabric has been cut away around the harp and the harp has been stitched onto a section of new ground fabric.