Tag: Welsh identity

• The Uncrowned Kings: How the Preacher Ruled Victorian Wales

  Imagine a Sunday evening in November 1880. Outside, the valley is pitch black, hammered by rain sweeping down from the mountains. But inside the gas-lit chapel, the air is thick with damp wool, peppermint, and anticipation. Five hundred people sit shoulder to shoulder in a silence so taut it hums. They are not waiting for…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  05/12/2025

  Articles

  19th-century-wales, Blue Books, Chapel Revival, Christmas Evans, Coalfield History Wales, Cymraeg, Hwyl, Liberal Wales, Methodist History, Nonconformist Wales, Rural Wales, Slate Quarrying Wales, victorian-wales, Wales Social Change, Welsh Chapels, Welsh Communities, Welsh culture, Welsh heritage, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh Language History, Welsh Literacy, Welsh Nonconformity, Welsh politics, Welsh Preachers, Welsh Pulpit Tradition, Welsh Radicalism, Welsh Religion, Welsh Revivalism, Welsh Social History, Welsh Theology

• Why the English and the Welsh Keep Misunderstanding Each Other — And Why It Still Shapes Modern Britain

  We talk endlessly about the politics of the Union, the economics of devolution, and the future of the UK. But beneath all of that lies a quieter, deeper truth: The English and the Welsh speak the same language, but not the same culture.And because no one acknowledges this, we constantly misread each other. These aren’t…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  03/12/2025

  Articles

  behavioural culture, bilingualism, British culture, British identity, communication styles, cross-border relations, cultural differences, cultural literacy, cultural misunderstanding, Devolution, england, English culture, English history, English identity, English values, history, identity politics, inter-cultural communication, language, National identity, national stereotypes, Offa’s Dyke, Politics, social psychology, soft power, UK nations, Wales, Welsh culture, Welsh diaspora, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh values, Welsh vs English, workplace culture, writing

• “My Relations Are Part of a Rich Tapestry of Welsh Heritage” — My Feature in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine

  I’m delighted to share that my family history research has been featured in the latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine. The article, written by Claire Vaughan, explores my decades-long journey tracing my Welsh roots — from hill farmers and Calvinist ministers to a musical icon and a self-taught solicitor — all…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  04/11/2025

  Articles

  ancestry research, Antony David Davies, Arthur Owen Jones, British history, Caeadda, Calvinistic Methodists, Charles Shorto, Christ Church Oxford, Davies family, Edwardian Wales, Elinor Bennett, family, family history, family tree, Genealogy, genealogy research, heritage writing, historical biography, history, Llanwrin, magazine feature, Mid Wales history, Montgomeryshire, Oxford archives, Rural Wales, Shorto family, Shropshire history, travel, Trevor Owen Davies, Victorian Wales, Voices from the Uplands, WDYTYA, Welsh ancestry, Welsh culture, Welsh farming families, Welsh heritage, Welsh identity, Welsh language, Welsh music, Welsh Nonconformity, Who Do You Think You Are magazine

• When Firelight Forged a Nation: A Machynlleth Tribute to Owain Glyndŵr

  On a Dark Winter’s Afternoon, Everything Changed On a wind-lashed winter’s afternoon, my Uncle Glyn beckoned me closer to the hearth. His eyes glowed like ember as he whispered, “Owain Glyndŵr was born from these hills—and he swore to shield every farmer, every family.” In that flickering glow, I felt my heartbeat echo Machynlleth’s ancient…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  16/09/2025

  Articles

  Cambrian Mountains, Cymru heritage, england, fireside stories, Glyndwr Day, Machynlleth, Medieval Wales, Nation Cymru, Owain Glyndŵr, travel, uk, Wales, Wales culture, Welsh ancestry, Welsh community, Welsh folklore, Welsh heritage events, Welsh heroes, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh independence, Welsh language, Welsh legends, Welsh nationalism, Welsh parliament, Welsh pride, Welsh storytelling, Welsh tourism, Welsh writers

• A Decade of Cuts, A Future Betrayed: Why Is Wales Starving Its Own Soul?

  By Antony David Davies FRSA Wales is the land of song. Of poetry and myth. Of harp strings, painted hills, and voices that carry centuries. So why, after a decade of managed decline, is the Welsh Government allowing our culture to be starved of the very funding that sustains it? This is not hyperbole. A…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  02/08/2025

  Articles

  Amgueddfa Cymru, Arts Council of Wales, Arts funding, Arts in crisis, Austerity, Austerity in Wales, Cultural funding, Cultural neglect, Cultural policy, Cultural survival, Dal y Mellt, Eisteddfod, Future of Wales, Identity and nationhood, Let Wales rise, Michael Sheen, National identity, National Museum Cardiff, Public services, Public spending cuts, Saving Welsh culture, Senedd, Un Bore Mercher, Wales, Wales culture crisis, Welsh artists, Welsh culture, Welsh Government policy, Welsh heritage, Welsh identity, Welsh language and culture, Welsh literature, Welsh poetry, Welsh theatre

• When the Last Prince Hid in Our Hills: A Family Legend That Still Haunts Wales

  By Antony David Davies FRSA High in the forgotten uplands of Montgomeryshire, where bracken folds over ancient sheep paths and the hills roll unbroken into silence, there stands a farmhouse my family still speaks of in reverent tones. Its name is Esgair Llywelyn — Llywelyn’s Ridge. Even now, the place endures. Weathered, empty, but defiantly…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  29/07/2025

  Articles

  Aberedw, Antony David Davies, Builth, Cilmeri 1282, Cultural survival, Dulas Valley, Dyfi Valley, Edward I, Elinor Bennett, Esgair Llywelyn, family history, Family legend, Forgotten voices, FRSA, Heritage preservation, Hidden history, Historical memory, Historical storytelling, Identity and place, Legacy of the past, Llanwrin, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Lost Wales, Machynlleth, Medieval Wales, Mid Wales, Montgomeryshire, National memory, Nonconformist Wales, Owain Glyndŵr, Powys heritage, Prince of Wales, Resistance and survival, Rural Wales, Welsh ancestry, Welsh culture, Welsh diaspora, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh legends, Welsh nationalism, Welsh rebellion, Welsh storytelling

• Saving the soul of Wales: why we must act now to preserve our family and chapel records

  By Antony David Davies FRSA It is hard to overstate just how close we are to losing the living memory of rural Wales. Across our hills and valleys — from the sheep farms of Montgomeryshire to the slate towns of Gwynedd and the quiet chapels of Ceredigion — traces of family and community life are…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  25/07/2025

  Articles

  Archive crisis, Call to action, Ceredigion, Chapel registers, Community history, Community memory, Cultural policy, Digitisation, Family archives, Family photographs, Farming families, Genealogy, Gwynedd, Heritage preservation, Historical advocacy, Historical memory, Historical records, Industrial heritage, Local history, Montgomeryshire, National memory, Nonconformist chapels, Oral history, Oral traditions, People’s Collection Wales, Public history, Rural Wales, Senedd, Slate industry history, Social history, Upland voices, Welsh archives, Welsh culture, Welsh Government, Welsh heritage, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh Nonconformity, Welsh storytelling

• Keeping the flame: Why I joined the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion — and why it matters for Wales

  Wales is a nation woven together by memory and identity. Its story is told not only through the slate quarries, chapel pulpits, and small farms of our landscape, but also through the societies and institutions that have sustained Welshness far beyond our own borders. One of the most remarkable of these is the Honourable Society…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  16/07/2025

  Articles

  belonging, chapels, cultural stewardship, Cymmrodorion, Eisteddfod, family history, memory and identity, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire, National Library of Wales, Wales, Welsh culture, Welsh diaspora, Welsh identity, Welsh language