Harlech Historical Society

Harlech Historical Society For those interested in the history of Harlech and Ardudwy

04/09/2026

Our new season of monthly meetings starts on Tuesday September 8th.

The Harlech Historical Society has a lively and wide-ranging series of monthly talks for its new season. Topics for the period from September to December include ‘Charles Darwin in north Wales’, ‘Abram Wood: Gypsy family in Meirionnydd’ and ‘Who Says It’s the Dark Ages? – Gwynedd in the 5th and 6th centuries’. A warm welcome is extended to all who would like to attend.

The first meeting will be held on September 8th when local playwright, poet and actor Dr Gwynne Wheldon Evans will speak about the work of the poet Eifion Wyn. Eliseus Williams took the bardic name Eifion Wyn. He was born in Porthmadog in 1867 and died there in 1926. This talk marks the centenary of his death. He was a well-known lyric poet of nature and religion in his day and many school children learned his works. The talk will be illustrated with translations of his poems.

Gwynne is a former lecturer in Welsh and Drama at Coleg Harlech and has also taught at Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities. He has won ten prizes at the National Eisteddfod for writing and performing in drama (including the Drama Medal in 1984 and best actor in 2023) as well as in the poetry section. He has also adjudicated in the drama section at the National Eisteddfod and won four crowns, for both poetry and prose, at regional eisteddfodau in Wales.

The talk will take place at the Memorial Hall, Twtil, Harlech on Tuesday September 8th at 7.30pm. The meeting will be held in English and there will be a short AGM. Annual membership fee is £15 or there is a charge of £3 per meeting for non-members. Cheese and wine are included.

23/08/2026

HARLECH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Our August outdoor event will be a visit to Cymer Abbey, near Dolgellau, on Tuesday August 25th.
This is a change from the proposed Harlech Town Trail listed for August in the letter and programme emailed to members in early summer. We hope to have the trail in our 2027 programme of summer outings.
Merfyn Tomos, retired Gwynedd archivist based at Dolgellau and a member of Harlech Historical Society, will meet us at 11am at the abbey and give us a guided tour of this beautiful historic site. There’s parking for around 5 cars by the abbey and a public car park next door by the bridge. We may be able to use toilets in the block at the caravan site with the permission of the site’s owning family - Merfyn will confirm.
We also hope to visit Llanelltyd Church, which was one of the abbey churches. It has the pre-11th century Kendric or Cynrwg Pilgrim Stone. The church is usually locked but Merfyn will ask the vicar for the key. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the abbey - there is a short steep section at the end. If anyone has mobility issues, there’s parking for 3 cars by the church.
Members might want to bring a packed lunch or go to the George III in Penmaenpool or Dolgellau afterwards as there’s no cafe in Llanelltyd.
Directions to Cymer Abbey: off the A470, north of Dolgellau; Postcode LL40 2HE; what3words: ///fractions.juniors.drum

06/06/2026

Tuesday June 9th: Visit to Coleg Harlech
Meet 11am in car park opposite Coleg Harlech (gate will be opened). This will enable people to go over the bridge to the college courtyard.

The visit will start in the college library before moving to the main building and visiting the Robert Baker mural room. Some of the mural is now protected as part of the building’s conservation but enough is visible for descriptions and explanations of the mural. People will also be able to visit the Harlech room and discuss the future use of the buildings.

Please be aware that you will be visiting a building site. The group will only be going to the safe parts of the building but it is likely to be VERY dusty. So anyone who has a problem with dust should bring along a mask or think twice about coming.

The visit will probably last between an hour and an hour and a half.

08/05/2026

At our next meeting, on Tuesday May 12th, Dr Megan Hewitt Kimmelshue will give a talk on ‘Children in the Iron Age’. The evening will spotlight fascinating archaeological evidence to explore how Iron Age children in north Wales and further afield engaged with life through personal objects, craftwork learning and settlement organisation. This talk aims to broaden perceptions of the Iron Age, highlighting the vital role played by its youngest members.

Megan completed her PhD research on Iron Age childhoods at Bangor University and writes as an independent scholar from her home on Ynys Môn. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow with Amgueddfa Cymru/Museum Wales.

The talk will take place at the Memorial Hall, Twtil, Harlech on Tuesday May 12th at 7.30pm. All welcome. No charge for members; non-members £3, including refreshments.

11/04/2026

Our next lecture will be held on Tuesday April 14th at 7-30- in the Memorial Hall / Neuadd Goffa, Twtil, Harlech. There is a change to the advertised programme as the original speaker is indisposed. We are grateful to Di Drummond for retuning at short notice after her well-received talk on railway (her other great passion) in November. The lecture is free to members, £3 to non-members on the door. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided after the talk.

The Women's Suffrage Movement in Wales, 1866-1928, with reference to Tywyn and District, and to Harlech

This talk considers how some of the women of Wales campaigned for the right to vote between 1866 and 1928. While focussing on the various organisations calling directly for women's rights and suffrage over these many years, it also considers other women's organisations that eventually made 'votes for women' one of their policies.

Considering the women's campaign throughout Wales, special attention has been made of Tywyn and district, where action for women's suffrage was very weakly supported and often strongly rejected, and in Harlech, where it attracted even less interest!

Dr Di Drummond, Reader in Modern History, Leeds Trinty University (retired), taught about the women's campaign for the right to vote in Britain for over 25 years, first at the University of Birmingham and then at Leeds Trinity University. Known particularly for her work on the history of railways (e.g. Tracing Your Railway Ancestors, 2010; Crewe: Railway Town, Culture and People, 1995), she has entries on women, including a suffragette, in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Recently Di published a chapter ‘Radicalism in the British women’s suffrage movement, 1865-1928‘, in Stephen Basdeo (ed.), English Rebels and Revolutionaries, Pen and Sword Press, 2022.

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