Hundredth Anniversary of the Discovery of Dan yr Ogof

Feed: Dr. Myron Evans
Posted on: Thursday, August 30, 2012 1:58 PM
Author: metric345
Subject: Hundredth Anniversary of the Discovery of Dan yr Ogof

This is the famous discovery by our mutual ancestral cousins, Tommy and Jeff Morgan. My late father Edward Ivor (22nd April 1922 to 12th Jan. 2000) mentioned them briefly to me and knew them when he was growing up at Y Grithig. My late uncle Raymond Vivian mentioned that he helped with the scientific investigation of Ogof yr Esgyrn in about 1940, when he was about seven years old. I am so tied up with work now that I can hardly move, but I will try to find time to see Henrhyd Isaf and Melin Llech. Is there any chance of our mutual cousin giving us the Potter gathering a free tour of Dan yr Ogof? I cycled up there when I was about fifteen and saw the inside of the caves. I recall my father taking my sister Gwenydd and myself to see Grithig (at the sight of which he became elated) and also showing us the mysterious, very ancient, outflow of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, fifty yards from Grithig, and Ogof Agen Allwedd on the way to Penwyllt. He was of course a fluent Welsh speaker with the original Glyn Tawe Silurian dialect. His ashes were spread, as he wished, over the rugged and commanding hillside behind Grithig (“the scarry or rocky place”). He grew up in the depths of the Great Depression. I wrote an elegy for him in my second book of poetry, a strict metre cywydd. He was much closer to his mother Gwenllian than to his father, William John, an independent character. As you know, Gwenllian drowned in September 1944, and I sense that the immediate family never recovered. I was born on May 26th 1950, so never knew Gwenllian. I have never seen photographs of William John or Gwenllian, and those would be very welcome. Rev. Alun Brookfield may allow a grave stone on the spot where are buried, not far from the church. I think that that is long overdue and I can cover the cost as the Squire in the family. I think that the best verse to accompany the englyn of this morning is Mathew 5.5:

Gwyn eu byd y rhai addfwyn; canys hwy a etifeddant y ddaear.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

In a message dated 30/08/2012 15:44:28 GMT Daylight Time, writes:

The Brecon and Radnor Express commemorates today the discovery of the caves at Dan-yr-ogof, one hundred years ago this month.

It might be worth your while sometime calling in on the present owners of Henrhyd Isaf and seeing what old relics etc they have of previous occupants. I once called on spec. on a house just outside Carmarthen which I knew, via the census, to have been occupied by a great uncle before 1900. The people living there had only been there about five years, but they had heard of the family and produced a photo from before 1900 of him and his wife outside the house. The photo apparently came with the house.

There again I bet that you will pick up a lot of info at the big Potter meet whenever that occurs.

Subject: Re: Fw: Family History

This is a group that I constructed consisting of cousins or cousins by marriage: Stuart Davies (Morgan Awbrey), Tony Hibbert (Morgan Awbrey), John Davies Dolorgan (Sir Dafydd Gam), Chris Davies (my direct line back to Edward Evans Llanigon), Dewi Lewis (married to a Havard cousin), Carole Hopkin (from William Hopkin Cwm Nant y Moel, Craig Cefn Parc, sister of Mary Hopkin), Rhianne Griffiths (Morgan Awbrey), Derrick Potter (Morgan Potter) and Robbert Potter (Morgan Potter). I agree that keeping photographs is very important. I would be very interested in seeing a photograph of my grandfather, William John Evans Y Grithig. Derrick’s sister Mavis mentioned that she had one. I have never seen a photograph of him. His second wife was Gwenllian Potter Pewyllt and Y Grithig, daughter of William John Potter Penwyllt and Hannah Thomas, Henrhyd Isaf, Coelbren, grand daughter of David Potter originally of Worth in Sussex and Rachel Morgan, who was the daughter of William Morgan, younger brother of Morgan Morgan Craig y Nos of the Royal Celtic line of Tewdwr Mawr, Tywysog Deau Cymru, the Tudor ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II.

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