Rev. Rowland Williams commonly known by his bardic name

Bardic name

A bardic name is a pseudonym, used in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement....

 of "Hwfa Môn", was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 clergyman and poet, who served as Archdruid

Archdruid

The Archdruid is the title used by the presiding official of the Gorsedd.The Archdruid presides over the most important ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod of Wales including the Crowning of the Bard, The Award of the Prose Medal and Chairing of the Bard. From 1932 only former winners of the...

 of the National Eisteddfod of Wales

National Eisteddfod of Wales

The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...

 from 1895 to 1905.

Early Life and education

Hwfa Môn was born in Pen y Graig, Trefdraeth, Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

, in 1823 the son of Robert Williams an agricultural Labourer and Gwen his wife . When he was 5 years old he moved with his family to the village of Rhostrehwfa, near Llangefni

Llangefni

Llangefni is the county town of Anglesey in Wales and contains the principal offices of the Isle of Anglesey County Council. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llangefni was 4,662 people and it is the second largest settlement on the island...

.

At the Age of 14 Rowland was apprenticed to a carpenter in Llangefni after learning his trade he worked as a carpenter in the Bangor area for a few years. In 1847 he was made a lay preacher in the Independent church in Llangefni and latter the same year he entered Bala Theological Collage to train for the ministry where he studied until 1851.

Ministry

He was ordained as a Congregationalist minister in Flint

Flint

Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...

 on June 4, 1851 and served as the joint minister for the congregations in Flint and Bagillt

Bagillt

Bagillt is a small town near Holywell in Flintshire, North Wales. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 3,918.-History:http://stmarysbagillt.co.uk/...

. In 1855 he moved to minister to congregations in Wrexham

Wrexham

Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

 and Brymbo

Brymbo

Brymbo is a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is a village situated in the hilly country to the west of Wrexham town, largely surrounded by farmland....

, from there he moved to Bethesda

Bethesda

Bethesda , originally referring to the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem , may also refer to:-United States:*Bethesda, Davidson County, North Carolina...

 Caernarfonshire in 1852. Following a five year period in Bethesda he was appointed minister of the Welsh Congregationalist Chapel in Fetter Lane

Fetter Lane

Fetter Lane is a street in the ward of Farringdon Without in London England. It runs from Fleet Street in the south to Holborn in the north.The earliest mention of the street is "faitereslane" in 1312. The name occurs with several spellings until it settles down about 1612. There is no agreement...

 London in 1862 where he remained until 1881, when he returned to Anglesey as minister at Llanerchymedd

Llanerchymedd

Llannerch-y-medd, sometimes also spelt Llanerch-y-Medd, Llannerch-y-Medd or Llanerchymedd, is a small village and community on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. The Royal Mail postcode is LL71, and it has a population of 1,185....

. His last appointment was to Llangollen

Llangollen

Llangollen is a small town and community in Denbighshire, north-east Wales, situated on the River Dee and on the edge of the Berwyn mountains. It has a population of 3,412.-History:...

 in 1888 where he remained until his retirement in 1893.

The Poet

It is not known when or where Hwfa Môn learned the cynghanedd

Cynghanedd

In Welsh language poetry, Cynghanedd is the basic concept of sound-arrangement within one line, using stress, alliteration and rhyme. The various forms of cynghanedd show up in the definitions of all formal Welsh verse forms, such as the awdl. Though of ancient origin, cynghanedd and variations of...

, or who taught him, but he was considered a sufficient master of the bardic craft to be inaugurated as a bard

Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...

 at the Aberffraw Eisteddfod in 1849 at the relatively young age of 26. He took the bardic name Hwfa Môn (The Wise Owl of Anglesey) from the place where he lived: Rhostrehwfa.

He was the Chaired Bard

Chairing of the Bard

The Chairing of the Bard is one of the most important events in the Welsh eisteddfod tradition. The most famous chairing ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Friday afternoon of Eisteddfod week....

 in the 1862 Caernarfon Eisteddfod, the 1873 Mold Eisteddfod and the 1878 Birkenhead Eisteddfod, he was also the first ever Crowned Bard

Crowning of the Bard

The Crowning of the Bard is one of the most important events in an eisteddfod. The most famous such ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Tuesday afternoon of Eisteddfod week....

 winning that honour at Carmarthen in 1867.

Like many of his generation he was a master of the mechanics of cynghanedd, but was not much of a poet, he was a slave of the strict meter rather than its master. As Robert Williams Parry said, Hwfa Môn oedd y creadur tebycaf i fardd a fagwyd erioed yng Nghymru. Ac yn fardd ar ben hynny na ellir byth ei gael yn euog o ysgrifennu yr un llinell o farddoniaeth. (Hwfa Môn was the creature most like a bard ever bred in Wales. But, despite that, a bard who could never be found guilty of writing a single line of poetry)

Very little of his poetic work has stood the test of time and is considered of value today. However if it wasn't for bards of his generation keeping the tradition of Cynghanedd alive through those dark and unproductive days, strict meter might have fallen out of use and the revival of a golden age of cynghanedd in the 20th century might not have happened.

The Gorsedd

Hwfa Môn is best known for his association with the National Eisteddfod of Wales

National Eisteddfod of Wales

The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...

 and especially for his part in making the Gorsedd of Bards an integral part of the Eisteddfod's pageantry. With Iolo Morganwg

Iolo Morganwg

Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg , was an influential Welsh antiquarian, poet, collector, and literary forger. He was widely considered a leading collector and expert on medieval Welsh literature in his day, but after his death it was revealed that he had forged a...

 and Cynan

Albert Evans-Jones

Sir Cynan Evans-Jones CBE , more commonly known within Wales by his bardic name of Cynan, was a Welsh poet and dramatist.-Early life:...

, Hwfa Môn is the second part of the Triawd

Welsh Triads

The Welsh Triads are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a rhetorical form whereby objects are grouped together in threes, with a heading indicating the point of likeness...

 responsible for the creation of the modern Gorsedd.

In 1905 his portrait was painted by Christopher Williams

Christopher Williams (Welsh artist)

Christopher David Williams was a Welsh artist.He was born in Maesteg, Wales. His father Evan Williams intended him to be a doctor, but he disliked the idea. A visit to the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, in 1892, where he spent some hours in front of Frederick Leighton's "Perseus and Andromeda,"...

wearing the Gorsedd robes.

Marriage, Death and Burial

He married Mrs Mary Evans a widow née Williams in 1853. He retired to Rhyl in 1893 where he died on 10 November 1905; he is buried in Rhyl's municipal cemetery.