Taeogion?

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I was reading an article that claimed that Wales was far more servial (taeogion) at the commencement of the Queen's reign than it is today, but is that true?  After all in 1952 we had genuine working class parties and a real national movement, forces that made capital uncomfortable.  Can that be said of today's versions?  Much of Welsh industry was owned by the people - well in theory at least, and the newly established health service seemed less interested in enriching the drug companies than is true today.

Of course the article makes much of identity politics, but that seems more about getting into the elite rather than curtailing its power.  It's an odd world where Rishi Sunak's billionaire wife is somehow seen as more disadvantaged than that old bloke down the pub.  Infact most of the left's current obsessions seem to coincidence with the latest money making wheeze of the ruling class.

Anyway the late Queen's first visit to Wales after her succession was to Llandrindod Railway station, from where she proceeded by car to open the new Claerwen reservoir.  I dug out some cuttings - the photo is from the Daily Graphic, which was what the Sketch was still called in 1952.  I know the lad in the beret quite well, a stalwart Radnorian and still alive and kicking.  The paper also mentions the enhanced security measures in place as a result of the recent bomb attack on the Fron aquaduct.  Taeogion yn wir!

Our Radnorshire Folk

My great great grandfather was born in Llandinam around the same time as David Davies of the Ocean Coal Company - who is getting some mention on twitter today.  His son, my great grandfather, lived in Gwystre, a few doors from the family of Arthur Horner's mother. Both families ended up in Merthyr Tydfil - which was really the home of more Radnorians than any place on the planet at the end of the 19th century.

What I'm trying to say is that Radnorshire history is part and parcel of mainstream Welsh history.  Another example is the famous poetic dispute between Ieuan Dyfi and Gwerful Mechain resulting from Ieuan's misogynistic rant against his ex Anni Goch.  Far from being in the North or the distant West, Ieuan and Anni's affair went down in Presteigne and Norton.  Likewise the Red Book of Hergest found a home near Kington and Kinnerton, while Glyndwr's great victory was near Knighton and won by the men of Maelienydd.

Ffansis Payne opened my eyes to the deep history of Radnorshire while for many readers of the Radnorshire Transactions in the 1930s it must have been Mr Cole's transcriptions of Elizabethan wills, full of names like Tangwystl and Lleucu .... these were our Radnorshire folk.