Yr Ysgwrn is a cultural symbol for the people of Wales, widely recognised as the home of Ellis Humphrey Evans, a prized poet, shepherd and soldier better known by the bardic name of Hedd Wyn. Following his death at the Battle of Passchendaele, he was posthumously awarded the chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod. In his absence the chair was draped in a black cloth and has been known ever since as Y Gadair Ddu (the Black Chair). Pilgrims immediately started flocking to Yr Ysgwrn and continued to do so throughout the C20, welcomed there by Hedd Wyn's family. By 2012, the future was uncertain and Mr Gerald Williams, Hedd Wyn's nephew, decided to sell the site to the Snowdonia National Park Authority. Following a significant project of repairs and developments, Yr Ysgwrn re-opened to the public in June 1917, to wide acclaim and has since won several awards, including the Europa Nostra European Cultural Heritage prize for conservation.

Here in Wales, Hedd Wyn’s story and Yr Ysgwrn’s significance are well known. We’re immersed in the history throughout our lives – we hear the story as young children, we study the poems and we enjoy the Oscar nominated biopic film. To others, the story is less well known and to me personally, that’s one of the greatest pleasures of working t Yr Ysgwrn throughout the years – revealing the history and stories to new audences. The experience of visiting Yr Ysgwrn for the first time is forever memorable to many of our visitors. I first visited in November 2011. I walked into the pitch darkness of the kitchen and met Hedd Wyn’s nephew, Mr Gerald Williams. I was utterly charmed – and not for the last time – by the place and my the man. Indeed, I was spellbound. Gearld and Ellis, his late brother, were custodians of Yr Ysgwrn in recent years, in honour of a solemn promise they made to their grandmother, Mary Evans, Hedd Wyn’s mother, “to keep the door open”. Gerald was anxious about the future of Yr Ysgwrn and decided to sell the whole site – the historic buildings and the agricultural shed, the land and artefacts – to the Snowdonia National Park Authority. The purchase was enabled by the financial support of the National Memorial Heritage Fund and the Welsh Government. Immediately after the purchase, funding applications were submitted to secure support to conserve and develop Yr Ysgwrn. In the spirit of the promise made to Hedd Wyn’s mother, the aim of the development was to keep the door open with Gerald at the helm and providing us with a conscience throughout the works. A round 1 development grant was provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in February 2013. The development project was worth around £174,000. This enabled the recruitment of project officers, the appointment of the talented design team led by Purcell UK and the commissioning of Cwmni Da to produce an archival film to document and interpret the process of transferring custodianship from Hedd Wyn’s damily to the Snowdonia National Park Authority. During the course of the following year, until the submission of the round 2 application in February, we worked was full steam ahead with Gerald, the agricultural tenant, the Trawsfynydd community and several partners to create plans for the future of Yr Ysgwrn. There were various challenges. Providing access for all to a grade II* listed building, providing visitor facilities and and experience of international standard, including the Trawsfynydd community in the development, fostering national interest and ensuring that Gerald and his extended family remained supportive. During the development phase, various open days were held – literary events, vsits guided by the architect and an open day to view the master, Hugh Haley at work on the Black Chair. Yes, the Black Chair. Yr Ysgwrn’s most significant object and a he responsibility. In Spring 2013, with the support of Welsh Government and the National Museum of Wales, a 3D scan of the chair was completed and a 3D printed replica was produced, now stored at St Fagans. Once the scan was completed, Hugh Haley set to work conserving parts of the chair that had worn over the years. Glue had dried and pieces had fallen off, each one faithfully kept in an old Oxo tin by Gerald. Gerald had always given one clear directive, that none of Hedd Wyn’s chairs were to be moved from the farmhouse. Not ever. Remarkably, Hugh agreed to work on the Black Chair at Yr Ysgwrn, spending two weeks restoring the chair, under Gerald’s watchful eye. Do you recall March 2013? Hugh does. It was a blisteringly cold month of ice and snow at Yr Ysgwrn, a farmhouse with neither electricity nor heating. Hugh melted glue in a cauldron above the fire and I really do take off my cap to Hugh. Those two weeks were testament to his professionalism and astonishingly good character. He succeeded to win Gerald’s trust and respect and even though he wasn’t happy at all when the decision had to be taken to move all of the furniture, including all six bardic chairs, to Hugh Haley’s workshop in St Clears for repairs in 2016, he also said “You’ll get no one better to do the job”. The time that the furniture spent in St Clears was bleak. Gerald was downhearted, the farmhouse had lost its soul and Hugh hardly slept a wink until the collection was returned to Yr Ysgwrn. The work on the farmhouse was a revelation for us all. The farmhouse was emptied of its furniture and the array of artefacts collected over the years. A First World War soldier’s Bible, funeral cards, several airs of glasses, a piano full of Christmas cards, false teeth, books, letters, photos, receipts, wills and all kinds of items that evidence the story of a family living in a Snowdonia farmhouse over the course of two centuries. The cataloguing that followed was a vast task, assisted by volunteers and the work has recently been completed. The period between summer 2015 and 2017 was certainly a vital period. A new agricultural shed was built, Hugh succeeded to restore the furniture and back at Yr Ysgwrn, Beudy Llwyd was renovated into a modern welcome building, Beudy Ty was repaired and is now a magnificent exhibition space and the farmhouse was restored to good condition with modern essentials such as electricity, water and heating for the first time. Bats were given shelter in the pigsty, heating was provided by a biomass system and boundaries were repaired around the farm. Bird nesting boxes were installed, new paths were developed and new audio-visual interpretation for the buildings and wider landscape was installed. We had the tremendous pleasure of working with a number of talented contractors who made this work a real pleasure: Grosvenor Construction, RAA, Cwmni Da, Scena, Sysco, Purcell themselves and an army of local subcontractors. It was a great opportunity for us to learn from the best. Following the £3.7m development, the site was opened in June 2017, in time for the centenary commemorations Hedd Wyn’s death. In the first year, around 12,500 visitors visited Yr Ysgwrn and the response from the public was exceptional. Yr Ysgwrn has successfully maintained the prestigious 5 * standard on the Trip Advisor website and the high standard of the work has been widely recognized through numerous national and European awards including the Go North Wales Best New Site 2017 award; Welsh Architecture Award, 2018; Royal Society of Architects in Wales Conservation, Project Architect of the Year and Building of the Year Award 2018; RICS Building Preservation Award, 2018; Construction Excellence Wales Conservation and Regeneration Award, 2018 and reached the final of the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum awards, 2018; Design for Excellence Award 2018, National Eisteddfod Architecture Gold Award, 2018 and to top it all, Europa Nostra European Cultural Heritage Award for Conservation, 2019. It was a privilege to visit Paris in October 2019, to present the Yr Ysgwrn project to the Europa Nostra conference in and receive an award for conservation of Yr Ysgwrn. It was an incredible, totally unexpected experience as winning one of the Europa Nostra European Heritage awards is the highest accolade that heritage projects in Europe can receive. The Europa Nostra awards are described as the "Nobel Prize for heritage" and we, Yr Ysgwrn, Trawsfynydd are recognized among projects at world famous heritage sites - Chapel of the Holy Shrine, Turin, Alhambra Palace, Granada and projects that dealing with extremely challenging themes, such as a German-Turkish project that trains Syrian conservationists in built environment restoration skills so that an attempt can be made to rebuild the city of Aleppo when, hopefully, one day the Syrian civil war comes to an end. Projects that make a huge difference to people and heritage. And Yr Ysgwrn recognized among them! Looking back at the development of Yr Ysgwrn, there were many challenges. Protecting one of our nation's greatest heritage treasures, ensuring ownership of the development, attracting new audiences, appointing enough volunteers and being commercially reseilient. The scheme wasn’t always easy, but the best things in life rarely are, are they? I regret not keeping a personal diary of this project, to record all the major and minor events that made the scheme quite emotional at times. But overall it is the wonderful - sometimes surreal - experiences that stay with me. Dr Meredydd Evans singing Gwenfron and Mi, Catrin Finch singing requests to Gerald on the harp in the kitchen, receiving museum accreditation, the Irish ambassador to the UK reciting W.B. Yeats's poems in the Beudy Llwyd, Sian and Elgan discovering the fossil of 26 layers of wallpaper in the kitchen, have the opportunity to meet and work with remarkable individuals and receive the Europa Nostra award. Thanks to everyone who has provided such wonderful support to Yr Ysgwn but in particular, thanls to Mr Gerald Williams and his family for their committed custodianship. Whether it be for the first time or the tenth, do visit us “ A very warm welcome awaits. Naomi Jones Head of Cultural Heritage Snowdonia National Park Authority 01766 772 517 naomi.jones@eryri.llyw.cymru

Hedd Wyn represents and entire generation of young people lost during the First World War and the futility of such wars.