: Casgliadau ac Ymchwil

Ers y blog diwethaf mae’r gwaith ar y safle wedi datblygu cryn dipyn. Rydym wedi gorffen y to gwellt ac mae camau olaf y gwaith tirlunio wedi dechrau. Mae banc pridd wedi’i godi o amgylch y ddau dŷ crwn i efelychu amddiffynfeydd cadarn gwreiddiol Fferm Bryn Eryr ar Ynys Môn. Adeiladwyd cysgod to glaswellt y tu ôl i’r tai a fydd yn cael ei ddefnyddio fel gweithdy awyr agored a gofod addysg ychwanegol. Mae’r waliau o ‘glom’ - sef cymysgedd o glai, isbridd a cherrig mân - yn union fel y tai crwn, ond mae’r to glaswellt yn esiampl arall o ddeunydd toi sydd bron mor hen â gwellt. Gosodwyd arwyneb cobl o flaen y tai crwn, sydd hefyd yn efelychu’r lleoliad gwreiddiol.

Yn ddiweddar rydw i wedi bod yn canolbwyntio ar ddodrefnu’r tai. Bydd y mwyaf o’r ddau yn gymharol wag (dim ond aelwyd a mainc bren yn dilyn y waliau) er mwyn ei ddefnyddio fel ystafell ddosbarth ac ardal arddangos. Mae’r tŷ llai yn dangos bywyd cartref fel yr oedd yn ystod Oes yr Haearn ac yn cynnwys dodrefn cyffredin i’r cyfnod – tân i gynhesu, gwely i gysgu, gwŷdd i greu dillad a blancedi - a cistiau pren yw storio, ynghyd a chrochan i goginio bwyd. Seiliwyd bron pob eitem ar esiamplau o’r cyfnod sydd wedi llwyddo goroesi dros 2000 o flynyddoedd. Mae’r grochan yn replica o lestr coginio copr a haearn a ganfuwyd yn Llyn Cerrig Bach, prin 25km o Bryn Eryr, ac wrth y tân bydd fersiynau syml o’r brigwrn a ganfuwyd yng Nghapel Garmon yn Sir Ddinbych. Mae’r llestri pren wedi eu seilio ar rhai a ganfuwyd ym mryngaer Breiddin ym Meirionydd tra bod y maeniau melin yn efelychu y rhai a ganfuwyd yn Bryn Eryr ei hun. Rydyn ni wedi cynhyrchu set lawn o offer trin coed yn dilyn esiamplau o fryngaerau fel Tre’r Ceiri a Castell Henllys. Mae hyd yn oed y blancedi wedi eu copïo o ddarnau o ddefnydd sydd wedi goroesi.

Gyda’r tŷ wedi ei ddodrefnu fel y byddai yn y cyfnod gallwn ni ddefnyddio’r lleoliad i ail-greu bywyd mewn tŷ crwn. Gyda chymorth crefftwyr, actorion a gwirfoddolwyr gallwn ni ddod i ddeall bywyd Oes yr Haearn yn well a helpu troi’r tŷ hwn yn gartref.

Cardiff Bay Beach/Traeth Bae Caerdydd wasn’t the only taste of the sea for people visiting Cardiff yesterday. Museum Scientists brought the seashore to museum visitors in one of our Natural Science family workshops. These drop-in sessions aim to give visitors a taste of the wildlife that you can find on your doorstep, in woodland, on meadows…or in this case on the seashore.

More than 140 visitors looked down microscopes at seaweed, found out where on the shore different animals like to live, and sorted through many kinds of molluscs (such as top shells, periwinkles, slipper limpets, whelks, limpets, mussels), sea worms, starfish and sea urchins from the museum’s collections. Few people could resist popping the ‘bubble-wrap seaweed’ (Bladder Wrack) or counting the air bladders on the Egg Wrack to see how old it was. They found out which seaweed is used to make laverbread and which is used in their ice-cream!

With over 870 miles of stunning coastline, Wales is a great place to explore the seashore. We hope that some of our visitors can get outside and discover some of the animals and plants for themselves.

Ydych chi, fel finna, yn ffendio eich hunain yn troi at yr un hen ryseitiau? Mae amryw ohonynt yn rai a drosglwyddwyd drwy fy nheulu, ac a ddysgais gan fy Nain a’m Mam. Mae ‘na rhywbeth cysurus iawn amdanynt, sy’n fy atgoffa o fy mhlentyndod.

Mae gennym archif helaeth o ryseitiau yn Sain Ffagan, y mwyafrif helaeth ohonynt yn gyfarwyddiadau a drosglwyddwyd ar lafar o genhedlaeth i genhedlaeth. Casglwyd y wybodaeth drwy gyfrwng holiaduron, llythyrau a ryseitiau ysgrifenedig. Ond crynswth y casgliad yw gwaith maes Minwel Tibbott. Pan gychwynnodd yn yr Amgueddfa ym 1969, maes hollol newydd oedd astudio bwydydd traddodiadol. Sylweddolodd yn fuan nad trwy lyfrau oedd cael y wybodaeth. Teithiodd ar hyd a lled Cymru yn holi, recordio a ffilmio’r to hynaf o wragedd, y mwyafrif ohonynt yn eu hwythdegau. Roedd eu hatgofion, o’r prydau a ddysgont gan eu mamau yn mynd yn ôl i ddiwedd y 1800au.

Fel rhan o Ŵyl Fwyd Sain Ffagan eleni, a gynhelir ar y 5ed a’r 6ed o Fedi, rydym yn gofyn am eich help i ychwanegu at y casgliad hwn. Wrth i chi swatio o flaen y bocs heno ‘ma i wylio the Great British Bake Off, ystyriwch eich arlwy o ryseitiau. Pa rysáit teuluol fyddech chi’n ei rannu gyda ni? Sut ydach chi’n addasu rysieitiau traddodiadol? Oes gennych eich hoff lyfr ryseitiau rhwygedig, wedi ei orchuddio â nodiadau ychwanegol a staeniau bwyd drosto? Pa atgofion mae prydau gwahanol yn eu hennyn? Pa ryseitiau sy’n cael eu cadw ar gyfer achlysuron arbennig?

Gallwch drydar delweddau ac eich atgofion i @archifSFarchive. Fel arall dowch â nhw gyda i chi i’r Ŵyl Fwyd, ac mi nawn ni eu sganio yn Sefydliad y Gweithwyr. Os nad ydynt wedi eu nodi ar bapur, fel sy’n wir gyda chymaint o’n ffefrynnau teuluol, gallwch eu rhannu gyda ni ar y dydd.

Cadwch lygaid ar y prosiect hwn drwy ddilyn cyfrifon trydar @archifSFarchive ac @SF_Ystafelloedd a’r hashnodau #GwylFwyd #Ryseitiau.

In July we were very fortunate to acquire this silver salver/tray. It was presented to H.W. Lewis for his heroism during the Tynewydd Colliery inundation. Henry Lewis was the Manager of Energlyn Colliery (near Caerphilly), and he was also awarded the Albert Medal, 2^nd Class for his bravery during the same disaster. The disaster occurred on the 11th April 1877 and further information can be found in this article. A collection of objects relating to the Tynewydd inundation, can be seen in a display on coal mining disasters at Big Pit: National Mining Museum.

Amgueddfa Cymru has another very similar tray in the collection presented to Thomas William Parry. Both trays were manufactured by Henry Holland (of Holland, Aldwinckle & Slater) of London.

Recently donated, this memorial card was produced "In sad Remembrance of 264 men and boys who were killed in the Prince of Wales Pit, Abercarne, by an explosion, on Wednesday, September 11th, 1878."

The underground fires caused by this massive explosion resulted in the deaths of at least 264 people although the exact death toll is not known. To put out the fire the difficult decision was made to flood the mine with water from the Monmouthshire Canal. It took two months and 35 million gallons of water to put out the fire. This water had to then be pumped out before the victims could be recovered. The photograph below was taken by Thomas Forrest of Pontypridd around the time of the disaster in 1878.

This Clanny flame safety lamp was destroyed during the explosion of 11th September 1878. A very emotional reminder of the disaster, it would have belonged to one of the victims. The glass shield has cracked and melted in the heat. This objects has been part of the collections since 1936.

Talygarn House, Pontyclun, South Wales, was a large stone mansion that became a hospital in 1880. In October 1923, it was opened as a miners' convalescent home and in the first 15 years of its opening had more than 41,000 patients. The house was eventually put up for sale in 2000, and has recently been converted into luxury homes. You can read more about Talygarn in this article. The two photographs below were donated this month and show miners at Talygarn.

Morris Castle was built between 1768 and 1774 to house the families of workers employed by Sir John Morris (mainly at his Landore copper works). It is on an elevated position overlooking the surrounding area. It originally comprised of four towers, each four stories tall, connected by blocks three stories tall, around a central courtyard. Both the towers and linking walls were crowned with mock battlements made from copper slag. The building was occupied until about 1850. It is now just a ruin, owned by Swansea City Council and is a listed monument. These photographs were taken in March 1969, and have been added to the collection this month.

Mark Etheridge
Curator: Industry & Transport
Follow us on Twitter - @IndustryACNMW

Everyone knows that museums don't allow visitors to do anything, right? You mustn't touch, eat, smoke, take photos; rucksacks are banned, as are balloons (!) and mobile phones. What's going on here? Are you even allowed to breath?! Well, actually, if you must breath then please don't do it near the objects...

Joking aside, all those rules are part of our efforts to ensure that the objects on display will remain in top condition for many years to come. Things decay - that is the way of the world. Museum conservators try to halt that decay for as long as possible.

For example, colours fade in bright light. I have a pair of my daughter's first shoes on my car dashboard which were once a vivid red. Now, after many years exposure to sunlight, they are a faded pink. To avoid the same fate for the museum objects in our care we limit light levels and have UV filters in our galleries, and we ask you not to use a flash when taking photographs.

Smoking is banned in museums because the smoke from cigarettes contains sticky tarry substances that can settle on objects and are very difficult (and expensive) to clean off. We don't really like balloons and rucksacks because they sometimes get entangled with objects and then pull or push them off their plinth, or cause parts to break off and again, this causes expensive conservation jobs, if the object can be fixed at all.

Touching is usually not desired for similar reasons, but also because your hands leave oils on surfaces; these are contained naturally in the skin. If many people touch the same surface over many years it will show as dirt.

There are exceptions to the "no-touch-rule": if you go up to our gallery number one at National Museum Cardiff you will see the Jenkins Vase on display. This marble object was originally a Roman well-head and it depicts the story of Paris, son of Priam of Troy, and Helen. During the 1770s the well-head was converted into a decorative vase. While we ask you not to touch the vase itself, there is a marble touchpad next to it in the shape of two hands. One hand is behind glass and pristinely white; the other hand has been touched by generations of visitors, and the effect of this touching can be seen clearly.

We also have other opportunities for hands-on activities, for example in our Clore Discovery Gallery, and during events. We keep parts of our collections specifically for people to touch and interact with, but we do ask you to respect our efforts to maintain the collections and preserve them for the enjoyment of future generations.