Adeiladwyd Y Garreg Fawr yn y Waunfawr yn 1544, ac mae yn enghrifft dda o’r math o dŷ a oedd yn gyffredin yn ardal Eryri. Yn ystod y cyfnod yma tai fel hyn oedd tai mwyaf crand y wlad, a sail ein cartrefi ni heddiw. Cyn canol yr unfed ganrif ar bymtheg roedd y Cymry cyfoethog yn byw mewn neuaddau pren unllawr. Rhannwyd hwythau i mewn i dri rhan: yn un pen roedd llaethdy a phantri, ac yn y pen arall oedd yr ystafell wely (y solar). Rhwng y ddau oedd y neuadd – sef ystafell fyw gyda lle tân agored yn y canol. Mae’r Garreg Fawr yn cynrychioli ymadawiad chwyldroadol o’r cynllun canol-oesol gynt, gan gyflwyno nifer o elfennau newydd. Wrth ddewis adeiladugyda cherrig yn lle coed, roedd modd codi dwy simdde effeithiol – un ar bob pen y tŷ. Gan bod y mŵg yn gallu gadael trwy’r ddwy simdde roedd modd creu ail lawr cynnes, di-fŵg, yn y gofod a arferai fod yn llawn mŵg a parddu.

Enwyd Y Garreg Fawr ar ôl y garreg oedd yn brigo i’r wyneb y tu ôl i’r tŷ. Mae ‘Mawr’ yn enw cyffredin ar y tai yma, er enghraifft Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant a Tŷ Mawr Nantlle. Mae’r defnydd o’r gair yn tynnu sylw tuag at safon yr adeiladau, ac hefyd eu maint - oherwydd roedd adeiladau deulawr yn dal yn anghyffredin. Yn fwy pwysig fyth, roedd yn denu sylw tuag at statws y perchnogion o fewn y gymdeithas leol.

Mae’r Garreg Fawr yn un o nifer cymharol fach o dai Eryri sydd wedi goroesi, ac oherwydd hynny o bwysigrwydd cenedlaethol. Erbyn 1976 roedd y tŷ crand yn cael ei ddefnyddio fel sgubor, ac wedi dirywio cymaint fel yr oedd bron yn amhosib ei adnabod. Ar y pryd yr unig ffordd o achub yr adeilad oedd ei symud yn gorfforol - carreg wrth garreg - 165 milltir i Amgueddfa Werin Cymru yn Sain Ffagan, lle cafodd ei ail-adeiladu. Ddeugain mlynedd yn hwyrach mae’r tŷ yng nghanol gwaith adnewyddu.

Gwnaeth ymchwiliad diweddar nodi fod wyneb mewnol y waliau wedi cael ei rendrio gyda sement adeg ei ail-godi. Nid ydym yn ystyried y dechneg yma yn un addas erbyn hyn, ac mae gwaith wedi cychwyn i dynnu’r sement a gosod morter calch yn ei le. Wedi’r newid bydd waliau Y Garreg Fawr yn gallu ‘anadlu’ yn well, a dylai fod yn iawn am sawl canrif arall. Mae’r tŷ yn awr wedi cau am rai misoedd nes i’r gwaith adfer ei gwblhau.

Bydd Amgueddfa Cymru yn dyfarnu Tystysgrifau Gwyddonwyr Gwych i can pedwardeg o ysgolion ar draws y DU, i gydnabod eu cyfraniad i Ymchwiliad Bylbiau’r Gwanwyn.

Llongyfarchiadau anferth i bob un o’r ysgolion!

Diolch i bob un o’r 4,907 disgybl a helpodd eleni! Diolch am weithio mor galed yn plannu, arsylwi, mesur a chofnodi – rydych chi i gyd yn Wyddonwyr Gwych! Bydd pob un yn derbyn tystysgrif a phensel Gwyddonydd Gwych, ac fe fyddan nhw’n cyrraedd eich ysgol tua canol mis Mai.

Diolch yn fawr i Ymddiriedolaeth Edina am eu nawdd ac am helpu i wireddu’r holl  broject!

Enillwyr 2016:

Bydd pob un yn derbyn trip ysgol llawn atyniad natur.

Ysgol Pentrefoelas - Cymru

Biggar Primary – Yr Alban

Carnforth Primary - Lloegr

Yn ail a trydydd:

Ysgol Nant y Coed - Cymru

Severn Primary - Cymru

Abbey Primary School - Yr Alban

St. John the Baptist Primary School – Yr Alban

St. Nicholas' Primary School - Lloegr

The Blessed Sacrament Catholic Primary School - Lloegr

Clod uchel:

Cydnabyddiaeth arbennig:

Ysgolion i dderbyn tystysgrifau:

Diolch i chi am eich holl waith caled Cyfeillion Gwanwyn,

Athro'r Ardd

The Treasures: Adventures in Archaeology exhibition not only highlights the objects recovered from excavations but the process and adventure that many archaeologists went on while making these discoveries.  These archaeological adventures also coincide with the Visit Wales Year of Adventure.  In looking at the wider world of adventure, there are few things more adventurous than climbing Mount Everest.  And while it might seem that Mount Everest is a world away from Wales, the connections between the two reach lofty heights.

The first of those connections begins with the name.  Mount Everest was named after George Everest.  Born in Crickhowell, Powys in 1790 he trained as an engineer and spent most of his career working in India on a detailed survey of the entire subcontinent.  He served as Surveyor General of India and it was his successor, in 1857, who suggested the mountain be named after him.  Everest disagreed with this honour, he believed when naming geographical sites it was best to use local names.  However, since there were several local names for the mountain, the name Everest remained.  

    

There is another name connection between Mount Everest and Wales.  After the Great Trigonometrical Survey gave an official height to the mountain for the first time in 1856, it became something to conquer.  In 1921, Britain organised their first reconnaissance team whose job it was to map the various features and possible routes for future climbers.  George Mallory was a member of this team and while surveying, he came across a glacial valley and named it the Western Cwm.  For anyone who knows their Welsh, cwm means valley.  It is said that Mallory visited Snowdonia many times to climb and the name may reflect that.    

     

Training is key to any expedition, especially something as extreme as climbing Mount Everest.  The 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition began their training in 1952 and chose Snowdonia as their base.  While it might pale in comparison in height, Snowdon offered the climbers many opportunities to train on treacherous rock face and unstable scree.  Their headquarters was based at the Pen-y-Gwryd Inn, between Llanberis and Capel Curig.  You can still stay there and the walls are lined with mementos from the team’s time in residence.   

There were also two Welsh members of the 1953 Expedition.  In fact, it was almost a Welshman who reached the summit first.  Charles Evans was a teacher from North Wales and was the deputy expedition leader.  Evans and Tom Bourdillon were the first team to make an attempt on the summit on 26 of May.  They were a mere 100 meters from making history when they decided to turn back to camp because they were running low on oxygen.  While it is possible to climb Mount Everest without oxygen it undoubtably makes it more difficult and dangerous.  The 1953 Expedition knew the value of using oxygen properly and part of that was thanks to Griffith Pugh.  As a qualified doctor, Pugh was able to combine his medical knowledge and interest in Alpine sports by studying the effects of altitude on the body.  He was the physiologist of the expedition and his main duty was ensuring there was enough oxygen and that the other members acclimated to the altitude safely.  

On the 23^rd of May 1995, Caradog Jones, from Tregaron, Ceredigion, became the first Welshman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.  Twelve years and one day later, Tori James, from Pembrokeshire, became the first Welsh woman to accomplish the feat. 

Don't worry no violence was involved. It was the turn of Llainfadyn this week, our quarrymen’s cottage from Gwynedd, to receive a clean and make over from our Historic Interior and Conservation Volunteer team. It was a big task so thanks to everyone involved. This included stripping the beds and giving everything including the feather mattresses a good airing and beating to remove a winter's worth of dust and dirt. As long as the textiles are strong enough this is still a very effective method of removing grime without the aid of modern appliances.

We also held a competition between a modern broom and a traditional one made from hazel twigs (that all important witches’ accessory at Halloween). To help protect the collections on display it's important we try and reduce the amount of dust and dirt being brought into the houses by our thousands of visitors each year. Our first line of defence to achieve this is the cobbles outside, these help dislodge the grit and dirt from peoples' shoes before they even enter the building, but for these to work the cobbles need to be clean and not clogged up with dirt. So one of our first important tasks was to clean the stones outside.

So which broom won? The traditional of course, with its long twiggy brush it was the best at dislodging the dirt from between the cobbles. This job would certainly have been an everyday task for most households in the past.

Our second line of defence to keep the dust down is the rag rug, often found in cottages of this period. These were made from scraps of material or worn out clothes and blankets, so as well as providing much needed comfort and colour they were great at trapping dirt. They could then be picked up, taken outside and beaten with a carpet beater to remove the grime. We are currently making one for Llainfadyn, unfortunately the odd hail storm meant that Jane and Emma had to find seats by the open fire to carry on their work.

As usual in this monthly blog post I’d like to share with you some of the objects that have been recently added to the industry and transport collections.

The first object this month is this rugby shirt with a ‘Tower Colliery’ badge. It was worn in the 1992 British Coal Cup Final. The donor was working in Taff Merthyr Colliery at the time, and took part in the 1992 Final in which Tower Colliery won. At the end of the match he swapped his Taff Merthyr Colliery RFC shirt for this Tower Colliery one.

Also, this month the museum was donated two paintings of Pontardawe Steel, Tinplate & Sheet Works. These were painted in 1955 by local amateur artist David Humphreys (born 1882), who had been employed in the works.

“Bar Mill” depicts the roughing stand of the steelworks bar mill, whilst “Hot Mill’s” depicts part of the sheet mills. In both paintings the artist has carefully recorded the working positions of the rollermen and the tools and features of the mill environments, such as the racked bar-turning tongs and cabin on the left of “Bar Mill”, and the tea cans (‘sten’) and jackets in the right foreground of “Hot Mill's”. Such attention to detail to the plant and environment is a distinctive hallmark of an industry ‘insider’ recording scenes he was intimately familiar with.

This electric cap lamp was manufactured by Oldham & Son Ltd. in about 1995. It is a standard coal-mining specification cap lamp, but is distinguished by being specifically inscribed “H.M.I” (Her Majesty’s Inspector (of Mines)) on the metal battery lid. It was owned and used by one of the South Wales Inspectors of Mines between 1996 and c.2004 during the course of his work.

Amgueddfa Cymru holds by far the largest and wide-ranging Welsh-interest share certificate collection held by any public museum. The collection ranges across railway and maritime transport, coal mining, the mining and smelting of metals, general industry, and service industries (finance, leisure, consumer products, etc.).

The museum is actively collecting in this field, and this month we have added two further examples to the collections.

The first is for the The Gwendraeith [sic] Valleys Lime Coal & Railway Co Ltd. This company was formed in February 1868 to develop the limestone and coal deposits in the lower Gwendraeth Valley. The company wanted to develop limestone quarrying and lime burning, and to acquire the existing railway which it intended to extend into the coalfield on the south side of the valley. However only 185 shares were subscribed to and with insufficient capital the company was wound up in December 1869, having achieved nothing on the ground. This certificate is a good example of a number of companies that tried unsuccessfully to develop the anthracite area of the south Wales coalfield.

The second certificate is for the Llynvi & Ogmore Railway Company. This company was formed in 1866 to amalgamate the broad gauge Llynvi Railway Company of 1846 and the standard gauge Ogmore Valley Railway of 1863. Both companies’ railways were focussed on Porthcawl Harbour and both were dominated by the Brogden family, Lancashire industrialists who developed the Maesteg iron and coal industry and who expanded dock facilities at Porthcawl. The company was managed by the Great Western Railway from 1873, and eventually absorbed by the G.W.R. in 1883.

This object is a cast iron artillery round made in Blaenavon steelworks in the mid 19^th century. Surplus ones were re-forged for bridle chains on colliery headgears. The chains can be seen in the last photograph of the three below showing blacksmiths at Big Pit in about 1950.

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