Welsh costume and recipes - notes intended to help with school

projects.
This picture (taken in 1913) depicts a young lady wearing the popular concept of 19th
Century Welsh costume. The hat, made of lack felt, has a high crown and wide rim, and
is worn o!er a lace cap. This young lady wears a red flannel shawl o!er a crisp white
louse. The skirt is full and made of wool with a lack and white check pattern. "rown up
ladies would ha!e worn a full length skirt, and a white starched apron. #roper Welsh
ladies always wore lack woollen stockings and lack shoes. $ asket, made from willow
withies would often e carried.
(%ore detailed information on costume and the Welsh hat)
We also ha!e a Welsh flag in colour and a Welsh flag line drawing suitale for colouring.
&f you ha!e a printer connected to your computer, choose 'print' from your rowser menu
for a hard copy. &f you need further details aout Wales, go to the (anguage, Currency and
)tatistics page.
What's for tea?
Welsh Rarebit. #ut two large talespoons of eer into a saucepan. $dd a talespoon of utter, *
ounces of Cheddar cheese, season with salt and pepper and add a pinch of mustard powder. )tir
ingredients o!er a low heat until thoroughly hot (ut not oiling). #our the mi+ture onto slices of
well uttered, freshly made toast. ,rown lightly for a few moments under the grill.
Bara Brith (Speckled Bread). &ngredients- one pound white flour, * teaspoons dried yeast, .
fluid ounces of milk, / ounces of rown sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 ounces utter or margarine, 1
egg, 1 teaspoon mi+ed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice), 1/ ounces mi+ed dried fruit (sultanas,
dates, etc).
Warm the milk in a saucepan until it is hand0hot, pour it into a owl. Whisk in one teaspoon of
rown sugar, whisk in dried yeast, then lea!e in a warm place for 11 minutes. )ift flour and salt
into a large mi+ing owl and stir in the rest of the rown sugar. %i+ in the utter 2 margarine, stir
in the mi+ed spice then pour in the eaten egg. $dd the frothed yeast and mi+ to a dough. Turn
the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (aout 1 minutes). #ut the
dough ack in the owl and co!er with a cloth. (ea!e in a warm place to rise until it has douled
in si3e (aout one and a half hours).
$fter the dough has risen, knock it down to get the air out and knead in the fruit. )hape the
dough and place it in a greased loaf tin. Co!er with a cloth and lea!e in a warm place to rise
again (aout 34 minutes).
,ake in a pre0heated o!en (gas mark 1, 351 degrees 6, or 194 degrees Celsius). $fter 34 minutes,
co!er the top of the loaf with kitchen foil to pre!ent it o!er0rowning, and continue to ake for a
further 34 minutes. Turn the loaf out, cool it on a wire rack and rush the top with honey. )lice
thinly and ser!e uttered.
Data Wales Index Page
Traditional Welsh Costume
%s. C. )te!ens of the %useum of Welsh (ife, (to e found at )t. 6agans, near Cardiff)
contriutes the following-
'The popular image of Welsh 'national' dress, of a woman in a red cloak and tall lack hat, is
one which has de!eloped as a result of !arious influences which arose in the nineteenth century.
The costume regarded as national dress is ased on clothing worn y Welsh countrywomen
during the early nineteenth century, namely a striped flannel petticoat, worn under a flannel open0
fronted edgown, with an apron, shawl and kerchief or cap. The hats generally worn were the
same as hats worn y men at the period. The tall 'chimney' hat did not appear until the late
1.*47s and seems to e ased on an amalgamation of men7s top hats and a form of high hat worn
during the 1594 0 1./4 period in country areas.
(ady (lano!er, the wife of an ironmaster in "went, was !ery influential in encouraging the
wearing of 'national dress', oth in her own home and at eisteddfodau. )he considered it
important to encourage the use of the Welsh language and the wearing of an identifiale Welsh
costume. )he succeeded in her aim mainly ecause people felt that their national identity was
under threat and the wearing of a national costume was one way to declare that identity.
$ further influence was the work of artists producing prints for the rising tourist trade, which had
the effect of popularising the idea of a Welsh costume, and later the work of photographers who
produced postcards in their thousands, contriuting to the stereotyping of one style of costume, as
opposed to the !arious styles which were worn earlier in the century.'
&n her list for further reading, %s. )te!ens mentions-
$ugusta 8all, (ady (lano!er, 0 '9n the $d!antages resulting from the #reser!ation of the
Welsh (anguage and the :ational Costume of Wales' (1.3*)
and we might add-
;en <theridge 0 'Welsh Costume, in the 1.th and 19th century'. This small ook,
pulished in 1955 y Christopher =a!ies (#ulishers) (td. of )wansea, contains many
prints and drawings from national archi!es. %any pulished and unpulished literary
sources are also carefully noted. The &),: reference for this ook is- 4 511* 4*11 3
The Welsh hat
=id Welsh women really wear the high crowned lack hat that often appears in pictures which
purport to portray historic Welsh costume> The answer is yes, ut this must e ?ualified. &t seems
to the writer that 19th. century romanticism ga!e the tall hat an importance that it did not really
deser!e. The drawing ao!e is ased on a car!ing in (lan!etherine church near $erga!enny in
south Wales and is thought to represent the wife of a !icar who died in 1@/1. This is, howe!er, a
!ery rare e+ample and & found no further instances of such headgear in a fairly comprehensi!e
sur!ey of Welsh memorial church rasses. &n fact, the women portrayed in these memorials are
more likely to e wearing a hat which resemles the $merican )tetsonA
The following e+tracts (all culled from '(etters from Wales' edited y Boan $se, )eren, /444)
demonstrate that the tall hat was a common sight in the first half of the 19th. century, at least in
north and mid Wales.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, writing from Aberystwyth in 1839. '& cannot say that & ha!e seen
much worth the troule of the Courney, always e+cepting the Welsh0women7s hats which look
!ery comical to an <nglish eye, eing in truth men7s hats, ea!ers, with the rim a little road,
and tied under the chin with a lack riand. )ome faces look !ery pretty in them.'
Charles Greville, writing from north Wales in181. '&t has an odd effect to see the women
with their high0crowned, round hats on in churchD the dress is not unecoming.' $nd later- 'The
women, in point of costume, ha!e no resemlance to <nglish women. ,esides the round hats
which they almost all wear. and which, though not unecoming, gi!e them a peculiar air, a great
many of them though not all of them, wear a sort of sandal on their feet ... '
!athaniel "awthorne, writing from north Wales in 18#. $"awthorne made several visits
to north Wales d%ring his stint as Ameri&an Cons%l in Liver'ool(. '%any of the Welsh
women, particularly the elder ones, wear lack ea!er hats, high crowned and almost precisely
like men7s. &t makes them look ugly and witch0like. Welsh is still the pre!alent language ... '
,ut can we assume that such hats had remained in fashion since the 15th. century> This seems
unlikely. &n 1.3*, $ugusta 8all, (ady (lano!er, won a pri3e for an essay on the 'ad!antages of
preser!ing the language and dress of Wales' at the :ational <isteddfod in Cardiff. $lthough of
<nglish parentage, (ady (lano!er had ecome an ardent supporter of Welsh traditions and
customs. )er!ants at her estate in south Wales were issued with her concept of a Welsh costume
and she in!ented (and pulished) a series of costumes which were supposed to e typical of the
!arious Welsh counties. 8er aim was to re!i!e the Welsh flannel industry ut there seems little
dout that she succeeded in skewing our concept of Welsh costume. (Enwittingly, she also
succeeded in skewing, for many years, our understanding of Welsh history y ecoming a patron
of the anti?uarian and manuscript forger &olo %organwg 0 ut that7s another storyA)
&n his wonderful little ook 'The )outh Wales )?uires' (pulished in 19/@) 8erert %. Faughan
oser!ed rather acidly- '(ike many aliens of a fanatical nature, (ady (lano!er ruthlessly inflicted
her new fad on all and sundry. $s the countryside around (lano!er was wholly anglici3ed, she
met this difficulty y importing a numer of monoglot Welsh0speaking %ethodists from :orth
Cardiganshire, and their pastor with them- a step that naturally did not please the local !icar, with
whom her ladyship speedily fell out'. (6or another !iewpoint see 8elen 6order7s (ady (lanofer
>)
)ee also a note on Welsh costume from the %useum of Welsh (ife.
The Welsh Flag

The Welsh flag has two e?ual hori3ontal stripes, white ao!e green, and a large red
dragon passant. The dragon standard was perhaps first seen in ,ritain in the shape of the
'draco' a standard carried y the cohorts of the Goman legion. The Gomans appear to
ha!e een inspired y the dragon standard carried y their =acian and #arthian enemies
and had adopted this de!ice y the third century. Carl (ofmark (see elow) argues that
the dragon of the cohort was more familiar to the ,ritish than was the eagle standard of
the legions. $s Goman legions withdrew at the end of the fourth century and the ,ritish
were left alone to face )a+on attacks, the dragon would ha!e een a natural symol for
those who wished to preser!e their Gomanised way of life against the ararian in!ader.
The ancient poets $neirin and Taliesin use the Welsh word for dragon 'draig' in the
sense of 'warrior' or 'leader' and this usage remained to the %iddle $ges. &n the
8istoria ,rittonum (ascried to :ennius) of around .44 $.=. the dragon is seen as a
symol of national independence in the story of the red dragon attling with the white
dragon of the )a+on enemy.
$t the time of the :orman in!asion of <ngland in 14@@, the dragon symol seems to
ha!e een used y oth sides. The ,ayeu+ tapestry shows king 8arold close to a dragon
standard as he falls and the dragon also appears on the pennant of one of duke William7s
messengers. (There is a drawing of this on our page aout pedigrees and coats of arms in
Wales.)
=espite its occasional use y other figures famous in Welsh history, the red dragon
ecame the symol of the Welsh nation through its adoption y the Tudor ancestors of
king 8enry F&&. <dmund and Basper Tudor had a dragon as crest and supporter to the
arms granted them y 8enry F&. When 8enry Tudor faced king Gichard &&& at the attle
of ,osworth in 1*.1 his attle standards numered three. 9ne of these carried the arms
of )t. "eorge of <ngland, one the arms of the house of ,eaufort and on one was a 'Ged
ffyry dragon peyntid upon white and "rene )arcenet'. &t is held that this dragon anner
represented 8enry Tudor7s claim to e a true representati!e of the ancient kings of
,ritain and ser!ed as his triute to the Welsh people who had made his !ictory
possile.
)e!eral people ha!e written to =ata Wales aout !ariations in the way the dragon is
rendered. They ha!e noticed se!eral !ariations on the We and wonder, not surprisingly,
which one is correct. & took up this matter with Gouge =ragon #ursui!ant at the College
of $rms in (ondon. This gentleman, whose office was created y 8enry F&& soon after
the ,attle of ,osworth 6ield, reminds us that mythical creatures ha!e always een
drawn in a !ariety of styles. &t appears that there is no 'standard' Welsh dragon, modern
renderings must e ased on historic precedents ut a degree of !ariation is ine!itale.
The dragon on the flag must, howe!er, face to the left, e sited centrally and co!er e?ual
parts of the white and green panels.
The daffodil and the leek are also famous emlems of Wales. The Wales Tourist ,oard
produced the following notes-
'9n the e!idence of )hakespeare, the leek was the recognised emlem of his day, and
there is written e!idence that it ecame the Welsh emlem consideraly earlier. <ntries
in the household accounts of the Tudor ;ings include payments for leeks worn y the
household guards on )t. =a!id7s =ay. $ccording to one legend, the leek is linked to )t.
=a!id ecause he ordered his soldiers to wear them on their helmets when they fought a
!ictorious attle against the pagan )a+ons in a field full of leeks. &t was more likely,
howe!er, that the leek was linked with )t. =a!id and adopted as a national symol
ecause of its importance to the national diet in days of old, particularly in (ent.'
'The crest of three ostrich plumes and the motto of '&ch =ien' were adopted y the
,lack #rince at the ,attle of Crecy. The feathers and motto were suggested y the
decorations of the ;ing of ,ohemia who led the ca!alry charges against the <nglish.'
6or a good summary of references to the dragon in ancient literature and notes on the
red dragon of Wales, see the ook y Carl (ofmark 0 $ 8istory of the Ged =ragon,
1991, &),: [email protected]..
)ome of the &rests in the
'edigree
of the *organs of Tredegar.
#edigrees
and
Coats of
$rms
in Wales.
Why was the pedigree so important>
The Welsh have long been well +nown for their interest in 'edigrees and many reasons have been
advan&ed to e,'lain this. Wales was never a -+ingdom- in the normal sense. .ower lay in the hands of a
variable n%mber of 'rin&es, the s&ions of an&ient families whi&h had won 'ower over areas large and
small, by for&e of arms. To /%dge by the written eviden&e whi&h s%rvives
from soon after the !orman 0ren&h &on1%est of 2ngland in 1344 and the
attem'ted s%b/%gation of Wales, these Welsh 'rin&es were bold and
fero&io%s adversaries. The re&ords show that violen&e and s%dden death
were their &onstant &om'anions. 5%+e William of !ormandy had invaded
in the belief that his own an&estry entitled him to the 2nglish &rown and
the Welsh invo+ed their 'edigrees in the &onstant str%ggle for 'ower in
their own lands. 0or some years after the invasion and the im'osition of the *ar&her Lords the Welsh
'rin&es were /%st as li+ely to be fighting their &o%sins as their !orman enemies. Their bards $the 'oets of
the 'rin&es( had the d%ty of re&iting 'edigrees and were 1%alified for this tas+ by their rigoro%s and
e,tended training. 5r. *i&hael )iddons $Wales "erald 2,traordinary( has observed that the the bards
added heraldry to their re'ertoire in the 1#th. &ent%ry and retained this d%ty %ntil the wor+ was ta+en over
by gentlemen6anti1%arians in the early 17th. &ent%ry.
Also im'ortant in this &onte,t is the fa&t that for most of re&orded time, the Welsh did not s%bs&ribe to the
notion of primogeniture $the inheritan&e of a father8s estate by his oldest &hild(. 9n Wales, land wo%ld be
shared between s%rviving &hildren $gavelkind(. This &%stom en&o%raged dis'%te and the 'edigree too+ its
'la&e with the sword and the s'ear in the armo%ry of the ambitio%s. 2ven as late as the eighteenth &ent%ry
the 2nglish were 'rone to /o+e abo%t the reveren&e the Welsh gentry &lass showed for their 'edigrees. !o
do%bt the 'oint of the /o+e was often that the Welshman, however long his 'edigree, wo%ld be relatively
'oor by 2nglish standards. The Welsh, on the other hand, &o%ld afford to ado't a slightly s%'er&ilio%s air
sin&e they tended to see their 2nglish e1%ivalents as mere %'starts. After all, most of the grand families of
2ngland &o%ld be regarded as of !orman 0ren&h or at best of Anglo )a,on origin whereas the Welsh
tra&ed their own roots ba&+ to the an&ients who inhabited :ritain at the time of the ;oman invasion,
aro%nd <333 years ago.
Coats of Arms.
The !orman 0ren&h +nights who invaded 2ngland in 1344 &arried devi&es on their shields. 2,am'les of
these &an be seen in the :ayea%, Ta'estry whi&h was made soon after the invasion. The drawing shows
-5%+e William8s messengers- from the ta'estry 6 noti&e that the shield in the foregro%nd &arries the devi&e
of the dragon $in its early ser'entine form(.
"eraldi& bearings that be&ame hereditary began to a''ear in the se&ond half of the 1<th &ent%ry. The first
great seal of =ing ;i&hard 9 $reigned 1189 6 1199( show him mo%nted and &arrying a shield embla>oned
with a symbol of valo%r, the ram'ant lion. 9n his se&ond seal, the shield &arries a de'i&tion of the three
lions $'assant gardant( whi&h were to remain in the royal arms.
9n time, heraldi& symbols &ame to be 'ainted on the sleeveless s%r&oats worn over armo%r and the term
-&oat of arms- a''eared. 2arly re&ords of the arms asso&iated with 'arti&%lar families in&l%de the seals of
the h%ndred barons who signed and sealed a letter to .o'e :onifa&e ?999 in 1331, and the do&%ments
&alled ;olls of Arms whi&h &ommemorate +nights attending battles and to%rnaments at aro%nd the same
time.
Welsh examples.
In the )t. George ;oll, "owell a' ;ees $si&( bore, g%les, a &hevron between three s'%r6rowells argent. )ir
@ryan $si&( de )t. .ierre bore, at the first 5%nstable to%rnament 1338, argent, a bend sable, a label $3(
g%les 6 of five 'oints.
"owell a' *eredith $". 999 ;oll( bore, 'aly $4( or and a>%re on a fess g%les three m%llets argent. $*%llet
seems to be from the 0ren&h -*olette-, meaning the rowell of a s'%r.(
Lord ;hys, who had be&ome the =ing8s A%sti&iar of so%th Wales in 1171 bore, g%les, a lion ram'ant and a
bord%re engrailed or a &res&ent for differen&e.
9n time, and as heraldry develo'ed, those entitled to bear arms were 'ro%d to dis'lay -a&hievements-.
These too+ the form of a shield sha'e sometimes bearing do>ens of 'i&t%res of the arms of families
related to them by marriage $see o%r note on a *organ 'edigree of 141<(.

The leek and the daffodil 0 oth emlems of Wales.
They share the Welsh name Ceninen.


The leek is known to ha!e een displayed as a Welsh emlem in 113@ and in 8enry F,
)hakespeare acknowledged this as an ancient custom. 9ne legend tells of a attle etween the
Welsh and the )a+ons fought in a field of leeks. $t some time in the past, the leek was an
important part of the diet ut it is not commonly eaten today. &t is delicious when part of the
traditional leek and potato soup.
The daffodil has no such claim to literary and historical distinction. &t has ecome the more
fa!oured emlem of late, howe!er, since some people find that it makes a more attracti!e
uttonhole on )t. =a!id7s day . =affodils and new0orn lams herald the summer in Wales.
Welsh Lamb.
&s it any wonder that Welsh lam is considered the est in the world when sheep are raised in a
landscape like this>
$t the eginning of $pril new orn lams herald the approach of fine weather in Wales. Wales is
a country of small farms and sheep rearing is an age old tradition.
These shots were taken on farmland surrounding #enhow Castle in the county of %onmouthshire
("went), )outh Wales. &n case you are interested we ha!e a picture of the farmer7s sheepdog here.
These dogs are used on farms almost e+clusi!ely and ha!e a reputation for high intelligence.
The Welsh Fla