Poet and shepherd
‘Yr Ysgwrn’ in Trawsfynydd was Hedd Wyn’s home, and the surrounding area was the inspiration for many of his poems.
He was educated at the local elementary school and Sunday school, but through his own inquisitiveness, he gained a good knowledge of culture and composed many well-known poems, such as ‘Gwae Fi Fy Myw’.
In 1917, under the Military Service Act 1916, Hedd Wyn was forced to join the army and fight in the First World War. He fought in the trenches in France and died at the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, on July 31st, 1917.
Just six weeks later, he was announced as the winner of the Birkenhead National Eisteddfod Chair, and ever since, that Eisteddfod is remembered as the ‘Eisteddfod of the Black Chair’.
Hedd Wyn was immortalised in R. Williams Parry’s ‘Englynion Coffa Hedd Wyn’ and in the film ‘Hedd Wyn’, which was nominated for an Oscar in 1994.