A talk on Thomas Pennant
Tue, Oct 15th 2024 at 6:30 pm -
A talk at Whitford Church
Thomas Pennant
A talk by Professor Mary-Ann Constantine of the University of Wales Centre for advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies based in the National Library Aberystwyth.
Thomas Pennant was born in Downing Hall, Whitford in 1726 and died in 1798. He is buried somewhere in the chancel of the local Church, where the talk was being given.
The Family were fairly well off, deriving an income from fairly large landholdings and an income from mines, and, presumably, later from the industry that developed in Greenfield Valley. After his father’s death he used his geological knowledge to open a lead mine in his estates. Unlike the distant relations who built Penrhyn Castle he didn’t have any direct involvement in slavery but did note that Chester was a centre for dealing in Anglo Saxon slaves so there was nothing new in that unpleasantness.
The hall was finally destroyed in 1950s although some cellars remain.
As a child he was given a copy of Frances Willaby’s Ornithology an extensively illustrated bird book. From there he developed an extensive interest In wildlife, scenery and fossils. Many of the latter were provided by the workers in the local mines.
In the 1760s he published in several volumes “British Zoology”. He spent time examining and scientifically naming the shellfish of the Dee estuary.
In 1769 he made a trip up the East coast of Scotland. Excited by this he repeated the trip extending to the western isles, this time accompanied by an artist, Moses Grifiths, and a botanist, a practice he followed on subsequent journeys.
He made a couple journeys across North Wales, stopping with local gentry. He visited Francis Middleton in Gwynyrnog, Denbigh a couple of years before Samuel Johnson but, unlike him, found Francis M very knowledgeable and capable of keeping the conversation flowing and interesting. Most of the stories in the books are accompanied by comments or notes of contradictory versions.
In Denbigh he visited LLeweni and Moses painted pictures of the house (demolished in 1925) and the Palladian designed dyeworks, designed by Thomas Sandby and opened in 1785. Thomas Fitzmaurice, an MP who had purchased the Hall and estates, (for £110,000 in 1776) from Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton Bt, a fellow MP, whose Irish lands produced flax and this was imported to be processed in Denbigh. Unfortunately this was, in due course, doomed to failure and ceased trading the buildings being converted to accommodation, (although various accounts have them demolished in 1818). Rotary President Ifor remarked that when his family moved to Bodfari in the 50s his family lived in the end house for some time.
He visited Richard Clough’s house in Bach y Graig. He noted that local rumour was that it had been built by the Devil who kept a room there for residence. Richard Clough was, he reported the son of the parish clerk who rang the bell (Cloch later mutated to Clough). He noted the local proverb “Efe a aeth y Lough” (become very rich)
Each of the journeys was followed by a book, the profits of which were used to fund subsequent publications.
He had a wide correspondence both amongst the “scientific” community both in the UK and abroad. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society
Gilbert White, “The Natural History of Selbourne” was a regular correspondent and many of the chapters of that book are letters to him. Linnaeus, the Swedish scientist who was developing his two part taxonomy was a regular contact. The Dutchess of Portland, a collector of many things, (c.f. The Portland Vase) including seashells.
As soon as the Cook expedition landed he went down to see Joseph Banks the botanist, who although impressed, apparently looked down on him because he wasn’t aristocracy. (Joseph Banks was ex Harrow and Oxford and, presumably thought himself one step above the Country gentry)
In 1796 he published a Local History of Whitford and Holywell that covered the industrialisation of the Greenfield Valley.
His writing obviously influenced subsequent published journal writers. For example the observation that St Winifred’s well “The spring boils with vast impetuosity…21 tons in a minute” appear almost verbatim in Warner, 1798, Skrine, 1798 and Bingley, 1804 (Although Bingley translated it into eighty four hogsheads)
In the book he tells the tale of the beheaded Winifred rolling to where the spring burst forth through the blood. He notes that the chemicals in the water were collected by the moss which then had red roots.
His accounts obviously inspired others and between 1760 and 1819 there are 632 known journals of tours around Wales of which 162 were published.
Unfortunately most of the journals that he wrote en voyage are lost but there is one and some fragments. He had expressed the wish that they not be published but in the interests of history they are being transcribed!
He was married twice, his first wife having died after childbirth with their second daughter. His son David helped him with a book using the collected correspondence from his international cotacts.
The team publish their work transcribing and digitising matters at www.curioustravellers.ac.uk . Although the Library is digitising volumes they are trying to index using volunteers and add marginal notes gleaned from his diaries.
They are also trying to get pictures of his collections , currently in boxes in the Natural History museum in London, up on the net. It was suggested that they could be repatriated to North Wales.
Thomas Pennant
Sgwrs gan yr Athro Mary-Ann Constantine o Ganolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru a leolir yn Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Aberystwyth.
Ganed Thomas Pennant yn Neuadd Downing, Chwitffordd ym 1726 a bu farw yn 1798. Mae wedi ei gladdu yn rhywle yng nghangell yr Eglwys leol, lle roedd y sgwrs yn cael ei thraddodi.
Roedd y Teulu’n weddol gefnog, yn cael incwm o ddaliadau tir gweddol fawr ac incwm o fwyngloddiau, ac, yn ôl pob tebyg, yn ddiweddarach o’r diwydiant a ddatblygodd yn Nyffryn Maes Glas. Ar ôl marwolaeth ei dad defnyddiodd ei wybodaeth ddaearegol i agor mwynglawdd plwm yn ei stadau. Yn wahanol i’r perthnasau pell a gododd Gastell Penrhyn nid oedd ganddo unrhyw gysylltiad uniongyrchol â chaethwasiaeth ond nododd fod Caer yn ganolfan ar gyfer delio â chaethweision Eingl-Sacsonaidd felly nid oedd dim byd newydd yn yr annifyrrwch hwnnw. Dinistriwyd y neuadd o'r diwedd yn y 1950au er bod rhai seleri yn parhau.
Tra yn blentyn cafodd gopi o Adaryddiaeth Frances Willaby, llyfr adar darluniadol helaeth. Oddi yno datblygodd ddiddordeb helaeth mewn bywyd gwyllt, golygfeydd a ffosilau. Darparwyd llawer o'r olaf gan y gweithwyr yn y pyllau glo lleol.
Yn y 1760au cyhoeddodd mewn sawl cyfrol “British Zoology”. Treuliodd amser yn archwilio ac yn enwi pysgod cregyn aber y Ddyfrdwy yn wyddonol. Ym 1769 gwnaeth daith i fyny arfordir dwyreiniol yr Alban. Wedi'i gyffroi gan hyn, ailadroddodd y daith yn ymestyn i ynysoedd y gorllewin, y tro hwn yng nghwmni'r arlunydd, Moses Griffiths, a botanegydd, arferiad a ddilynodd ar deithiau dilynol.Gwnaeth gwpl o deithiau ar draws Gogledd Cymru, gan aros gyda bonedd lleol. Ymwelodd â Francis Middleton yng Gwaenynog, Dinbych ychydig flynyddoedd cyn Samuel Johnson ond, yn wahanol iddo, cafodd Francis M yn wybodus iawn ac yn alluog i gadw'r sgwrs i lifo a diddorol. Mae sylwadau neu nodiadau o fersiynau gwrthgyferbyniol yn cyd-fynd â'r rhan fwyaf o'r straeon yn y llyfrau.
Yn Ninbych ymwelodd â Lleweni a pheintiodd Moses luniau o'r tŷ (a ddymchwelwyd yn 1925) a dyluniodd y Palladian lifwaith, a ddyluniwyd gan Thomas Sandby ac a agorwyd yn 1785. Thomas Fitzmaurice, AS a brynodd y Neuadd a'r stadau, (am £110,000 yn 1776) oddi wrth Syr Robert Salusbury Cotton Bt, cyd-Aelod Seneddol, yr oedd ei diroedd Gwyddelig yn cynhyrchu llin ac a fewnforiwyd hwn i'w brosesu yn Ninbych. Yn anffodus, roedd hyn, maes o law, wedi'i dynghedu i fethiant a rhoddodd y gorau i fasnachu'r adeiladau a'u trosi'n llety, (er bod cyfrifon amrywiol wedi eu dymchwel yn 1818). Dywedodd Llywydd y Rotari, Ifor, pan symudodd ei deulu i Fodfari yn y 50au bu ei deulu yn byw yn y tŷ diwedd am beth amser.Ymwelodd â thŷ Richard Clough yn Bach y Graig. Nododd mai son lleol oedd ei fod wedi ei adeiladu gan y Diafol a oedd yn cadw ystafell yno i breswylio. Richard Clough oedd, adroddodd, oedd yn fab i clerc y plwyf a ganodd y gloch (treiglad Cloch yn ddiweddarach i Clough). Nododd y ddihareb leol “Efe a aeth y Lough” (dod yn gyfoethog iawn)
Dilynwyd pob un o'r teithiau gan lyfr, a defnyddiwyd yr elw i ariannu cyhoeddiadau dilynol.
Roedd ganddo ohebiaeth eang ymhlith y gymuned “wyddonol” yn yr UD a thramor. Yr oedd yn Gymrawd o'r Gymdeithas Frenhinol
Yr oedd Gilbert White, “The Natural History of Selbourne” yn ohebydd cyson ac mae llawer o benodau’r llyfr hwnnw yn llythyrau ato. Roedd Linnaeus, y gwyddonydd o Sweden a oedd yn datblygu ei dacsonomeg dwy ran yn gyswllt rheolaidd. The Dutchess of Portland, casglwr llawer o bethau, (c.f. The Portland Vase) yn cynnwys cregyn môr.Cyn gynted ag y glaniodd alldaith Cook aeth i lawr i weld Joseph Banks y botanegydd, a oedd yn edrych i lawr arno i bob golwg, er ei fod wedi creu argraff, oherwydd nad oedd yn uchelwyr. (Roedd Joseph Banks yn gyn Harrow a Rhydychen ac, yn ôl pob tebyg, yn meddwl ei hun un cam uwchlaw boneddigion y Wlad)
Ym 1796 cyhoeddodd Local History of Whitford and Holywell a oedd yn ymdrin â diwydiannu Dyffryn Maes Glas.
Mae'n amlwg bod ei waith ysgrifennu wedi dylanwadu ar awduron cyfnodolion cyhoeddedig dilynol. Er enghraifft mae’r sylw bod ffynnon Santes Gwenffrewi “The spring berwi gyda byrbwylltra helaeth…21 tunnell mewn munud” yn ymddangos bron air am air yn Warner, 1798, Skrine, 1798 a Bingley, 1804 (er bod Bingley wedi ei chyfieithu’n wyth deg pedwar o hogsheads)
Yn y llyfr mae'n adrodd hanes y Winifred di-ben yn treiglo i'r man lle torrodd y gwanwyn drwy'r gwaed. Mae'n nodi bod y cemegau yn y dŵr wedi'u casglu gan y mwsogl a oedd wedyn â gwreiddiau coch.
Mae'n amlwg bod ei adroddiadau wedi ysbrydoli eraill a rhwng 1760 a 1819 mae 632 o gyfnodolion teithiau hysbys o gwmpas Cymru a chyhoeddwyd 162 ohonynt.Yn anffodus mae'r rhan fwyaf o'r cyfnodolion a ysgrifennodd ar ei daith ar goll ond mae un a rhai darnau. Roedd wedi mynegi dymuniad i beidio â chael eu cyhoeddi ond er budd hanes maent yn cael eu trawsgrifio!
Bu'n briod ddwywaith, a'i wraig gyntaf wedi marw ar ôl genedigaeth gyda'u hail ferch. Helpodd ei fab David ef gyda llyfr gan ddefnyddio'r ohebiaeth a gasglwyd o'i gotactau rhyngwladol.
Mae'r tîm yn cyhoeddi eu gwaith trawsgrifio a digideiddio materion yn www.curioustravellers.ac.uk . Er bod y Llyfrgell yn digido cyfrolau maent yn ceisio mynegeio gan ddefnyddio gwirfoddolwyr ac ychwanegu nodiadau ymylol a gasglwyd o'i ddyddiaduron.
Maen nhw hefyd yn ceisio cael lluniau o'i gasgliadau, sydd ar hyn o bryd mewn blychau yn yr amgueddfa Hanes Natur yn Llundain, i fyny ar y rhwyd. Awgrymwyd y gellid eu dychwelyd i Ogledd Cymru.
