Post Description

Luchtige schelmenroman

Twm Shon Catti (Thomas Jones) lived from 1530 - 1609. Known as the Wild Wag of Wales, he was born near Tregaron. He seems to have been a two-sided personality - bard, scholar, landowner on the one hand; practical joker, wit, highwayman and general scallywag on the other.

The legend of Twm Sion Cati lived on in the oral tradition in Wales for 200 years before being written down by Meyrick in the early 19th century. There exist his will, his genealogies, his poetry scattered through different manuscripts, his pardon in five aliases under Great Seal 1559 and an account of his conflict with Vicar Morgan Davyd of Tregaron in the reports of the Court of Star Chamber around 1600. The ruins of Fountaingate are still visible beside the Tregaron-Abergwesyn road a mile outside the town. Ystradffin, with  an 18th-century façade, still stands and Abbey House, Strata Florida, is much as it was. Twm Sion Cati's cave near Ystradffin, Rhandirmwyn, Carmarthenshire, is popular with  tourists. It is hidden in an R.S.P.B, nature reserve. The kite still flies there. The lair up on Hawkmoor is impossible to find, except perhaps by a blind harpist.