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A photograph of walkers in Eryri (Snowdonia) taken by Geoff Charles, 1963

Written by Bethan Ifan

6 January 2025

The heading comes from the sub-title of Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd’s Llên y Llysiau (‘Plant Lore’) project, ‘the project which quarries for the gold beneath the bracken’, this saying derived in turn from an old agricultural proverb relating to the quality of various farming landscapes: ‘Gold beneath the bracken, silver beneath the gorse, famine beneath the heather’.  Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd (the Edward Llwyd Society) was established by Dafydd Davies, Rhandirmwyn in 1978, adopting the name of naturalist, herbalist, linguist and antiquary Edward Llwyd (or Lhuyd) (1660-1709).  The society operates entirely through the medium of Welsh, its main aim being to promote awareness and appreciation of the natural world and the preservation of the natural environment.  Regular talks and events on nature and environmental topics are held, together with Saturday walks to some of Wales’s most magnificent locations.   

The Cofnodion Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd (Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd Records) archive describes the society’s Llên y Llysiau project as a means to ‘celebrate our use of plants through the ages and raise awareness of our relationship with them within our traditions, especially those in the Welsh language or of Welsh provenance’.  This research developed into a regular article format in Y Naturiaethwr (The Naturalist), a twice-yearly periodical published by the society (see the Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd website (contents in Welsh) and under the heading Y Naturiaethwr within the archive (also in Welsh)).  Associated with Llên y Llysiau is Llên Natur (‘Nature Lore’), a database described as ‘a nature website for the people of Wales’, wherein one can browse the Tywyddiadur (a site relating to weather conditions throughout history) and the Bywiadur (an online encyclopedia of plants and animals), as well as a gallery of photographs of the natural world from every corner of Wales (contents in Welsh). If you prefer to handle hard copy, a few paper editions of Llên Natur bulletins may be found within the archive.

Neither project, however, would have seen the light of day without the efforts of a dedicated number of society members known as the Standardisation of Names and Terms Group (Grŵp Safoni Enwau a Thermau).  The archival records of the group’s meetings and correspondence is evidence of their concerted efforts to foster the use of the Welsh language in the discussion and study of the natural world – and not only within Wales, as an email communication from London’s Natural History Museum in April 2010 testifies to no fewer than 11,534 Welsh names having been added to their database.  

Perhaps the golden kernel of the archive is the unique collection of samples of lichen, mosses and liverwort collected and described by the late Ieuan Roberts, Lampeter, who served as Chair both of Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd  and Y Naturiaethwr.  The plant collection is contained within a hardcover notebook bearing the stamp of the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, together with Ieuan Roberts’s name and address.  This is the fruit of diligent and conscientious research, so please exercise care when handling the volume so as not to undo this obvious labour of love. 

You will need to do a bit of further digging in order to discover one other section of the archive …. A series of photographs, slides and prints taken during Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd’s weekly walks between the 1980s and 2007 have been transferred to the National Library of Wales’s Photographic Department, where they may be accessed on request. Perhaps you too, like me, will recognise some of the walkers: amongst a group which ascended Carn Gafallt near the town of Rhayader back in June 1992 I spotted my parents, both younger than I am now.  A treasured memory.

Category: Article