Childhood home of Caradog Prichard, Bethesda

button_lang_welshbutton_lang_japaneseChildhood home of Caradog Prichard, Pen y Bryn Road, Bethesda

bethesda_caradog_prichardIt was in this house, Llwyn Onn, that Caradog Prichard (1904-1980) spent his early childhood. His largely autobiographical novel Un Nos Ola Leuad (One Moonlit Night) had a big influence on Welsh literature and has been translated into 11 languages (plus a US English edition).

Caradog’s father, John Pritchard (his surname included a ‘t’), was involved in the Great Strike at Penrhyn quarry (1900-1903), probably returning to work before the end. John died in a quarry accident in 1905. Caradog and his two older brothers grew up in poverty while their mother Margaret suffered worsening mental illness. In 1923 she left the family’s then home, Tŷ Isa, Glanrafon, to live at the mental hospital in Denbigh until her death in 1954.

Caradog left Bethesda County School in 1922 and became a journalist, initially with Yr Herald Cymraeg, then the Western Mail in Cardiff and later the News Chronicle and Daily Telegraph in London. He burst onto the Welsh literary scene by winning the National Eisteddfod’s Crown in 1927, 1928 and 1929. No poet had previously won the Crown in three successive years, and he was its youngest recipient in 1927. The photo below  shows him during the 1962 chairing ceremony in Llanelli, three years before the upper picture was taken.

bethesda_caradog_prichard_coroniHe married Cardiff schoolteacher Mattie Adele Gwynne Evans in 1933. He was called up in 1942 and spent the last two years of the Second World War as a journalist and programme producer for All India Radio in New Delhi, which included propaganda in the continuing war against Japan.

Un Nos Ola Leuad, published in 1961, is his only novel. It has been presented in radio, TV, stage and film adaptations. Set during the First World War, it closely reflects Caradog’s upbringing in Bethesda. It broke new ground for Welsh-language fiction in its portrayal of madness, suicide and sexuality – previously taboo. It used “stream of consciousness” to convey the main protagonist’s thoughts, and Bethesda dialect replaced the usual formal Welsh.

As a child he went to the Welsh Anglican services at Glanogwen Church with his mother, sang in the choir and went to Sunday School. His wife Mattie was Congregationalist and they were married at her chapel in Cardiff. Later, in London, he went to chapel with Mattie and their daughter Mari, and also on occasion to St Benet's Church (Church in Wales) in the City of London.

After retiring in 1972, he wrote an autobiography (Afal Drwg Adda) and occasional newspaper pieces. He died in February 1980 and is buried at Coetmor cemetery (the Robertson Church section), Bethesda.

Un Nos Ola Leuad is published by Y Lolfa, Talybont, and One Moonlit Night by Canongate, Edinburgh.

With thanks to Menna Baines, author of ‘Yng Ngolau'r Lleuad: Ffaith a Dychymyg yng Ngwaith Caradog Prichard’, Gwasg Gomer, and to Mari Prichard. Also to the Caradog Prichard Estate for the photos

Postcode: LL57 3BD    View Location Map

button_tour_StrikesAndRiots-E Navigation previous buttonNavigation next button
button-tour-slate-trail previous page in tournext page in tour