The Field of Blessing
In 1640 men cared little for the church. But when Vavasor Powell of Newtown preached people flocked to him. The angry clergy fined the non-churchgoers, but they would not pay. They sent soldiers, but Vavasor’s gatherings moved to Richard Williams’ farmhouse. The soldiers persecuted Richard Williams, they burnt his house and killed his father. Richard rebuilt his house and the preaching continued. The soldiers burnt that house too. Williams did not lose faith, and he was rewarded. Each stem of corn in his field bore nine ears of grain. The field is still known as Cae’r Fendith (The field of Blessing).
Cae’r Fendith
Yn ol yn 1640, roedd Vavasor Powell yn pregethu, a daeth llwyth o bobl i wrando arno fo, tra roedd yr eglwysi yn wag. Roedd y clerigwyr yn flin. Anfonon nhw filwyr i atal y cynulliadau, ond symudodd pawb i dŷ fferm Richard Williams. Cafodd Williams ei arestio, ond ar ôl iddo fo gael ei ryddhau, parhaodd y pregethu. Felly arestiodd y heddlu Williams eto, a chafodd ei dad ei ladd a’u tai eu llosgi. Ond er gwaetha popeth, doedd Williams ddim yn colli’i ffydd ac felly roedd ei gynhaeaf naw gwaith yn fwy toreithiog. Ers hynny mae enw’r lle yw Cae’r Fendith.
And below is a creative take on the story told in English by young people at Newtown Young Storytellers Club during a meeting at Newtown High School led by storyteller Amy Douglas.
More about the Montgomeryshire Folktales project
In 1947 the Montgomeryshire History Teachers Committee commissioned a book ‘The Enchanted Wood and Other Stories’ of site-specific tales passed down through Montgomeryshire communities for generations, rewritten as a local history resource for schools.
During 2019/20 Mythstories was funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales to turn the 1947 book into an on-line resource.
Mythstories commissioned storyteller Amy Douglas and visual artist Helen Kozich to work with young people in Newtown, Powys and help them re-interpret the tales for their peers. Videos of the young people telling the stories in many different ways are among the Montgomeryshire folktales on this website.
Storyteller Tamar Williams ran two day-long stagecraft workshops for young people at Theatr Hafren, Newtown.
Artists Ed Fisher and Imogen Phillips were commissioned to produce black-and-white illustrations of each location, for a series of postcards and use on this website.
Ashley Thomas edited the videos of the storytellings.
Many volunteers helped:
Members of Bangor University Storytelling Soc. produced the English précis of the stories for the postcard series
Fiona Collins, Alison Layland and Tamar Williams produced the Welsh précis of the stories for the postcard series.
Members of Llangollen’s Caffi Stori visited each of the sites, took photos and reported back to the artists on the locations.
And organisations leant their support:
Newtown Library and Newtown High School hosted a Newtown Young Storytellers Club and Penygloddfa Primary School, Caersws Primary School and Abermule Primary School hosted “Story in a Day” workshops.
Theatr Hafren hosted the stagecraft workshops and the final celebratory event
Newtown & Llanllwchaiarn Town Council funded storytelling performances to school children in Newtown to help promote the project.
Thank You All!
The full teachers resource is at https://mythstories.com/stories/montgomeryshire-folktales/
