HARLECH 4 - People
Taliesin (c. 534–c.599) , who attained the status "Chief Bard of Britain", was discovered in a coracle hanging from a poles at the weir at the mouth of the river Artro (south of Harlech). It was suggested that he was bard to King Arthur, a view supported by Tennyson.
Dafydd ap Ieuan was the Constable of Harlech Castle, at the time of the longest known siege (7 years) in the history of the British Isles
The siege, which ended in 1468, is believed to have inspired the song "Men of Harlech".
Amoung ap Ieuan's descendents some 14 generations later was Abraham Lincoln President of the USA
John Jones (1597-1660), the Regicide, was present when Harlech Castle fell in March 1647.
Jones was born in 1597 at Maes y Garnedd, Cwm Nantcol (to the left of Moelfre in picture above).
He sat as a judge and signed the death warrant of King Charles. In 1656 he married Protector Cromwell's widowed sister Catherine.
Commissioner for affairs in Ireland from 1651, it was there, in Dublin, he was arrested and released on parole prior to being re-arrested in June 1660 as a regicide and hung, drawn and quartered on 17 October.
Philip Pullman (1946 - ) went to secondary school in Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech. He is famous for his trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" , one of which "The Northern Lights" 1995 - was turned into the film "The Golden Compass".
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