Where Once Were Farms

Ian and Rhiannon O'Connor hoped to buy their first farm in the Welsh village of Cwrt-y-Cadno, to put down roots where they lived and to grow their family. But at the last minute, they were unexpectedly outbid by a London-based investment company who purchased the land to plant trees in order to generate and market carbon credits.

Poet Casi Wyn meets those living in the valley today to hear their concerns about the future and to consider the links to previous events in the history of Wales. She is reminded of those places in Wales that are already lost to external forces: Tryweryn and Llanwddyn - drowned to create reservoirs for English cities - and Mynydd Epynt, eradicated by the Ministry of Defence to become a military training ground. As Casi travels through the valley we hear the poetry of Welsh bards such as Myrddin ap Dafydd, Gwenallt Jones and Gerallt Lloyd Owen, writers whose work tells similar stories of historical loss in Wales.

“Conifers where once was community,
Forest in place of farms . . .”

As a cultural figure, the bard is central to Welsh cultural identity, standing witness to such events, capturing the spirit of each struggle and reminding Wales of all that they have to lose. It’s a mantle that Casi takes up in her role as current Bardd Plant Cymru, the Children and Youth Poet Laureate for Wales. At the local primary school, Ysgol Carreg Hirfaen, she conducts a poetry workshop with the children whose collaborative poem calls forth the “sunlight of belonging.”

Presented by Casi Wyn
Produced by Jude Shapiro, with additional research by Casi Wyn

Listen here.