Community Project at Ysbyty Ifan

Siôn Dafydd Berson’s headstone was the starting point of our project in Ysbyty Ifan. Two commemorative englynion (a unique Welsh meter of poetry) are featured on the headstone, by Twm o’r Nant (the most celebrated composer of Welsh interludes) and the Ysbyty Ifan Community Council felt that it was important that the stone was conserved for the future.

The inscription on the headstone has deteriorated over the last few years, and by now, it is difficult to read the inscription at all. It was impossible to clean the headstone without causing permanent damage, and so, it was decided that we would commemorate Siôn Dafydd and his cultural legacy in the Ysbyty Ifan area, through activities in the Ysbyty Ifan primary school.

Click on the links on the left for more information on our projects at Ysbyty Ifan.

What's in a name?

‘Dôl Gynwal’ was the original name of Ysbyty Ifan, but the present name derives from the presence of the Order of the Knights of St John in the village from the C12 onwards. The Order was formed in Jerusalem at the end of the first Crusade and the Order formed a hospice, or shelter in Ysbyty Ifan, for pilgrims and travellers on their way to Bardsey Island, explaining the ‘Ysbyty’ component of the name. Ifan is another form of the name ‘John’, and ‘John’ is the name given to the village church, St John’s.  

www.ysbytyifan.org.uk