The Gentrification of Wales

Every society has its turn-coats. There are a number of factors which conspire to turn an individual away from his native soil, his community and his roots, and migrate to another region, identifying himself with another set of values which are essentially foreign to his upbringing. There are those who are prepared to sell their country down the river, and who pursue ambition to the detriment of their own native kin. We will not name names but we may look back into both recent and past history to find examples of this perfidy. We have all come across those who are prepared to give up their culture, their language and doubtlessly their very soul, and adopt the values of a different breed, possibly in a bid to improve their status in life or for monetary gain.

We do not judge them or begrudge them but we know them for what they are. They have, wittingly or unwittingly, contributed to the gentrification of Wales. We see this phenomenon most starkly in the eastern counties of the nation. In my youth I noticed that Monmouthshire was included with England in many maps and atlases, and there were towns and villages in the border counties which had Welsh names (Clun for example), and isolated areas where Welsh was spoken. There was a steady erosion of Welsh native culture which spread slowly from the east resulting in an Anglicisation of the population, and had it not been for the Welsh Bible and the stubborn clinging to the language and native traditions it would have conquered Wales from end to end. This danger was highlighted fifty years ago in the writings of Islwyn Ffowc Elis. In his book “Wythnos Yn Ghymru Fydd” he warned of the inexorable creeping Anglicisation of Wales, and how Wales might be destined to become merely a western province of England, and suffer a fate worse than death!

As we have recently observed, in the programmes on television presented by Huw Edwards on the London Welsh, these absconding Welsh men and women have made their huge contribution to the capital of the union, the centre of power, and we also note the fact of their gentrification and adoption of values quite alien to those of their native land. We see them today, with their titles and their medals and their chains of office, making pronouncements on the land of their birth, attempting to perpetuate the illusion that we British are the builders of Empire and natural born rulers of the world. The reality is of course that, at least here in Wales, we are now in the act of restoration, working together towards a renewal of timeless values and a proud and ancient heritage, and are remaking a nation which once was, and will be, known to many as

CYMRU FYDD