Into the Dusk / I’r Gwyll

Judith Harrison
 
Into the Dusk
 
Since ancient times cattle have been reared on the  lush pastures of Wales and then taken and sold in the markets over the border. It was a lucrative and flourishing trade, by the mid 17th Century cattle sales was the primary source of income in Wales. Life as a Drover was hard. They often travelled by the higher mountain routes to avoid cost of the turnpike but 
then had little protection against the wind and rain. 
 
Once the cattle had settled into the drove they could achieve two miles an hour, grazing as they went. Each herd, of up to 500 beasts, were driven by 5-8 men and their dogs. 
 
This way of life largely came to an end with the arrival of the railway, first to Shrewsbury in 1856 and then on to Pembroke, Aberystwyth and Holyhead by 1860.
 
I’r Gwyll
 
Ers oesoedd lawer mae gwartheg wedi cael eu magu ar y borfeydd toreithiog Cymru ac yna eu cerdded a'u gwerthu yn y marchnadoedd dros y ffin. Roedd yn broffidiol ac yn fasnach llewyrchus, erbyn canol yr 17eg Ganrif gwerthiant gwartheg oedd prif ffynhonnell incwm yng Nghymru. Roedd bywyd pothmon yn ddigon caled. Roeddent yn aml yn teithio 
llwybrau yr ucheldirer mwyn osgoi cost y tollffyrdd ond chydig Iawn o gysgod oedd I’w gael rhag y gwynt a'r glaw.
 
Ar ôl i'r gwartheg setlo i mewn i'r gyrru gallent gerdded dwy filltir i bob awr, gan bori wrth iddynt fynd. Gyrrwyd pob gyr, o hyd at 500 o fuchod, gan 5-8 dyn a’u cŵn. 
 
Daeth y ffordd hon o fyw i ben i raddau helaeth gyda dyfodiad y rheilffordd, yn gyntaf i Amwythig yn 1856 ac yna i Benfro, Aberystwyth a Chaergybi erbyn1860. 
 
Mixed Media / Cyfryngau Cymysg 
 
Framed Size / Maint Ffrâm: 43cm x 43cm
 
£300