Dic Penderyn - Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, Great Britain.
N 51° 44.834 W 003° 22.673
30U E 473912 N 5732992
The High Street library, Merthyr Tydfil, was built as a Carnegie library, in 1936. Near the entrance steps, a slate plaque, written in Welsh and English, Tells the story of Dic Penderyn. Martyr of the working classes.
Waymark Code: WMKCXB
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/22/2014
Views: 4
The plaque carries the shield of Merthyr Borough Council, showing the towns patron Saint, St Tydfil. The plaque is sited to the left of the library entrance near the area where the Merthyr rising, and riots took place.
Richard Lewis (Dic Penderyn)
Plaque sited at CF47 8AF
"Richard Lewis (1807/8-1831), better known as Dic Penderyn, was a native of Aberavon.
At the time of the 1831 Merthyr Rising he was a miner in Merthyr Tydfil.
He was charged with feloniously wounding Donald Black of the 93rd (Highland) Regiment. He was found guilty and sentenced to death.
Despite a petition of 11,000 names for his reprieve, he was hanged at Cardiff on 13th August, 1831. His last words on the scaffold were reported to be ‘O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd’ – ‘O Lord, what injustice’. He is buried in Aberavon.
Later in the century another man confessed to the crime for which Lewis had been hanged." Adapted from: (
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"Starting as a popular rebellion against unjust and often deplorable working and living conditions, the Merthyr rising quickly grew into an armed insurrection. It has been described by one historian as "the most ferocious and bloody event in the history of industrialized Britain." Text from: (
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