The chair was awarded to the local poet, Thomas Jones, at the 1876 Eisteddfod. Thomas Jones was born in the parish of Llanystumdwy near Cricceth in 1820. His family moved to Llangollen when Thomas was six years old and he became a painter and plumber, living in Min-y-Nant near Plas Newydd. Writing many poems and having won many prizes at various Eisteddfodau, Thomas was a well renowned and gifted bard. The climax of his work was the winning of the Bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod at Wrexham in the August of 1876. His prize-winning ode was ‘Helen Llwyddawg’ and was submitted under the nom de plume of Eusebius.
Sadly, Thomas Jones had died two months before the event and for the first time in the history of the Eisteddfod, the Bardic Chair was awarded posthumously and became known as the “Black” Chair.
The Chair belongs to Denbighshire Heritage Service but is on loan and on display at Llangollen Museum.
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