The Gwyneddigion Society was founded in December 1770 by a group of expatriate Welshmen resident in London, its first formal meeting taking place on 4 February 1771.
[7] One member described the Bull's Head between 1790 and 1815 as the "centre of Welsh literary life" ("canolfan bywyd llenyddol ein gwlad").
[8] The society promoted annual eisteddfodau in Wales, the precursors of the National Eisteddfod (the first being held at Bala in 1789); but these experienced difficulties, and the experiment was abandoned after 1793.
Most significantly, the society (with the financial backing of Owen Jones) published important Welsh literary texts, including Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym (1789) and The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales (1801–07).
[3] A noteworthy event in the society's early history was its funding in the 1790s of John Evans' exploration of North America in search of the legendary "Welsh Indians", the supposed descendants of Madog ab Owain Gwynedd.