Rowland Williams (Hwfa Môn)

Reverend Rowland Williams (March 1823 – 10 November 1905), commonly known by his bardic name "Hwfa Môn", was a Welsh clergyman and poet, who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1895 to 1905.

In 1847 he was made a lay preacher in the Independent church in Llangefni and later the same year he entered Bala Theological College to train for the ministry, where he studied until 1851.

It is not known when or where Hwfa Môn learned the cynghanedd, or who taught him, but he was considered a sufficient master of the bardic craft to be inaugurated as a bard at the Aberffraw Eisteddfod in 1849 at the relatively young age of 26.

As R. Williams Parry said, "Hwfa Môn oedd y creadur tebycaf i fardd a fagwyd erioed yng Nghymru.

With Iolo Morganwg and Cynan, Hwfa Môn is the second part of the triad responsible for the creation of the modern Gorsedd.

Photograph by John Thomas , c. 1875