Welsh Traditions
WELSH TRADITIONS
In this short series we’ll take a step back in time to remind ourselves of some of the interesting traditions which took place in Wales in the past. We’ll begin with a look at what in Welsh are called ‘Merched y Gerddi’ – literally translated, ‘The Garden Girls’.
During the 18th and 19th Centuries, it was the tradition for young girls and women to travel annually from impoverished rural Wales to London – to look for work in the market-gardens and parks of the city. They would travel in late spring or early summer, remain in London all summer – and travel back to Wales before winter set in. It was poverty and the lack of work that caused this exodus – and the name given to these girls and women was ‘Merched y Gerddi’.
A simple verse written by poet Daniel Ddu o Geredigion, mentioning this tradition, has survived.
O na bawn i fel colomen
Ar Sant Paul yng nghanol Llunden
I gael gweled merched Cymru
Ar eu gliniau’n chwynnu’r gerddi.
Oh that I were a pigeon
On St Paul’s in the centre of London –
To see the girls from Wales
On their knees weeding the gardens.
The majority of these women came from Ceredigion, although others from various parts of Wales would join them on their journey through Breconshire – Powys today – towards England. The tradition was centred on the town of Tregaron – which was also one of the main centres for the drovers – who drove their animals to the markets of London. It is possible that the drovers helped the women find work in the parks and gardens.
Of course, the romance and excitement of the journey to London appealed to the young women – and their hope was that they would meet and marry a wealthy young man whilst they were in London! But it was not only young women who undertook this annual tradition. Widows and married women also travelled – so long as they had someone at home to care for their children.
There was no transport to take them to London of course, so they had to walk all the way – following the drovers’ tracks. It is said that many of them walked barefoot in order to keep their clogs in good condition for wearing in London. They would sleep in the open air or in a barn – and many would gather fruit like bilberries or whinberries to sell along the way – thus putting a few pennies in their pockets. Others would knit stockings as they walked – and sell the finished articles.
After finding work in London, the women would have to work hard – and not many of them were able to afford to stay in lodgings of any kind – so they slept in warehouses and such buildings – with only straw and sacking to keep them warm. They lived on fruit and vegetables from the market-gardens where they worked – and no doubt this was often better than the paupers food they ate back home in Wales. Most of them worked up to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week – and only a few of them had a day off on Sunday. Those who did liked to go to the fair at Lambeth Marsh to buy a few goods and to listen to the ballad singers spreading the latest news through their songs. This is how Lambeth Marsh grew to be a well-known place in which the Welsh congregate.
By the middle of September, the work in the gardens and parks had dried up and it was time for the women to return to Wales. Once again, they had to walk – but now they had a little money in their pockets. Their pay in London was between 1 and 2 shillings a day (5-10 pence today) – and this was far more than they could earn back home in Wales.
This tradition had all but died out by the middle of the 19th century – as, by then, the population of London had increased to such an extent that far more people were looking for work. Also, the famine in Ireland had forced many Irish men and women to move to London to look for work. Fortunately, by this time conditions were improving in Wales – with new industries being developed in the South Wales valleys. At last, there was now more work for the men and women of Wales in their own country.
Up until then, life was hard – especially in rural Wales. I wonder how many of our readers had heard of this tradition – and how many people were aware that possibly one of their ‘foremothers’ had been forced to take part in this annual trek to London to earn a little extra money. We cannot begin to appreciate the hardship of the time – and should count our blessings today!
Ann M. Jones