Rape of the Fair Country

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It is about the rise of Chartism in the south est Wales valleys in the early 19th century, seen through the eyes of young steelworker, Iestyn Mortimer. The shift in the piece takes place through his father's changing attitudes - at first, loyal to the owner's, but slowly seeing the inequalities perpetrated by the wealthy landowners, he shifts his perspective. I first read Rape of the Fair Country in the mid sixties, not long after it was first published. At the time I'd recently moved to South Wales and was puzzled by an iciness towards the English: I was nudged in the direction of Alexander Cordell's Rape of the Fair Country and The Hosts of Rebecca (the final part of the trilogy, Song of the Earth would not be published until the end of the decade) and soon understood why memories are long and forgiveness slow. There's an unflinching look at the hardships suffered, not just by the Mortymers but by all the workers and their families. Serious injuries and even death are commonplace.

Yes, indeed! You cheeky hobbledehoy! And Bacon the Pig before the Crawshays? God alive, we thought him bad enough. What right have you to march for freedom, Garndyrus, if you have not worked the firebox under Bacon and Crawshay? Tell me, have you seen Cyfarthfa by night even?” I wish to God the English had stayed in England and ripped their own fields and burst their own mountains.” The failure of the works (in 1919) was a devastating blow to the local community, as it had depended heavily on the works for its economic livelihood.” I have walked from Merthyr hand in hand with St Tydfil,” he said. “I have been splashed eight times and blinded, but the saint led me across The Top to the great Zephaniah Williams, for I put no trust in our mad Dr. Price. I put my trust in no man but Williams, whom I once saw spit at the feet of Robert Crawshay, who starved us.”I found this audio book completely captivating; beautiful and devastating in turns. Above all, I think this book would appeal to anyone who likes a good yarn, but if you also have an interest in historical fiction then this is definitely for you; the story is so well-told that it gave me an introduction to the issues faced by one particular community as well as a broader picture of the struggles of that time. You certainly don't have to be a historian to be drawn in by the story as it's told on such a personal level. And that is what raped this fair country, and huge swathes of other fair countries as well - money, and abused power. It wasn't, and it still isn't, a purely Welsh problem - it's a universal one, one felt as much in post industrial England today as it is in the Welsh valleys. Although this book does get to that conclusion ultimately, it is still cloaked in a much too parochial anti-Englishness throughout most of the book for my liking. The owners will not negotiate and we have been sitting tight for too long. It is war if they insist in it. It has taken me twenty years of loyalty to learn that they make profits out of peace”. Violence in fact has a strong presence throughout the entire novel. Iestyn himself is involved in many fights, and tragedy strikes the family again when Iestyn’s sister Edwina is murdered and Morfydd’s fiancé, Richard, is killed in a riot. The Chartists’ commitment to violence is confirmed on the night of 3-4 November 1839 when support for the movement is at its highest. Several thousand marchers, including Iestyn Mortymer, go to the Westgate Hotel in Newport, expecting to seize the town and trigger a national uprising. This seems to have come from The Crawshay’s of Cyfarthfa Castle, by Margaret Stewart Taylor. The other source referred to is The History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and other Trades of Wales, by Charles Wilkins 1903.

It is a small village tale which is a part of a huge, ultimately worldwide movement - the birth of socialism, collective bargaining and universal suffrage. What I loved about the book was the simple but extremely powerful narrative style which Matt Addis captured brilliantly. As with anyone's life, there are moments of sheer joy coupled with the day-to-day 'slog' as well as huge, earth-shattering tragedies. I loved the fact that some of the most poignant episodes in the book are described so perfectly and then simply dismissed; life moves on and the shadow of the event lingers but the characters' lives continue onwards, as the need to survive dictates, without dwelling on the past.What a land it is, this Wales! And of all its villages Llanelen is surely the best. The river is milk here, the country is honey, the mountains are crisp brown loaves hot from the baker’s oven one moment and green or golden glory the next. Beauty lies here by the singing river where the otters bark and the salmon leap, and I wish to God the English had stayed in England and ripped their own fields and burst their own mountains.” There is no doubt that the cast expend their full energy in this mammoth production. Hedydd Dylan gives a superb performance as the spirited Morfydd; her diatribe on religion to the bossy Mrs Phillips is well delivered. Sion Ifan struggles to portray the eight year old Iestyn Mortymer, lapsing at times into caricature, but he acquits himself well when he comes of age later in the play. Christian Patterson, as Tomos Traherne, gives a good portrayal of the minister of peace frustrated by the inevitability of violence in improving the workers’ lot. The clever setting of narrative passages to popular hymn tunes works well and the cast voices and harmonies are beautiful rendered. Have you seen the iron of Cyfarthfa, then?” he asked, struggling up. “Have you even heard of Merthyr, that is dying under Crawshay? Have you heard of Crawshay, even?”

Although the story exudes violence, the exploitation of a downtrodden workforce, sadistic floggings and bestial behaviour, it has its gentler and romantic moments. When Iestyn falls in love with his lovely Irish girl, Mari, there are delightful passages describing their courtship amongst the parts of the Usk valley which have yet to be destroyed by coal mines and ironworks. For it is greed you are discussing not politics. And until greed is taken from the hearts of men you will always have masters and poor, and which way round it is matters little" The whole book is an emotional journey! I was pleased and relieved when life and relationships went well for the Mortymer family, annoyed by some of the pig-headed opinions inflicted on it from within and without, and saddened by the people who were lost along the wayRape of the Fair Country ’is about the Mortymer family, who live in the Welsh valleys and toil in both of the latter industries. The story is narrated by one of the sons, Iestyn Mortymer, as he grows up in a village in South Wales – where the workers are at the mercy of callous and greedy coal owners and iron masters – who not only offer pitifully low wages but also control the shops for the workers, in which they regularly put up prices. It is clearly a toxic recipe for anger and unrest. For more from Matt Addiss we can recommend his narrations of Princes Gate and Stalin's Gold, both written by Mark Ellis. My mum suggested this book to me after I watched the episode of the crown that surrounded the Aberfan disaster. My grandfather was Welsh, and my great grandparents came to Canada because the working conditions in Wales were so atrocious. One of the villains of the book is the Ironmaster of Merthyr Tydfil by the River Taff, William Crawshay. Here is an excerpt from the book: an old man, an iron “puddler”, blind, is dying by the roadside. I would listen to this again and again, I had read the book before (hard copy) and enjoyed it but this added a new dimension

being just two of the more extreme examples, I get a little bit of a sense of "the lady protesteth....". What happened was not the fault of the "English" at all - at the same time as this was happening in south east Wales, similar things were happening all over industrial England, in the steel and coal and the copper and the cotton works in the midlands, the north , the south West and even further afield. The Crawshays, who re portrayed as the main protagonists in this novel, were more Welsh than English. They just had money, which in turn bought them power over people. My father] despised my generation for its refusal to grovel to authority as he had grovelled and his father before him." Cordell is at pains to point out through the mouths of his Chartist characters that the appalling conditions the workers endured were not confined to South Wales. He is not, however, interested in giving a social or economic overview, but simply in portraying the price paid by the people of Wales. This short passage, for me, was the most moving: For me, the best parts of this story were the details of everyday life, love and survival during a period when working people had few choices or freedoms. Cordell's prose often verges on the poetic to create a vivid picture of the life and times of Iestyn Mortymer. I was particularly interested in the story of Iestyn's older sister, Morfydd, who struggles against convention and suffers for her pioneering opinions on politics and the role of women Poeetiline ülimasendav naturalistlik-realistlik pilguheit 19. sajandi esimese poole Walesi rauasulatustööstusesse, ehk siis Inglise industrialismi sünnivaludele. Neidsamu sünnivalusid jälgitakse läbi Mortymeride perekonna suht traagilise käekäigu. Ehedat autentsust lisavad walesikeelsed väljendid ja mõningad tavad. Eks see raamat vene ajal 1964. aastal ilmuski kuna teda saab ka kirjeldada kui "tööliste võitlust kapitalistlike ekspluataatorite vastu" ja eks pidanud marksismi klassikud tšartiste miskiteks eel-revolutsionäärideks niikuinii, kahe silma vahele on aga jäänud täiesti keltidest waleslaste suht vabad abielueelsed suguelukombed ja julmad kaklused millega nad omavahel tülisid lahendasid, samuti walesi tööliste suht vankumatu ja konservatiivne usklikkus. Olles seda raamatut lugenud vähemalt 10 korda on mind alati siiski haaranud äärmine poeetiline traagika, mis tegelastele osaks saab, samuti walesi looduse ülistus.

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If you can get past the title, which makes it sound like a Mills and Boon bodice-ripper, the rewards are great! This is the delightful, though, at times, harrowing tale of Iestyn Mortymer, a boy from Blaenavon caught up in the birth of the unions and Chartism amidst the beauty of the Brecon hills and valleys, brought to life by another Blaenavon boy, Matt Addis. When we refer to William Crawshay of Merthyr Tydfil we allude to a man who has done more for Glamorganshire, and perhaps for South Wales, than any other living individual. He was one of the few remarkable men who can give a character to a country and a tone to an age. In the extent of his speculations and unbounded enterprise, we cannot name another Cambrian who has done so much and so well or the Principality of Wales.”