Date: 18 December 2021
Location: Gwydyr Forest, Llanrwst, 53.13219234°N, -3.80959076°W
Information
Spur 2009 Megan Broadmeadow
"This sculpture has been inspired by a 500 year old riding spur held in St Grwst’s Churnch, said to have been worn by Dafydd ap Siencyn. Living in Gwydir forest with 800 followers, he fought for independence in battles which saw the burning of Llanrwst to the ground more than once." — Interpretation panel
GeoTopoi 
How wonderful to see this – most unusual. Then, you have a keen eye for such things 🙂
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Thanks, Anne. This is one of a few wood sculptures dotted about in this forest.
😌🙏✨
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Very cool, Graham. Public art is important and I love it when it’s good. This sculpture fits beautifully nto its surroundings. I took a quick google-look at the sculptor, the forest, the church, and Dafydd – rich history! Is “Dafydd” related to the English name David?
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Yes, those name are related forms. And, by the way, “f” in Welsh is pronounced like the “v” in English, and the “dd” like the “th” in “the”.
😌🙏✨
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Interesting, thank you! So all those double consonants have a reason for being? Sorry, I’m teasing now. 🙂
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That makes me think of the German pronunciation of Volkswagon, the V is again like the English f and the W like the English v. So maybe this is evidence of a Celtic-German language connection. I’m thinking terribly loosely now, something I’m prone to.
And if my Welsh grandfather’s name was Davis – I think it may have been Davies originally – then how was the v in Davis pronounced before the family came to America? Like a hard v or not?
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The spelling of a lot of names (people’s and placenames) would have been anglicised – like Davis and Jones (v is not in the Welsh alphabet and j traditionally wasn’t either). The v in Davis is the English v (a voiced labio-dental fricative, I believe). The really fun one is the welsh LL, which has a phonetic value that does not exist in English (it’s a voiceless lateral fricative) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_dental_and_alveolar_lateral_fricatives
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👌😉😃
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OK, so my mother was pronouncing her last name (maiden name that is) correctly, good! I found this –
Meanwhile, I’m a little at sea for another post so I’m looking through recent photos. I won’t find anything like the sculpture above but I might find something like your shinrin-yoku. 😉
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👌 nice one! There are a great many toponyms around here with the prefix ‘Llan-‘ ( = ‘church’). And Llanberis is just over a couple of mountains from here. Oh, and don’t forget Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch 😜
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One more thing – what I like about place names like the one you posted about in 2020 is the reference to topographical or even botanical characteristics – the church near the white hazel, the church near the red cave. I’d just go without the church. But it’s sad when suburbs destroy a feature and then name streets after it – I’ve seen that in the US. Oak St. with all the oaks removed, etc.
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