The Black Chair Eisteddfod
6/9/1917
The 1917 National Eisteddfod Chair was awarded to the poet, Hedd Wyn, who had sadly been killed in battle six weeks previously at the Battle of Pilckem Ridge. The winning poem was called ‘Yr Arwr’, or ‘The Hero’. During the ceremony, the empty chair, which was made by a craftsman from Flanders, was draped in a black sheet. The Eisteddfod in 1917 was held at Birkenhead in England and is now known as ‘The Eisteddfod of the Black Chair’.