author
John Ceiriog Hughes
1832–1887
A beloved Welsh poet and song collector, he wrote warm, musical verse that helped keep Welsh folk traditions alive. Often compared to Robert Burns, he is remembered for lyrics rooted in everyday life, landscape, and feeling.
1 Audiobook
Ceiriog
by John Ceiriog Hughes
About the author
Born on September 25, 1832, at Penybryn Farm near Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in north-east Wales, John Ceiriog Hughes became one of the best-known Welsh-language poets of the 19th century. He took the bardic name "Ceiriog" from the Ceiriog Valley where he grew up, a landscape that deeply shaped his writing.
Before gaining literary fame, he worked in ordinary jobs including time as a clerk connected with the railways. Alongside his poetry, he became an important collector and editor of Welsh folk tunes and songs, helping preserve traditional music as well as verse. His work was admired for its simplicity, warmth, and strong sense of Welsh national life.
He died on April 23, 1887, in Caersws. His reputation has lasted because his poems and songs feel both intimate and communal: shaped by home, memory, and the rhythms of spoken Welsh.