Festivals and Social Structure in Early Modern Wales

Vagabonds and minstrels in sixteenth-century Wales

“…57 Other sources of the period confirm that communal gatherings, particularly of youth groups, took place at 'playing-places' in north Wales. 58 These gatherings might well have been considered unlawful assemblies in the mid-Tudor period. Sir William Herbert's instructions to the Welsh justices bade them 'geve good heede that no assembles or gathering togethers be suffered' without good cause.…”

“…101 In north-east Wales at the end of the sixteenth century there is evidence for the growth of a festive culture, especially in the towns, that gathered pace in the first half of the seventeenth century and was generalized into the countryside after the Restoration. 102 These summer feasts included large public gatherings at which music and dancing were important elements. At Gwersyllt, Denbighshire, in July 1633, for example, it was estimated that some 4,000 people had gathered for 'morris daunsinge, druminge, fidlinge and other idle sportes'.…”