Gewnllian

Under Môns sad gaze
Dawned her day
Cradled and wrapped in sorrow

Forgotten for long winters
Beneth a distant sky

Now awakened
She embraces us

Princess Gwenllian was the daughter of Llwelyn ap Gruffydd, the last native Prince of Wales, and his wife Eleanor de Monfort, who dies soon after Gwenllian's birth in 1282. Llywelyn was killed by the forces of Edward I later in the same year.

The story begin's with Gwenllian's birth at Abergwyngregyn on the southern shore of the the Menai Straits. Across the straits in Anglesey, her mother, grandmother and great grandmother lie buried in the Franciscan Priory at Llanfaes.

As a baby, Princess Gwenllian was taken to the Gilbertine Priory at Sempringham in Linconshire at the command of Edward I. She remained there until her death on the 7 June 1337.

Her memory had almost vanished from history but in recent years her story has captured the imagination of the people of Wales and of Linconshire where she is now commemorated at Sempringham by a memorial hewb out of Penmaenmawr granite.

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