THE latest community news from Llansantffraed

History society

The November meeting welcomed the return of Richard Ireland, guaranteed to enlighten and entertain.

His talk on ‘Wooden Horses and Dead Vermin’, dealing with extra-curial dispute settlement in Welsh legal history did not disappoint.

Social control in rural societies was maintained by shaming punishments for those breaking norms. These were often ritualised such as Ceffyl Pren in Wales and Skimmington in England. The ritual nature was important. In most cases it may have contained violence or random vigilante action but there were exceptions. In 1834 a Ceffyl Pren man died at Pennant. Recorded incidents of shaming rituals proliferate in the later 19th century, suggestive of rural societies’ resistance to ever growing state legal controls.

The Christmas dinner will be at the White Swan at 7pm on 3 December.

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