A national heritage site, and memorial to Hedd Wyn and to all Welsh people who died in the First World War, has won recognition for it’s conservation.

Yr Ysgwrn in Trawsfynydd has received a Conservation Award at the prestigious European Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards.

Representatives from Yr Ysgwrn attended an awards ceremony held in Paris, along with 26 other award-winning heritage projects across Europe.

The Grade II listed building was built in the early 19th century and was once the home of Hedd Wyn, the Welsh war poet who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.

In 2012, as the centenary of the war approached, Snowdonia National Park Authority bought the building and started restoration work.

The farm became a visitor centre but also a memorial to the many Welsh people who died in the conflict.

The famous Black Chair, won by Hedd Wyn, which became a national icon in itself, symbolising the loss of an entire generation of young men to war, and other contents of the house were restored.

The farmhouse and outbuildings were repaired and upgraded.

New visitor and learning facilities as well as exhibitions were installed. The surrounding farmland has been brought back into use and its landscape replanted.

Naomi Jones, SNPA head of cultural heritage said: “To win the 2019 prize for conservation was a wonderful achievement for Yr Ysgwrn and to be recognised alongside some of Europe’s most spectacular cultural sites is a great honour.

“Yr Ysgwrn is a site of international heritage interest, representing the legacy of Hedd Wyn and the unimaginable loss of an entire generation of youth from nations throughout Europe and the world.

“In conserving Yr Ysgwrn, the aim was to ‘keep the door open’, honouring the promise made by the former owner and Hedd Wyn’s nephew, Gerald Williams, to his grandmother.”

The Europa Nostra jury said they admired the “careful approach to ensure the preservation of the building, allowing its historical significance and its artefacts to become accessible to the wider public”.

Yr Ysgwrn reopens to the public on 28 March.