Strata Florida Trust has appointed Ceredigion-based poet Dr Eurig Salisbury as resident poet (Bardd Llys yn Gymraeg for an initial two years.

Dr Salisbury, 42, a lecturer in the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University, brings long-standing poetic experience to the new role.

He was Aberystwyth’s first Town Poet and resident poet with Dyfed Powys Police from 2018–‘19. In 2016, he won the prose medal at the National Eisteddfod; was a Hay Festival International Fellow from 2012–‘13 and Welsh Children’s Laureate (Bardd Plant Cymru) from 2011–‘13.

He has published extensively and participated in literary festivals across the world.

Dr Salisbury’s new role will give prominence to the ongoing work at Strata Florida, a 12th century Cistercian abbey at Pontrhydfendigaid.

The work includes restoring the buildings of Mynachlog Fawr farm, adjacent to Strata Florida Abbey, hosting courses and events and running an annual, month-long archaeology field school.

The appointment continues the tradition of poets being welcomed through the ages at Strata Florida. Dr Salisbury follows in the footsteps of famous Welsh bards such as Dafydd ap Gwilym, said to be buried at the Abbey, Guto’r Glyn, Dafydd Nanmor and other renowned medieval poets.

Coincidentally, some of the first texts Dr Salibury edited as a research student at Aberystwyth University were Guto’r Glyn’s poems to the abbot of Strata Florida, Rhys ap Dafydd.

“It’s a great privilege to be appointed as Strata Florida’s Resident Poet,” he said “Celebrating the developments here in verse will be a big part of the role as the excavations bring the secrets of the past to light and restoration projects will enable more people than ever to enjoy the rich literary heritage of this unique location.

“While it’s humbling to think I’ll be following in the footsteps of the great Welsh poets of the Middle Ages, it also feels familiar thanks to work on Guto’r Glyn’s poetry.

“Therefore, it’s natural to apply a few lines he addressed to Rhys ap Dafydd, around the year 1440, to the future work I’ll be undertaking:

Ei fardd wyf, yrddrwyf erddrym,

Ei fryd ef fu roi da ym,

A’m bryd innau’n briodawl

Gludaw fyth ei glod a’i fawl.

“That is: ‘I happily announce that I’m now the Resident Poet of Strata Florida and, wherever I go, I’ll carry with me the good name of the abbey’.”

Mick Taylor, Strata Florida Trust chair, said: “The abbey has a very strong historic pedigree as a centre of Welsh poetry and it is really exciting to refresh and add to this legacy with Eurig's appointment as Poet in Residence for Strata Florida."

Dr Salisbury and Professor Dafydd Johnston, author of the trust’s volume on poetry and previously the head of the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, will be running the Barddoniaeth Ystrad Fflur course, celebrating the life and work of Dafydd ap Gwilym, at Strata Florida on Saturday, 11 October.

To find out more and book, visit the Strata Florida Trust website: https://www.strataflorida.org.uk/courses-and-events.html