A RENOVATED tourist attraction celebrating one of Wales’ foremost poets has been officially opened by the First Minister.

Yr Ysgwrn was officially opened last week by Carwyn Jones in the company of Gerald Williams, the nephew of famous poet and First World War soldier Hedd Wyn.

Yr Ysgwrn was famously the home of Hedd Wyn.

He won the Chair at the Eisteddfod in Birkenhead in 1917 for his poem Yr Arwr (The Hero), but was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele six weeks before he was posthumously awarded the Chair.

The Chair was draped in black cloth and became known as Y Gadair Ddu or The Black Chair. This has come to symbolise a generation of Welsh youth who lost their lives in the First World War.

Before Snowdonia National Park Authority purchased Yr Ysgwrn, concerns had been raised about its long-term future, but in 2012, with generous contributions from the Welsh Government and the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the authority was able to complete the purchase for the nation.

The authority received £3.1m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and £300,000 from the Welsh Government to repair and develop the historic buildings of the farmhouse.

At the event, Mr Jones said: “It is an honour and a privilege to be here to officially open Yr Ysgwrn, a place which holds such significance in the history of Wales."

Read the full story in tomorrow’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News