Exhibition: Celtic Studies in Bangor

Exhibition: Celtic Studies in Bangor

To coincide with the visit of the XVIth International Congress of Celtic Studies to Bangor University on 22–26 July 2019 our Celtic Studies in Bangor exhibition has opened.

This exhibition is a celebration of Bangor University’s substantial contribution to scholarship in the field of Welsh and Celtic studies and it also aims to commemorate some of the remarkable individuals who contributed to that endeavour.

Although the University College of North Wales opened its doors at Bangor in 1884, it was not until 1889 that John Morris-Jones was appointed a lecturer in Welsh. But the beginnings were quite unremarkable. His opening lecture was only attended by six College officers, two students and two strangers. The growth of the discipline was further hampered by the fact that Bangor prepared its students for the external degrees of the University of London, which did not recognize neither Welsh nor Celtic as degree subjects. With the granting of a Royal Charter to the University of Wales in 1893, and the appointment of Morris-Jones as Professor of Welsh Language in 1895, the status of his discipline was soon transformed. From that time onwards, Bangor became one of the main centres of Welsh scholarship. Bangor has also been fortunate in the manuscript and printed collections of its library, and this exhibition, in its entirety, bears witness to the richness and wide-ranging nature of those collections in the field of Welsh and Celtic.

Publication date: 7 June 2019