Ann Griffiths lived a short life and died heartbroken.
Though the hymns she wrote during a decade period which were published posthumously has ensured her name endures even today.
Ann was born at the farm of Dolwar Fechan in Llanfihangel in 1776, the youngest of John Evan and Jane Thomas' five children.
Her mother died when she was 18 and soon her father passed.
A hand written letter by Ann Griffiths. Picture: Wikipedia.
She was not religious as a youngster and confessed to mocking those who made the weekly trip to Bala for church service ‘as pilgrims going to Mecca’ before following them when she was 20.
Afterwards she joined the Calvinistic Methodist Society and made a weekly 20 mile trek to Bala to receive the Lord’s Supper from the Reverend Thomas Charles and repeat his sermons to others.
Ann Griffiths memorial stone in Dolanog. Picture: Geograph.
In 1804 she married Thomas Griffiths of Meifod but the marriage suffered a tragic end.
In July 1805 she gave birth to a child who lived only a fortnight and less than a month later Ann passed away aged just 29 with both buried at Llanfihangel parish church.
The story of Ann Griffiths may have ended there had it not been for the preservation of some of her hymns by her friend and servant, Ruth Hughes of Pontrobert, which she had treasured since her death.
Graveyard memorial to John Hughes, Ruth Hughes and Ann Griffiths. Picture: Geograph.
Many others had been lost such had been Ann’s modesty and reluctance to commit words to paper.
The hymns were published in 1806 with further editions printed in 1808, 1809, 1817, 1847 and 1865.
Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa. View from the church, past the grave of Ann Griffiths. Picture: Geograph.
Her work is regarded as a highlight of Welsh literature, and her longest poem Rhyfedd, rhyfedd gan angylion was described by the dramatist and literary critic Saunders Lewis as "one of the majestic songs in the religious poetry of Europe".
By now the legend of Ann Griffiths had endured half a century after her premature and tragic death.
Ann Griffiths walk memorial that lies in Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa by the war memorial. Picture: Geograph.
In 1845 a red Aberdeen granite obelisk was placed upon her grave in her memory and the Ann Griffiths Memorial Chapel in Dolanog is named after her and has a carved corbel head based on contemporary descriptions of her.
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