The face of the life-like statue of Cranogwen, the Ceredigion woman who was a pioneering Welsh sailor, poet and gender equality campaigner, which was unveiled in June 2023 in the small seaside village of Llangrannog.
It pays tribute to Cranogwen, the bardic name of Sarah Jane Rees (1839-1916).
Sarah was a sea-captain’s daughter, who followed various careers, as a sailor, teacher, poet, lecturer, journal editor, preacher and temperance movement leader.
She rose to sudden fame in September 1865, when she won a National Eisteddfod prize for which the most highly-esteemed Welsh language bards of the age, Islwyn and Ceiriog, had also competed.
The audience’s shock was immense: no one had expected a woman to emerge as winner, understandably enough as most of Ceredigion’s women were still illiterate at this time, signing their marriage certificates with a cross.
