Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
national anthem of Wales
"Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" (Welsh pronunciation: [heːn wlaːd və n̥adai̯]) is the de facto national anthem of Wales. The title, taken from the first words of the song, means "The Old Land of My Fathers" in Welsh, usually rendered in English as simply "Land of My Fathers". The words were written by Evan James and the tune composed by his son, James James, both residents of Pontypridd, Glamorgan, in January 1856. The earliest written copy survives and is part of the collections of the National Library of Wales.
It was first used as Wales' national anthem in 1905 by fans at a rugby game, and it then became the sole anthem used for Wales in sports from 1975. It has been used at government ceremonies, and for receptions of the British monarchy since the 1970s. The anthem, like the other ones in the UK, lack official status in law, with petitions submitted proposing it is made official by law. It is however widely recognised as Wales' national anthem, despite having no official status.
History
Origins
"Glan Rhondda" ("Banks of the Rhondda"), as it was known when it was composed, was first performed in the vestry of the original Capel Tabor, Maesteg (which later became a working men's club), in either January or February 1856, by Elizabeth John from Pontypridd, and it soon became popular in the locality.
James James, the composer, was a harpist who played his instrument in the public house which he ran, for the purpose of dancing.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q160036. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1856, 1905 and 1975.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.