The Glen Johnson ‘resignation’ is odd no matter how it’s viewed.

As you point out, he was never one of Lady Tucker’s inner circle, probably because he wanted to do some serious archaeology on the site. And yet, he still allowed his stage-managed resignation to work to the benefit of that inner circle from which he was excluded.

Did they approach him with something like, ‘Look, Glen, we know you’re standing down, and maybe we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but there’s one last service you can render, not us, but the Castle . . . ‘ In which case, he was a mug. Because he has created the impression that all the trustees were being attacked on the internet and he couldn’t take it any more. Yet those brave women, stronger than him, are soldiering on. In this interpretation he is Glen the dupe and Glen the weakling.

Alternatively, it may have been his resignation, his words, and he may genuinely believe he has been unfairly attacked, he may even believe that he needs to resign to protect his family. But if things had got to that stage then he should have gone to the police,

I feel personally aggrieved by his action because the resignation allowed Sue Lewis to use the Cambrian News to attack me for criticising her and the rest of the Gang of Four. Something that had nothing to do with Glen Johnson, a man who, for me, was a peripheral figure at best, which explains why I almost ignored him.

These matters can only be cleared up by a paranoia-free statement from Glen Johnson. Unless he too has been made to sign a gagging clause?

Food and science are not different planets, Dafis.

A few years ago a minister of the Welsh Government commissioned some leading edge bio-tech work. It was to find out what effect a ‘perturbation boundary’ would have on the transmissibility of bTB in badgers. The high tech lab which was set up to do the work was in England but the scientist who led the research was Welsh, who’d previously graduated from Swansea Uni. What was this perturbation boundary? The Afon Teifi !! What constituency did the minister represent? Ceredigion !! So why are we chucking our talent and cash over the border doing real work, yet dishing out funds to “create jobs” in Wales that consist of stuffing pillows in hotel rooms?

Note – The Vet Laboratory in question was in York. The city has a castle the same pedigree as that of Cardigan. While Lord Rhys was being ‘a savage’ as a Cadwgan trustee claims, the King of England was on a famous pogrom which consisted of hanging 150 Jews from the parapets of York castle. Just saying.

For the last 6 months the castle has been one long, unmitigated PR disaster, and the handling of Glen Johnson’s resignation has to be the lowest point so far.

It is all chronicled on this blog, of course, but a quick recap of the timeline may help here.

Johnson first announced his intention of standing down from the board on 3 July, which just happened to be the day that the BBC broke the news that Cris Tomos, the former Director, had been fired, or as an unnamed spokesperson for the castle had it, “suspended from his job pending an investigation”. An investigation into what and by whom we never found out, but the same source told the world that Tomos’s continued presence was considered to be putting the business “at risk”.

Johnson and other apologists for the board should put themselves in Cris Tomos’s shoes for a moment and imagine how it would feel to read press reports suggesting they are a “risk” and are under investigation for reasons which have never been spelt out.

It turned out that Tomos had been given the push almost a week before by some of the trustees – some, but not all, because it subsequently emerged that some of the trustees had been excluded on the grounds that this was a “staff matter”.

Johnson did not state his reasons on 3 July, but the timing of his announcement does not look like a coincidence.

Although there had been some fairly lively exchanges of letters in the local press in the run-up to these events, the social media were slow to react, and Jac’s first piece on the debacle was not published until 7 July, when Glen told his Facebook followers once again that he planned to sail off into the sunset.

As several commentators have noted, no criticism was levelled at Johnson, and he was several times singled out for praise by his supposed persecutors.

Nevertheless, Johnson seems to have felt that he was under attack, and by 18 July he had clearly concluded that criticism of the group around Jann Tucker (of which Johnson was never a part) was in fact all about him, so he took to Facebook once again to tell the world, “I see there is a petition circulating suggesting that I am unfit to govern Cardigan Castle.”

Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me!

Except of course nobody had got it in for Glen.

On 22 July he announces once again that he intends to resign at the forthcoming AGM.

He then manages to get through an entire month without resigning, but then along come those nice people from Equinox who clearly have Glen’s best interests at heart.

“Why not announce your resignation again”, they whisper, “because clearly nobody took much notice on the other three occasions. We’re a PR agency, after all, and can ensure that you receive maximum publicity!”

Oh, and if you feel that you’ve been given a hard time by the blogs and social media, our advice is to say that all these horrible people have been hounding and persecuting you. So much so that you might want to consider the safety and well-being of your family. Not that we want to make you paranoid, or anything, but that’ll really get them off your back and take you out of the limelight! Trust us, we’re spin doctors!”

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Unfortunately, during his short tenure as a trustee, he was unable to persuade his fellow trustees – Englishman Jonathan Timms in particular – of the merits of our Arglwydd Rhys. He could just as well have cited the historical boorishness of his fellow trustees as a valid reason for his resignation.

But that would not have suited the master plan of Acting Director, Sue Lewis, to use any means, by hook or crook, to undermine rather than engage with castle critics. Glen Johnson was used to cite ‘on-line harassment’, without offering any evidence, to justify a decision he had announced, over a month ago, to step down from all four committees on which he served. The local historian had had enough.

Myself, I took it for granted that Cadwgan Trustees had teamed up with a leading publisher and an academic historical expert, years ago, to produce a specific book evaluating the role of Lord Rhys at Aberteifi and the Deheubarth, in establishing the seeds of Welsh nationhood, which would have been launched at the re-opening of the castle.

This I still hope will occur within my own lifetime. It should be one of the readily available souvenirs at Castell Aberteifi. Similarly, a book outlining the history of the National Eisteddfod based on a proper exhibition and interpretation of the institution at the premises, in tandem, of course, with the Gorsedd.

However, there appears to be a slight problem in that direction in that all the current trustees would prefer to become ‘dead bodies’ before entertaining the notion of co-operating with the Gorsedd in any form or manner. Bang goes the chances of Jann Tucker, MBE, (for alleged services to heritage) of becoming a member of the Gorsedd for her services in enhancing the obvious national heritage aspects of Castell Aberteifi.

It seems, therefore, that Glen Johnson’s presence as a trustee did not bear any fruit as far as promoting a sense of heritage among his fellow members was concerned. Indeed, when I first heard of his resignation, I took it for granted that it was because of his feeling of hitting his head against a brick wall in trustee meetings that led to his decision. That might well still be true and a far more poignant reason than the alleged ‘on-line harassment’.

At least Glen Johnson will not have to face the multitude of awkward questions that will be asked at the AGM querying the stewardship of the Cadwgan project. Who knows, Glen might be voted back on the trustee board.

Gyda llaw, synna i wedi gweld llyfr Glen Johnson ‘to na darllen adolygiad ohono. Wyt ti? Oes rhywun wedi? Odi’r fersiwn Gymraeg ar gael?

Brychan

the kind of ideas contained in your last para will get you into trouble – natives thinking “well out of the box” are generally unwelcome !

But seriously you are promoting a much better pathway forward, bit of culture mixed with a real commercial activity would be mutually beneficial. Apart from the high tech stuff, which can attract some seriously wierd ( not wired ) people, Aberteifi is well placed to engage in the food sector – not the mass produced muck that flies off supermarket shelves but top notch added value dairy, meat, fruit and vegetable offerings. Indeed that Teifi valley could be developed far more in that direction giving native youth a reason for staying and doing well for themselves and the community. This would reverse the decay of decades where “raw” ingredients get shipped out of the area, processed elsewhere and sold back to our communities with all profits logged well away from here.

I appreciate we can’t all go off and do the same things, but there is scope for a variety of developments within the rural environment which don’t have to be under heritage, culture or tourism/hospitality badges.

I am also of the opinion that ‘incomers’ who infest Dyfed Archaeological Trust who wish to preserve an old barn because it was once owned by an English squire and argue that it should be preserved because it helps them keep the village looking like an English chocolate box cover of their wet colonial dream, whilst at the same time them buying up the rather more distant farmworkers cottages (the real historical heritage of Carmarthenshire) and converting those into holiday homes or bunkhouses somehow don’t merit historical note.

Which brings me back to the issues at Cardigan Castle. If instead of binning the Welsh heritage aspect to this ancient monument to pursue a public funds subsidised boutique hotel for English tourists at the implanted Georgian townhouse for English tourists for them to “squire it up at the weekend” perhaps it would have been better to use such renovated property to establish a an indigenous business employing local people. A sort of ‘old and new’. Do the Eisteddfod stuff but also recognise the pioneering spirit of Rhys ap Gruffudd, the pinnacle of advanced social and cultural development in the Wales of his day, with a 21st century complement. Not a glamping site for the English, but a technology and post-industrial high-tech hub employing the good people of Aberteifi in high tech skilled work.

Despite being a 100% Welshman myself I agree with you that ethnicity is not everything, and that integrating rather than viewing oneself as belonging to some superior breed is another route to Welshness.

From a distance I have formed the impression that Glen Johnson is an essentially decent man, the kind of enthusiastic amateur historian we find everywhere; the man who writes the local history guides that can be found in gift shops and other outlets. But I remain to be convinced that he is a qualified and rigorously academic historian.

Though these very qualities may be what recommended him to Tucker, Timms and the others. By which I mean that a professional historian, with influence in the world of academe, could have caused problems for those intent on side-lining all archaeological and historical aspects of the project in order to pursue the ‘venue’ we see failing today.

That is speculation, but of more concern is your suggestion that the Castle has adopted a coat of arms that is not that of Rhys ap Gruffydd, The Lord Rhys. Now if this is true, and if the Castle is promoting the coat of arms of someone with no connection to the Castle, then this is a major faux pas and must be remedied as soon as possible.

As a genealogist, whose coat of arms do you suggest is being wrongly used?

I speak my mind without fear or favour, and am more than happy to stand by everything I say.

Glen is an excellent speaker and is very enthusiastic about the subject matter, and has probably read and collected every reference he can find to Cardigan Castle.

S Martin, who I also assume to be the mother of Catherine his wife states.

“Glen Johnson is a Welshman born and bred, an intelligent and well informed historian and far too nice a human being to name names or resort to law to answer his attackers. Maybe you could turn some of your crusading zeal to urging your followers to leave him alone.”

There are a number of statements she has made, which are not entirely accurate.

The birth of Glen Kelsall Johnson was registered at Carmarthen in the September Quarter 1970. His mother was Pamela A Crankshaw who married John Johnson. The marriage took place in Bucklow Registration District in the March Quarter 1962. Pamela A Crankshaw was, it would appear, (there no other likely candidate) born in Southport. Her birth registered in the March Quarter of 1942. Fathers name Hall. There is nothing in his maternal line that suggests Welsh ancestry.

His paternal side is more problematic to decipher, but I cannot find a birth of a John Johnson registered in Wales during the correct time scale. There are Johnsons in West Wales and St. Dogmaels, but I cannot connect them to Glen, (I am more than happy for him to prove me wrong and produce references I can check) and therefore assume that his paternal line is also from England.

An accident of birth does make him “Welsh born” but not on the available evidence “Welsh bred”.

That said, being Welsh is not a matter of ethnicity in my view. It is more about absorbing and identifying with the culture and traditions of Wales, and not adopting a superior attitude.

Glen is an honorary Welshman, but his children will be Welsh.

Glen is referred to as Dr Glen Kelsall Johnson, in the Companies House Director records and I presume that he therefore has a Phd, although he does not mention his qualifications on his website. http://www.glen-johnson.co.uk/

Whatever discipline he obtained his doctorate in, I doubt if it was History.

A historian will examine all the available information, analyse, question, interpret and then pronounce an opinion based on his research.

Glen simply absorbs the information and ideas of others, and does not subject them to critical scrutiny. Like Francis Jones the former Herald of Wales he is a mere cataloguer. His website is all cut and paste, with no attempt to express an opinion, or understanding of what he is quoting.

Hefin Wyn states that Glen is a historian, as does S Martin. Before you judge how much another person knows his subject, you must have a degree of knowledge yourself.

Hefin Wyn would not I suspect claim to be a Historian, but probably due to his interest knows more about Twm Carnabwth and Rebecca in Efail-wen and the surrounding area than most, and should compare like with like.

I attended a visit to Cardigan Castle with approximately 50 members of the Cambrian Archaeological Society. They consist invariably of academics or interested amateurs. The group was split into two, and I opted to listen to Glen Johnson.

The comments and feedback from members who included Prys Morgan, and Tom Lloyd, to name but two, were very interesting.

Referring to Glen – “He presents supposition as facts.”
Referring to the Castle- “There is nothing here to really see except parts of a Georgian Mansion.”
Referring to the “Exhibition’ – “I feel I am being insulted by a couple of rusty bicycles hanging on a wall, and a clock case with no workings.”
Overall – “I cannot tell anyone that Cardigan Castle is worth a visit, as there is nothing to see, and I certainly would not pay to visit again.”

Most were surprised and disgusted when I pointed out that Cardigan Castle have adopted colours and a coat of arms, that has nothing to do with the “Arglwydd Rhys”.

I do not claim to be a historian. I am simply an amateur interested in genealogy. Not simply in collecting lists of names, but putting them in their historical and social contexts. I have taught myself to read and understand medieval and early Welsh, and interpret the legal shorthand used in Wills and other documents, and even understand the gist of documents in Latin or Norman French. I correspond and assist others to decipher original documents on several continents.

These are all skills I would expect a “historian” to have. I would also expect Glen the “historian” to have a degree of legal knowledge, so that he can understand and interpret the National Library of Wales and other catalogue entries that he quotes.

I have corrected Glen on several occasions, directly by E-mail. I have at times asked him for sources, but he never reciprocated with the link or source. I am in the business of collaborating and not spoon-feeding. I expect a “quid pro quo”. Glen wants to take and not share!

He believed that an “Inquisition Post Mortem” was a medical rather than a legal procedure. That alone demonstrates his lack of knowledge. The subject in question had been dead for two years and stinking to high heaven! Anyone with a brain would have questioned the likelihood of this.

He constantly refers to property being leased for a year, without any understanding of the artificial legal machinations of the time.

To take an example from the Cardigan Castle entry on his Website.

“On 17th June 1761 Hannah Mathias of Cardigan, widow, daughter of Thomas Brock, leased the close called Castle Green to Thomas Lloyd of Bronwydd and John Morgan of Cardigan for a year.”

This is based on the following entry in the Bronwydd Catalogue at the NLW.

2912
1761, June 17
1. Hannah Mathias of Cardigan, co. Cardigan, widow, daughter of Thomas Brock;
2. Thomas Lloyd of Bronwidd, co. Cardigan, esq., and John Morgan of Cardigan, co. Cardigan, esq.
LEASE for a year of a moiety of a messuage in Cardigan, a messuage and land called Stepaside and the Little Mead, closes called Park Tir Marll, and Park Pwll Marll, Park yr Adley and Castle Green, all in the parish of St. Mary in the town of Cardigan.

If he had read the next catalogue entry, (Which I would expect someone who claims to be a historian to do) he would have seen that on the following day there was another transaction between the same parties.

2913
1761, June 18
1. Hannah Mathias;
2. Thomas Lloyd and John Morgan;
3. Watkin Lewes of Penybenglog, clerk, and Thomas Morris of Park y Trap, gent.;
4. David Mathias eldest son and heir apparent of the said Hannah Mathias, and Elizabeth Mathias only daughter of the said Hannah Mathias. RELEASE of the moiety specified in No. 2912. Copy.

I know exactly the meaning of this transaction, and would expect any competent historian to do so. Glen is obviously not a historian.

I have nothing personal against Glen, but I do not suffer fools gladly, and value accuracy.

There is enough false information on the internet without him adding to it.

“Pan fwyf yn hen a pharchus,
A’r castell yn fy nghod,
A phob beirniadaeth drosodd
A phawb yn canu ‘nghlod,

Mi brynaf fwthyn arall
Heb ddim o flaen ei ddor
Ond tywod Traeth y Dyffryn
A thonnau gwyllt y mor.

Oblegid mi gaf yno
Yng nghri’r ystormus wynt
Adlais o’r hen wrthryfel
A wybu f’enaid gynt.

A meddwaf a’r hen angerdd
Wrth syllu tua’r ddor
Ar dywod Traeth y Dyffryn
A thonnau gwyllt y mor.”

Traeth y Dyffryn is one of two beaches in Aberporth.