Open Country - Welsh Incident in Criccieth
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Jon Gower is in Criccieth in Gwynedd, to explore the area’s connection to Robert Graves’s 1929 poem, Welsh Incident.
Robert Graves wrote the poem after inspiration struck on his train travels in the area with his father, after a Welsh policeman aboard told them a story of having recently seeing a mermaid from the sea caves of Criccieth.
Jon Gower, a writer and poet himself, heads to the source to learn more, hearing about how the poem resonates with current local residents like the clerk of Criccieth Town Council, Catrin Jones, who then commissioned Howard Bowcott, a local artist, to make a playful sculptural interpretation of the poem for the town green.
Producer: Eliza Lomas
Published on Thursday, 23rd April 2026.
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