What’s in a name?
Taliesin (/ˌtælˈiɛsɪn/ tal-YES-in, Welsh: [talˈjɛsɪn]; fl. 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin.
Taliesin is the home, studio, and 800-acre agricultural estate of Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright built Taliesin on his favorite boyhood hill, in the Wisconsin River valley homesteaded by his Welsh grandparents. He named it Taliesin in honor of the Welsh bard whose name means Shining Brow, reflecting his belief that the crown of the hill was reserved for nature, and that buildings should be constructed at the brow of the hill.
It is also a name commonly found on many of the common place dwellings of the Principality.
Tre-Taliesin is a village in Ceredigion nine miles south of Machynlleth.
The village is known for the Bedd Taliesin, a hilltop Bronze Age tumulus which is traditionally regarded as the site for the grave of the Welsh bard, Taliesin. It is listed as a Historic Monument. It is a round-kerb cairn with a cist about 2m long. The capstone has fallen; the side stone slabs are more or less in their original positions.
Which brings us to Taliesin Cwmbran a group of 58 flats located at the northern end of a road named Forgeside.
This development is something of an anomaly, breaking the mould of the conventional New Town housing which surrounds it.
Broadly Postmodern – with passing references to half timbered buildings, yet with more contemporary cladding. A wandering profile and angular roofline which echoes Hollywood Medievalism, paired with a fortress like enclosure of space and scaled down passageways.
So far no architectural attribution – any clues anyone?
MacCormac Jamieson & Prichard 1981-82
Thanks to Richard Brook over at Mainstream Modern.
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