I'm sorry I neglected this thread, but I was following up other clues concerning the tabwrdd. There's a pic of the tabwrdd on www.welshtraditionalmusic.com , but info is pretty scarce.

Sîan, thanks a lot for the help on David Petersen; for those who don't know, he is an artist/blacksmith who lives in West Wales and is on the committee of the gigantic Lorient Interceltic Festival. David has an interest in the tabwrdd – he says that a tabwrdd was a signalling drum, not a marching drum. He entered the eisteddfod with a dancer, the purpose being to communicate; he would tap out a bar with his tabwrdd, and the dancer would "answer" with his feet. The eisteddfod judges went spare. The demanded evidence that the tabwrdd was a Welsh instrument, which David took back to D Roy Saer, keeper at the Museum Of Welsh Life. Roy couldn't believe his eyes, and handed the judges overwhelming proof that the tabwrdd was a folk instrument. The dancer entered the competition again, and won it twice.

Greg, all I am saying is that from time immemorial, the earliest folk instrument was a drum, something to beat out a message. The North Wales tabwrdd existed 700 years ago, much as the English tabor was extant 1,000 years ago. The Welsh 'tabwrdd' and the English 'tabor' both come from the French 'tambour', a word which goes back to the Persian 'tabîr'. The Welsh pronounced it 'tabwrdd' (bwrdd means a board or table, which describes the drum as something you could have a meal off!) Its Northern origins had become spread out, because Roy Saer says there was a tabwrdd player who was living in Llandeilo in the 18th century.
Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I have a problem with my digi-camera – I could email you some pictures of the tabwrdd which Marcus Music made for me (to an ancient design which Ceri Rhys Matthews and Cass Meurig researched.) I don't know if this is allowed, but could I have your e-address, please?