"It took a week for the forces of the Crown to finally bring order to the area. Punishment was severe: Lewis Lewis, after first receiving the death sentence, was exiled for life and Richard Lewis, known as Dic Penderyn, was executed on a charge of wounding a highlander.


On 3l July, l83l, he was hanged in Cardiff Gaol, despite the appeal of many thousands of people for his life. Forty years later, Ieuan Parker of Cwmafan, a Welshman living in the United States confessed to the charge. Lewis thus became a martyr of the Welsh working class. A popular ballad of the time ran:"

          I saw the Merthyr riots,
          And the great oppression of the workers;
          And some of the soldiers wounded. . .
          But dear heaven! the worst trick
          Was the hanging of Dic Penderyn

[from A Brief History of Wales]

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