Rebecca’s Country: A Welsh Story of Riot and Resistance

In nineteenth-century Wales, a protest took place like no other. Burdened by punishing tolls and desperate for their livelihoods, protestors dramatically cross-dressed in carnivalesque costumes to attack the tollbooths. Inspired by the enigmatic figure of ‘Rebecca’, they went on to attack other symbols of injustice, redistribute wealth, and clash with both local authorities and the national government. In Rebecca’s Country, historian Rhian E. Jones explores the background, chronology and achievements of the Rebecca movement. She offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people and how they responded to the sweeping and severe changes of the early nineteenth century, telling the human stories behind this dramatic history.