On 1 January 1814 the first Welsh weekly newspaper was published, when ‘Seren Gomer’ [The Star of Gomer] was founded in Swansea.

Seren Gomer was published by Joseph Harris ('Gomer'), a Baptist minister in Swansea. According to the Seren prospectus, its aim was to publish news:

• home

• foreign

• political

• religious

• along with literary contributions which would safeguard and spread the Welsh language

Unlike the English language weeklies which mainly published local news, Seren Gomer was a national newspaper for the whole of Wales. Though its circulation was comparatively large the Seren ended after 85 issues. This was chiefly because the tax on paper made it too expensive, and the income it derived from advertisements was too small.