Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

division of the hamlet. Gwyn also bought holdings in two other hamlets. In Parcel Mawr, 408 acres were purchased, 352 of which were located in the higher division, although only one, Llwyn Meirick, was in excess of 100 acres. In Clase, five holdings were bought, all in Clase Higher. These were all small farms varying from 22 to 51 acres, the total being 177 acres. Only in Penderry, where the Briton Ferry estate never had extensive holdings, did the Gwyn estate fail to gain a foothold.39 Indeed the main holding for sale in that hamlet, the 113 acre Cilfwnwr, was acquired by the Penllergaer estate with which it was contiguous.40 The emergence of William Gwyn as a prominent landowner in the parish was a fact which did not please the Penllergaer estate. This is made clear by an entry in the diary of Lewis Weston Dillwyn for 7 October 1821, when it became known that Gwyn had been successful in his purchases: Mr Gwyn the Attorney has purchased above 1,340 acres in our immediate neighbourhood and has been allowed to cut in with our Estate.41 On 14 October Dillwyn was more critical: The Tenements of Lord Jersey which in this parish on Friday remained unsold are the two Penyfedwas, Pant Baban, Vagwr wen, Cefn y Park, Blaen yr Olchfa, Melin wen, Pant yr Milwr issa, Tyrpen yr Rheol, Pant y Coedcae, Pentwyn, Llwyn Evan, Pant Lassa ucha, The Masons Arms public house, Ffynnon Vadog, which together comprise about 540 acres. I had calculated them to be worth as a maximum £ 4,300 and in the afternoon received the vexatious news that Mr Gwyn has purchased the whole for £ 4,200. This Neath Attorney has also purchased Killy hendreff in Cadoxton and the whole of Lord Jersey's property in Killebebill for £ 6,300 and he now possesses 2,400 acres in the neighbourhood of Penllergare 42 From details contained in sale agreements, however, it would seem that William Gwyn paid in the region of £ 16,000 for all the properties he acquired in Llangyfelach. Llwyn Meirick, Bryn y Maen, Twll y Gwiddil, Gwaun yr Eirich, Melin Cwm and Cwm y Bryn, with a combined acreage of 517, cost £ 5,500, whilst Blaen yr Olchfa, Tir Penyrheol, Cefn y Pare, Llwyn Evan, Pant y Milwr Isaf, Pant y Coedcae, Cefn Bettingfa Uchaf and the two Penyfedws cost £ 10,500.43 Why there is such a discrepancy in the reputed prices paid for the holdings as given in the Dillwyn diary and the sale agreements is unclear, but the indisputable fact is that through such acquisitions the Gwyn family became a powerful influence in the parish. Howel Gwyn (1810-88), William's son and variously of Neath, Baglan House and Dyffryn Clydach, was a lawyer and public benefactor who came to exert a dominant role in local and county affairs. He was high sheriff for Glamorgan 1837, Carmarthen 1838 and Brecon 1844, and, as Conservative MP, represented Penrhyn and Falmouth between 1847-57 and Brecon Town between 1866-69. D.