Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

ironworks. Mrs Yelverton died in 1863 and her husband in 1884 at the advanced age of 93. They had issue. In 1887, the son and heir, William Henry Morgan Yelverton sold Blaiddbwll to John Nicholas, gentleman, of Graig, for £ 12,400. The property so conveyed consisted of Blaiddbwll farm, Blaiddbwll mill, Troy an, Bryneithin, Penlanfach ucha, Pantybigny, Plas y beiley alias Fron Lebon, and a rent charge payable by the Whitland and Cardigan Railway Company. And so, finally, Blaiddbwll became alienated from the descendants of Jenkin Lloyd the Yorkist who had dared to flaunt his politics upon his heraldic shield during the conflict of the red and white roses. Today, Blaiddbwll is owned and occupied by the family of Harries, descended from the ancient families of Devonald, Skeel, Morse and Nicholas of Graig. The present farmhouse was built in 1898 as shown by a tablet in the gable end. A few ruins of the original mansion remain in a grove some forty yards lower down on the slope, and when I called there in 1972 I was informed that it had been 'a rambling old house with an exceptionally wide staircase'. On the tithe map drawn in 1838 the lay-out of the former dwelling house and the outbuildings of Blaiddbwll is delineated in detail. The latter are shown in much the same position as they are today, and the former, a biggish cube, stood below the lower end of the buildings, with a large pool on its southwestern side. The farm then included 360 acres, in the tenancy of Thomas Thomas, and owned by William Henry Yelverton of Whitland Abbey. A triangular enclosure on the western side contained a large grove of trees. The Ordnance Survey Map, surveyed in 1888 and published two years later, shows an unchanged lay-out, but a railroad had been laid between the house and the Taf, separating the homestead from the old Blaiddbwll corn mill, the mill farm, and the tucking mill, on the river bank. Since that time the present farmhouse as I have indicated has been built nearer to the outbuildings, the grove that provided shelter from westerly winds was cut down some time after the last war, and the railroad on which the 'Cardi bach' had cruised so beneficially has crunched before the fell axe of Dr Beeching. FRANCIS JONES Wales Herald of Arms Extraordinary Bibliographical Note. This essay is primarily based on the following manuscript sources. III National Library of WaLes- Bronwydd Collection; Eaton Evans and Williams Deeds; Llanstephan MSS nos. 101, 130, 138; Peniarth MS 156; Mostyn MS 114; NLW MSS nos 1602D and 12045; Picton Castle Deeds; Noyadd Trefawr Deeds; Ethel Jones Deeds; Papers of Great Sessions, Pembs; Probate Wills; Maps-Mudge (1819), Colby (1831), Tithe Map and Schedule of Llanfyrnach, 1838, and O.S. maps of 19th 20th centuries. In Carmartlten Record Office Golden Grove MSS, Trant Yelverton Deeds. III Pembrokeshire Record Office Land Tax Lists 1786-1820. III Cardiff Public Library Pembrokeshire deeds. In British Museum Egerton MS no. 2586. In College of Arms Protheroe MSS (partly in holograph George Owen of Henllys and George William Griffith of Pen- ybenglog); 16th 17th Phillipps of Middle Hill MSS, owned by Sir Anthony Wagner, K.C.V.O., now Clarenceux King of Arms, to whom I am grateful for allowing me to consult them.