Archive:Archaeologia Cambrensis, Third Series, No. XIII

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Cambrian Archaeological Association, Archaeologia Cambrensis, The Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, Third Series, No. XIII (London: E Mason, 1858) as digitized by Google Books.

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History of Radnorshire

by Rev. Jonathan Williams, M.A.

Pain's Castle Hundred

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passed family This transfer of the patrimonial inheritances of the Welsh reguli of Elfael and Moelynaidd was facilitated by a series of disastrous events in addition to those already related The death of the brave Madoc ab Idnerth who preserved Radnorshire and Cerri entire the impolitic divisions of this property in conformity to the law of gavelkind the bloody quarrels among his children in consequence of that distribution and the base assassina-

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tion of his younger son Eineon Clyd or Eineon Glawd ie Eineon the venerable or Eineon with the fair countenance effected by the Flemings and Normans on the mountains of Cardiganshire as he was returning from Aberteifi where he assisted at the celebrated festivities holden in that town by his father in law Prince Rhys these were sad reverses which must have contributed greatly to the success of the rapacious enterprizes of the Normans. Accordingly we find that Pnilip de Braos Lord of Buallt Robert de Todeni Lord of Clifford together with Ralph de Baskerville Lord of Eardisley completed the overthrow of Cantref Elfael and divided among themselves the remaining estates of Eineon Clyd, or Glawd particularly Clyro Boughrood Colwyn and Aberedw Some time after this seizure a spark of honour was rekindled in the breasts of the usurpers of his patrimony for through the liberality of Walter Bishop of Hereford Eineon's eldest son Walter Fychan was reinstated nominally in the possession of Cantref Elfael but only in a certain portion of it in whose of the name of Vaughan this property for several generations and indeed to a very period of whom was Roger Vaughan Esq of who served the office of high sheriff for the county Radnor in the year 1580 and subsequently for that Hereford It became then subdivided partly by marriage and partly by purchase among the families of Whitney, Williams, Howarth, &c and at present rests with Walter Wilkins Esq., of Maeslough in parish of Glasbury.

Pain's Castle hundred contains twelve parishes viz Bettws Clyro Boughrood Bryngwin Clasbury Clyro Llanbedr Llanddewi fach Llandeilo graban Llanste phan Llowes Michaelchurch or Llanfihangel ar Arrwy and Newchurch All these were anciently comprized within those divisions called Cantref y Clawdd and Cwmwd Penwyllt and are at present situated within the Cantref Elfael.

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BOUGHROOD.

It contains on an average about 1000 acres of inclosed and cultivated land and nearly 500 acres uninclosed and uncultivated.

This parish has passed through the hands of divers proprietors In the year 1140 it was the property of Eineon Clyd the younger brother of Cadwallon Lord of Moelynaidd who was murdered on his return from Cardiganshire as before related. The possession of it was then seized by the Norman usurpers and pursuant to a new division of the spoils it devolved upon the Bishop of Hereford who had the generosity to restore it to the rightful heir Walter Fychan son of Eineon. A part of the wall of the old castle of Boughrood in which Eineon and his descendants for several generations resided was standing a short time since and the moat with which it was surrounded remains to this day. This castle together with the lordship of Trewern Boughrood constituted a part of the property of Sir Richard Chace whose only

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daughter and heir was the third wife of John Price Esq. of Knighton in this county the grandfather of Richard Price Esq. the present representative of the borough of Radnor in Parliament. Their issue was two sons viz. Chace Price Esq. member of Parliament first for the borough of Leominster in the county of Hereford and afterwards for the county of Radnor and Richard Price Esq. late of the borough of Knighton. The former gentleman being a bon vivant died in embarassed circumstances and had contracted a large debt to government. An extent was issued for the recovery of this debt and the Boughrood estate was sold to discharge it. An estate called the Noyadd in this parish remained for centuries in the possession of the Whitney family obtained originally by the marriage of Hugh Whitney, Esq., of Whitney Court, in the county of Hereford, with Catherine, daughter of William Vaughan, Esq., of Maeslough, in the parish of Clasbury.

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CLASBURY

Although the river Wye is in general the separating boundary of the two counties of Radnor and Brecknock yet this parish violates this arrangement and stretches itself on both sides of that line having its parochial church on the Brecknockshire and a considerable part of its territory, viz. the township or portion of Pipton on the Radnorshire quarter. Thus the Radnorshire portion of Clasbury which lies on the right bank of the Wye, being a part of the conquered territory which Bernard de Newmarche, the Norman Lord of Brecknock and Buallt, obtained of Cadwgan the Welsh Lord of Elfael Moelynaidd and Cerri, was annexed to his larger property that was situated on the left bank of that river, and, on the formation of the four new counties of South Wales in the reign of Henry VIII King of England, this baronial arrangement was adhered to and the Radnorshire and Brecknockshire Clasbury were made to constitute one parish each, however, maintaining their own poor, raising their own quota of militia and assessing their own rates severally distinctly and separately and the inhabitants of both having an equal right to the use and service of the church which is situated on the Brecknockshire side of the Wye the boundaries between the two counties in this parish being Ffordd fawr and Llwyneu bach one half of a mile from the river southwardly then turn east and west then turn angularly south west by Clasbury Church to the left cross the turnpike road and return through the Sconces into Wye.

Few vestiges of antiquity are discoverable in this parish. There are, in certain situations, small encampments, and barrows of Welsh construction, of which tradition is totally silent. Nor is it supposed that any castle was ever erected here. The proximity of those two

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formidable fortresses Colwyn and Pain's Castle afforded sufficient security. The conquest of this parish by Bernard de Newmarche obtained over Cadwgan ab Ellistan Glodrudd broke a link of that chain which for centuries connected the Severn and the Wye together and which conferred the appellation of Fferllys on the interjacent country. Having passed through the family of De Braos by means of a matrimonial union with the grand daughter of the first Norman Lord of Brecknock and Buallt, it reverted through the liberality and a sense of justice with which a prelate of the see of Hereford, was even in those days impressed to Walter Fychan son of the original proprietor Eineon Clyd and remained in the possession of his descendants till the year 1500 when William Vaughan Esq. of Maeslough in this parish departed this life leaving behind him two daughters coheiresses, viz. Catherine and Sybil, to whom the father had devised eight messuages eight gardens or farms one grist mill 300 acres of meadow land 200 acres of pasture 100 acres of wood furze heath &c in the several parishes of Clasbury, Llowes and Boughrood in fee. His eldest daughter, viz. Catherine, was married to Hugh Whitney Esq. of Whitney Court, who, for a certain consideration, alienated his interest in Clasbury. In the year 1582 died Sybil the second daughter and wife of Charles Lloyd Esq. They left no male issue but one only daughter who conveyed by marriage this property to Humphrey Howarth Esq. of Caebalfa in the parish of Clyro but originally of White House in the parish of ...

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CLYRO

...

At Gwern-fythen House, in this parish, lived Sir William Whitney, Bart., who inherited this estate, with many others in the neighbourhood, either by marrying the Welsh heiress, or derived it from his ancestor, Hugh Whitney, Esq., who married Catherine, daughter and heiress of William Fychan, Esq., of Maeslough, as before related. Several gentlemen of this family served the office of high sheriff for the county of Radnor, as Sir Robert Whitney, Bart., in the year 1562; and Sir William Whitney, Bart., in the years 1608 and 1616. The proprietor of Gwern-fythen estate had by Anne, his wife, ten sons, all of whom attained the state of manhood, and to each of whom the father left by will respectable freeholds, equally dividing according to the law of gavelkind, perhaps at the impulse of his wife, from whom in all probability this property descended, all his landed estates among them, - all of which have long since passed into other hands.

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