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A SHORT HISTORY OF ABER MANOR
PARISH and VILLAGE
1200 to 1800
by
THOMAS J. OWEN
PEN-Y-BRYN
ABER. CAERNARVONSHIRE.
1966
Edited for the internet 2005
Aber has been inhabited since the Stone Age, or even before. This is evidenced by the number of hut circles dotted throughout the Nant Valley up to and above the Falls and also in the Anafon Valley, near Hafod y Celyn (a house up by the mountain gate), and on Ffridd Ddu (the hill to the right of the valley). Traces of cultivation are to be seen near the hut circles.
Roman milestones discovered on the boundary of Aber and Llanfairfechan and also at Madryn Farm indicate that the Romans also were familiar with the district.
The Princes of Gwynedd chose Aber as a Royal Manor. Brut y Tywysogion refers to Princess Joan as having died at Aber and her body being taken across the Lavan sands to be buried at Llanfaes in 1237. Joan's son Prince David, also died here and was buried at Aberconwy in 1246, the Bard mentioning the fact that the year 1247 was a very wet year
That there was a church in Aber in early times is brought to light by Pope Benedict IX's taxation of the parish in 1033 and Pope Nicholas IV's in 1292. Goronwy y Offeiriad the Rector of Aber in 1290, was probably Prince Llywelyn’s parish priest and was allowed to stay as priest by Edward 1. Actually it is quite probable that there was a church here as early as the 6th century
Every effort was made to retain Aber as a Royal Manor and the evidence is that Edward I did spend some time at Aber. The Crown did not relinquish the Manor until 1553 of which more later.
Included in the parish but not part of the manor was the bond Ville of Wig and the free Ville of Bodsilin, including Hafod y Celyn just outside the eastern boundary of the Manor. Wig, though the Prince exercised direct control, was a separate administrative unit lying on the western boundary of the Manor.
A survey of Aber by command of Edward I in 1284 gives a clear picture of the state of affairs in that year.
The late Professor Jones Pierce gives us the following information in the Caernarvonshire Transactions for 1962 - That the Prince's farm consisted of 200 acres, comprising Pen-y-Bryn and Henfaes Farms that the community contributed 684 days work in autumn and 576 days in winter, an average of 52 1/2 days per family. In addition a joint render of 6 quarters of wheat, 12 of barley and 6 of oats for provender had to be made annually. A groom had to be maintained by the community throughout the year and a good horse had also to be maintained for the Prince's personal use. Subsistence had to be found for as many as 96 members of the Prince's staff, as well as fodder for their horses in winter. Minor dues were also to be rendered - such as the provision of fire wood for the Prince's Hall. Hens and eggs had also to be provided. A rent of 4d per year from each of the villains (Note 1) of Aber had to be paid one can surmise that the money was obtained by the people selling some of their surplus grain and stock at the markets established at Bangor, Conway and Llanfaes across the Straits.
These markets were allowed by the Prince in the 13th century Aber did not have a market or fair until the 13th March. 1339, when three fairs each year were granted and a market each Tuesday, The three fairs each lasted for 8 days - in the words of the document "namely, on the vigil, on the day and on the morrow of Holy Trinity, and on the vigil and on the day of St. Nicholas, and on the vigil and on the day and on the morrow of St Denis"(9th October). Readers will notice the names of the French saints mentioned.
Not only was grain, butter and livestock sold in the market but traffic in human beings was also carried on, On March 25th. 1347, we find a family of serfs was sold. The document reads as follows;-
- The Sale by Gwladys, wife of Howel Lloyd and
Madoc ap Howel and
Ednvfed ap Howel Lloyd
To William ap Gruffydd ap Tudur
Of their Bondsmen
- Madoc Ddu ap Gwent )
David Kenwas ap Gwent ) Consideration £ 10
Egion Bach ap Gwent )
-
- Witnesses: David Goch ap Gruffydd.
Howel ap Gruffydd.
Goronwy ap Howel.
At various times the King would cause a survey of the Manor to be carried out in 1290 the value of the Manor was £5 per annum, in 1333 it was £38 0s Id and in 1607 it was valued at £800 per annum.
The 1333 survey gives the names of the 12 jurymen who carried out the work. Also mentioned are the 11 Flemish weavers who lived in Aber. The King appointed an official to administer the Manor who had to give a detailed account of his stewardship each year to the Exchequer.
Disputes would arise and be settled at the Manor Court and an appeal could even be made to the King. As an instance, in 1310, Goronwy ap Tudur of Aber appealed to the King against a demand for 14/0d rent yearly for land in Aber imposed upon him by the King's Officer, Goronwy claiming that he had been granted the land free of rent for life by Llywelyn Prince of Wales, for services rendered. His appeal was upheld. The King ordered the demand for rent to be suppressed. Those persons appearing before the Manor Court for misdemeanours were fined various sums. In 1290 returns made by the King's Officer Show that fines were imposed by the Manor Court on a number of persons varying from 2d to 10d, one Goronwy Gordechwr a native of Aber, repeatedly appearing and being fined various sums for assault and stealing property.
We also find that ex-soldiers were looked after on 26th May, 1400, a Grant was made to William Davy of Aber of letters patent under Seal of North Wales granting him for life 2d daily for good service in the wars of Edward III and "because he is old and nearly blind". And in 1402, one William Ddu of Aber was granted a pension of 2d per day for life for his service as a soldier.
One could dwell a great deal longer In describing the contents of documents relating to Aber in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries but which would take us well outside the scope of this article
From 1601 onwards (a climacteric in the history of the village) all Manorial officials who survived became the servants of the Vestry. A brief reference to the duties of the various officials should be made In particular; there were the constable, the way-warden (surveyor of highways), the field master, the churchwardens, and the overseer. The highway surveyor was particularly unpopular: he was responsible for the upkeep and repair of roads within the parish. This was carried out by compulsory labour; farms according to their size were required to supply carts, horses and labour to work on the roads up to 6 days a year. As penalty for neglect of duty a fine of £ 5 was imposed for each offence. The field master attended to the conduct of open field farming. The Churchwardens – (the Vestry had to appoint two at the annual Vestry Meeting). Their duties - they were primarily concerned with the maintenance of the Church. They were also charged with carrying out the Poor Law requirements. The penalty for refusing office was £5. The overseer was also appointed by the Vestry – (he was unpaid and unloved). He had the care of the sick and had to collect the Poor Rate, which was then distributed to needy persons, find employment for the unemployed, place orphans in apprenticeship. He had also to help the Parish Constable to deal with sturdy vagabonds who came into the parish. The parish Constable was a most important official, though a fine of £5 could be imposed for refusing the office. The Constable was appointed by the Justice of the Peace. He was responsible for law and order in the parish and had power to arrest an offender and lock him up; he had to check the licenses of alehouses, attend to the stocks and the whipping-post and ducking-stool were in his charge, Military matters also came within his province (the lodging of militia in the parish at 4d. per day per soldier); he was responsible for a great many other things too numerous to list in fact, so numerous were his duties that it is clear he never attempted to carry out half of them. One duty however he would be careful not to omit and that was to see that no vagabond or beggar stayed in the parish any length of time. He also saw to the calling of a Coroner's Court in cases of murder or suspicious death.
In Aber the Manor Court still continued to function but confined its duties to Manorial matters which often ran parallel with the duties of the Vestry. All persons owing suit and service to the Court were required to attend a precept under the hand and seal of the Steward of the Manor addressed to the Bailiff or Constable of the Manor, who in this case acted as Parish Constable as well. According to records 1765 to 1820 tenants within the Manor varying in number but amounting at times to nearly 80 appeared in Court or were fined 2d, 3d, 6d, or Is. each for non attendance.
To a great extent the dual working of the Vestry and the Manor Court was an advantage to the parish, as will be seen when it comes to dealing with offenders. At every Court, 12 Jurors were sworn "diligently to enquire and true presentment to make of all such matters and things as should be given them in charge or any ways come to their knowledge touching that their present service to the King's Council, their fellows and their own to keep secret, to present no one through envy, but in all ways to present the truth and nothing but the truth as the same should come to their knowledge”.
At some of the Courts presentments were made of matters requiring redress, the inhabitants of the township of Wig and of Bodsilin being continually complained of and amerced amongst others for pasturing their sheep and cutting turf within the Manor. Frequent notices occur of encroachments upon the Lord's land and of such being abated or rent being paid for them. The cutting of the Lord's trees and injury to fences and the straying of cattle were also frequent occasions for complaint. Strange as it may seem, the Vestry would have, should they have been so requested, dealt with some of these offences.
More exceptional matters are sometimes taken notice of. In May 1765 the Jury presented all Housekeepers within the said Lordship who should entertain or harbour any inmates above two nights within the said Lordship, fining such Housekeepers for the first offence 3d and for every night beyond the said two nights 6d. In November, 1771, two persons were presented for harbouring goats amongst the trees, hedges, corn, etc. all the previous summer and the Rev. William Griffith, Rector of Aber and his partners of Aber Mill were presented for keeping swine without pegs in their noses, the pigs having push ploughed several fields and also the highway within the Lordship. The records go on to show that a number of offenders were dealt with over the years. The last Manor Court was held shortly after the last war.
Meanwhile the Vestry was dealing with Church affairs and relieving the poor out of their meagre revenue – (a losing battle), as more and more needy folk were asking for help. Unemployment was rife throughout the country, in fact things became so bad that in 1534 a law was passed removing the Poor Law administration from the parish altogether. The village overseer was not made redundant, however, but remained as the parish rate assessor until 1927 when his office was done away with.
Entries in the Vestry Minute-book make sad reading - 22nd May, 1820 the Vestry resolved to allow John William’s and wife 2s. per week - that a shift be provided for Eleanor Smallwood - that two bushels of potatoes be provided for Hugh Thomas to plant. Such entries in the minutes are numerous and continue so until 1880. One entry in 1873 reads that one Mary Davis was granted 5s weekly and to be tenant for life of an almshouse, Mary Davis being by then blind and infirm, earlier in 1866 when cholera broke out in the parish it was she who nursed the fever patients.
When the Parish Council was formed in 1894, poor law was no longer the parish responsibility, though small sums were allotted from parish funds to help the needy.
It is difficult in 1966 to visualise the conditions prevailing in the nineteenth century. Napoleon had impoverished the country and when the war was over, thousands of men discharged from the army were roaming the country, homeless and jobless. Prices were falling in 1813 - wheat came down from 126/- a quarter to 44/- a quarter in 1822. Pasture land soon followed with a similar fall in value, poverty was rife, and eviction and bankruptcy were the order of the day.
A survey of the parish of Aber in 1830 shows that there were 70 holdings or farms, these over the years being assimilated to form Iarger units. Today there are 13 farms in the parish.
Now and again over the years some well-to-do person would give a thought to the poor by way of a bequest which was gratefully received by the Rector and Wardens and helped to augment the pitifully small sums allotted to the needy out of parish rates. Such bequests were made by persons who had lived in Aber, Sir William Thomas of Pen-y-Bryn. Lewis Owen of Twickenham, formerly of Bodsilin, Aber, and a descendant of Bishop Owen, Robert and Catherine George of Aber (brother and sister). John Morgan of Conway, once Curate of Aber, Jane William of Wig, Aber, and Ellen Jones of Bryn Meddig, Aber (The houses just a long the motorway, it means doctor), and also Lord Bulkeley, of Baron Hill, Beaumaris, at one time Lord of the Manor of Aber. I will now deal more fully with these charities (details taken from Return and Digest of Endowed Charities (County of Caernarvonshire) 10th April, 1899). “Lewis Owen, of Twickenham in the county of Middlesex, esq. by his Will, dated the 4th of September, 1623, gave unto Henry Jones and his heir’s male all his lands in Bod Silin and Llanfair Fechan, with their appurtenance in the county of Caernarvonshire, paying yearly for ever unto the churchwardens
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This is how what is now called Bodsilin looked before it was lovingly restored
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of the parish of Llan Aber 52s, and to then church wardens of the parish of Llan Fair Fechan 26s, the same to be bestowed in bread by the churchwardens for the time being on the Sabbath
day, amongst the poor of the said parishes, at their discretion’s the lands in Bod Silin, in the parish of Aber, charged with the payment of this annuity, are now the property of Adam Lodge, esq. a merchant of Liverpool, whose tenant, Richard Smallwood, pays the same half-yearly to the churchwardens, by whom it is distributed every Sunday in four penny loaves to three of the poorest families of the parish. It appears by the table of benefaction; dated in 1705, that ' Robert George and Catherine George, his sister, both of the parish of Aber, left a joint annuity to the poor of Aber for ever, of 31. (£3) per annum, being the interest of £50, 52s whereof to be annually distributed by one shilling per Sunday in good wheaten bread, amongst 12 of the poor of the said parish, as by the respective rector of the same for the time being and his respective successor from time to time, shall be nominated and appointed to receive the same; and the surplusage or over plus of the said £3 if any remains at the year's end, after the disposal or distribution of the said 52s. to belong to and kept by the churchwardens of the said parish successively for ever, in consideration of their care and trouble in providing and disposing of the said bread Jane Williams, widow, did by her Last Will, bequeath to the poor of the said parish, the interest of £5 for ever, to be distributed to the greatest objects of charity, at the discretion of the minister and churchwardens. It appears by an old paper produced to us, that Ellen Junes, of Bryn Meddig, gave and bequeathed to the minister and churchwardens of the parish of Aber the sum of £10 to be laid out at interest on the best security they could get, which she directed should be yearly distributed to and among the greatest objects of charity inhabiting within the said parish, on St. Thomas's day yearly, according to the discretion of the said minister and churchwardens and their successors for the time being for ever. These several sums, amounting to £75 with a further sum of £2 18s 10d, making together £77 18s 10d appear to have been laid out in the purchase of £100 four per cent stock. The distribution of bread was discontinued in 1880 and the money given to the poor in small sums yearly. Mention has been made earlier of Sir William Thomas as a benefactor to the parish of Aber it might be interesting to go into more intimate detail about this. The almshouses now renovated and restored were not built actually by him but by the late Lord Bulkeley, of Baron Hill, Beaumaris, who died in 1822. The Bulkeley family at that time owned the manor of Aber. Lord Bulkeley caused the almshouses to be built in 1811 for the accommodation of three poor families who were in receipt of an annual sum from a charity founded by Sir William Thomas. Sir William, who died in 1634, had left lands valued at £3 per annum called "Yr Arloesydd" in the parish of Aber for the support and maintenance of three "poor, decrepit old men" of the parish. These almsmen were to be nominated by the family of Pen-y-Bryn, Sir William Thomas's seat in Aber, and each was to receive 20s. Per annum during their life. Twenty shillings a year at that time was approximately equivalent in value to the old-age pension of today. In the Tudor and early Stuart period charitable bequests of this kind were often made by the gentry and by wealthy merchants both in England and Wales. Almsgiving was regarded as a Christian duty and a means of grace as well as a combination to the welfare of society. To establish a permanent charity for the relief of the poor and especially to erect an almshouse also brought prestige to a landed family and commemorated locally both the name and the munificence of the donor. Thus Sir William Thomas was following the practice, if not the fashion, of his age when he decided to leave a tiny portion of his estates for the maintenance of three poor old men in the parish of Aber. His friend Sir John Wynn of Gwydir had built an almshouse at Llanrwst in 1610 and it may be supposed that Sir William's charitable inclinations would have been partly inspired at least by a desire to emulate the famous Sir John. Sir William, however was not as wealthy as the Squire of Gwydir and furthermore may well have been reluctant to give too freely for the poor of those lands which he had striven so hard to acquire during his lifetime. At all events though he established a charity, he did not go so far as to build an almshouse. Sir William Thomas was a fairly typical example of the Welsh gentry of his day. He was descended from an old and aristocratic Carmarthenshire family, derived originally from a Welsh medieval Lord, Elystan Glodrydd it was his grandfather, Rice Thomas, second son of Sir William Thomas of Llangathen, Carns., who founded the fortunes of the Thomas family in Caernarvonshire, principally by means of an advantageous marriage with the daughter of Sir John Puleston, a wealthy and influential figure in Caernarfon in the early sixteenth century. In 1553 Rice Thomas and his wife acquired from the Crown a grant of the Manor of Aber and hence arose the connection between the Thomas family and Aber. Sir William Thomas's father, Captain William Thomas, was a gentleman scholar and a soldier of destination who service both in Ireland and Flanders during the reign he was killed at the battle of Zutphen in 1586 in which the famous Sir Philip Sydney was, also slain. Sir William was a boy of fourteen at the time of his father's death and the eldest of nine children his mother was a member of the Gruffydd family of Penrhyn, one of the leading Welsh families of North Wales, so that on his mothers side he had influential connections amongst the Caernarvonshire gentry. Good care was taken of his education. At the age of sixteen he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, and four years later he graduated B.A. in that University. Thereafter he followed the life of a country squire, becoming a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant of the county. he was knighted in 1603 Sir William played a prominent part in local politics and was a staunch supporter of the faction headed by Sir John Wynn of Gwydir which at that time was at loggerheads with a faction of South Caernarvonshire gentry. Apart from politics Sir Thomas's other major interest was the acquisition of land, displaying in this activity a certain unscrupulousness which was only too common amongst the gentry of the period. Amongst the land which he acquired was Coed Alun (subsequently known as Coed Helen), Caernarfon, where the Thomas family had their seat in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During much of his life Sir William Thomas lived in a house in Church Street, Caernarfon the family's coat of arms are still to be seen above its door. But about the year 1580 he built a new mansion houses Pen-y-Bryn at his manor of Aber, near the site of an older house (on the left below) built probably by his father or grandfather which may have looked something like this picture drawn by Dr Jonathan Foyle for a Television program about Pen Y Bryn.
To his new house (on the right above) Sir William later added a tower. Pen-y-Bryn with its tower, remains substantially as it was in Sir William's day and is one of the few examples of a Jacobean house to be found in Caernarvonshire. Sir William had evidently intended this to be his family's principal seat and there, indeed, his descendants lived for several generations. But the Thomas family fell on evil days following the Civil War and in the reign of Queen Anne, though they retained the Coed Helen estate, lost possession of the Manor of Aber. Thereafter only the charity for the almsmen established by Sir William Thomas remained to perpetuate their name in the parish.
The charities are now administered by the Charity Commission, the Rector of the parish and four Trustees; (the various sums of charity money have been invested in Government stock to produce a small sum in interest). The results of their administration is today to be seen in the two modernised cottages which it is hoped will give comfort and security to those living in them for many years to come
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