Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

OLD LLANGOEDMOR Writing of his own home in The South Wales Squires (1926), H. M. Vaughan tells us as follows: "The house itself, as it stands today, has a good facade built in the reign of William IV; whilst the portion behind dates chiefly from the middle of the eighteenth century. From the secluded rose garden on the south side you can easily tell by the quoining where the older and the newer portions join. There was formerly standing a much older wing of the house, low and gabled, jutting out from the main building to the west, which appears in old views of Llangoedmor. This was demolished by my grandfather some ninety years ago when he added the present western front." One of these old views of Llangoedmor' to which Vaughan refers -and which was formerly in his own possession there-has recently come to light again and through the kindness of his nieces Mrs. W. Protheroe Beynon and the late Miss E. P. Vaughan is reproduced opposite. While Llangoedmor is principally remembered as a home of the Vaughans on account of H. M. Vaughan's own writings, for most of its history this "very favourite residence of those who have from time to time possessed it" (Meyrick), gave shelter to families of the name of Lloyd. This has been related briefly by the late Major H. J. Lloyd- Johnes in his distinguished series on the 'Lesser Country Houses of Cardiganshire' (Ceredigion, 1955), but thanks to the assiduous researches of Major Francis Jones in the intervening years, further details have come to light and I am most grateful to him for his assistance in what follows. Around 1550, so Lewis Dwn tells us, Plas Llangoedmor was owned by one Rhys Lloyd and continued in his family until passing in the next century to the Lloyds of Mabws and Ystrad Teilo. In 1738 it was mortgaged and twenty years later sold by Richard Lloyd to John Lloyd of Pound in Devon, a younger son of John Lloyd of Ffosybleiddiaid (Mayor of Carmarthen 1739). John junior was at that date Clerk of the Cheque at H. M. Dockyard Plymouth and his portrait (still sur- viving) was painted by Joshua Reynolds in 1761, marking him as a gentleman of standing. By the date of the sale, purchaser and vendor had become tied by a family connection, Richard's daughter having married John's elder brother James in 1750. An interesting assessment of the house at this time is preserved in a letter from the vendor in London to Thomas Johnes of Dolaucothi who was acting as his agent, dated 21st July 1758: Lloyd describes his home as "a good house fit for any gentleman of middling fortune to live in, with many conveniences and most excellent outhouses". It was not however good enough for the purchaser who, over the next few