Cylchgronau Cymru

military in character. If, as seems likely, and certainly in the absence of evidence to the contrary, Perrot's mother remained in Wales, then he must have been conceived sometime prior to his father's departure for Ireland which would suggest a birth date of no later than October 1571. Unsurprisingly, his place of birth is far from certain but is thought to be the now-lost but once fine mansion house of Westmead near Pendine in Carmarthenshire.5 Tradition early links him with this Perrot-owned manor, certainly from boyhood, but the fact that he was referred to, as a teenager, as being 'late' of that place by his own father in the spring of 1584, is proof of a close association.6 Besides its possible use as a convenient and congenial extra-marital home for Perrot's errant father and mistress mother, Westmead would have served as a fitting place in which to raise a freely acknowledged illegitimate son. Unfortunately, the details of Perrot's early life and upbringing are lost to us but it might reasonably be presumed that he and his sister Mary were brought up together by their mother. To where he moved from Westmead before entering Oxford is not known but it could hardly have been Haroldston, as has been suggested by some, given the sensitivity of the relationship and the fact that Sir John Perrot's eldest son and heir, Sir Thomas, lived there. Indeed, there is no evidence to suggest a relationship between the half-brothers let alone an acknowledgement of James by Thomas of whom no mention is made in the latter's last will and testament of February 1594.7 Sir John Perrot's acknowledgement of his illegitimate offspring was made formal in a settlement of his estate, dated 29 May 1584, drawn up prior to his departure for Ireland as Lord Deputy the following month.8 In it, he declared that his property should descend in survivorship to those of his own blood and name, or at least 'to such of his name as he liketh and careth for', namely, his heir Sir Thomas (d.1594), by his first wife Ann Cheyney (d.1553), William (d.1587), by his second wife Jane Pollard (d.1594), and Sir James.9 The prospect of James succeeding to the vast Perrot estates must have seemed so remote that his father pre- pared him for a profession, most likely the law, hence his sending to Oxford University, more precisely Jesus College, and to the more socially exclusive of the Inns of Court, the Middle Temple.10 He did not graduate from the one and, as far as is known, did not complete his legal studies