Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

CADETS OF GOLDEN GROVE II by Major FRANCIS JONES, C.V.O., T.D., D.L., F.S.A. Wales Herald Extraordinary VAUGHAN OF DERWYDD THE house of Derwydd stands at the foot of a long spur extending southwards from the high ground above Cathargoed in Carmar- thenshire, in the northern comer of the parish of Llandybie, and near to the boundary with Llanfihangel Aberbythych, overlooking a pleasant vale through which runs the river Marlais. Immediately across the river are the farms of Bwlarth and Cilyrychen sheltered by a steep hill rising to over seven hundred feet. Doubtless the area was heavily wooded in olden days with oak-trees, which gave rise to the name Derwydd. The village of Llandybie is about a mile and three quarters to the south. No early references have been found to Derwydd. The statement contained in the History of Carmarthenshire (ed. J. E. Lloyd, I, p. 262) that it was one of the seats' of Sir Rhys ap Thomas, lacks confirmation, and nothing whatsoever has been found to associate that worthy with it in any way. The earliest reference occurs in mid-Tudor times when it was owned by the descendants of a man called Bedo of whose antecedents nothing is known. In a Lay Subsidy of 1550, we find he names of two brothers Rhydderch and Rhys ap Hywel ap Bedo, their cousin Morgan ap Rhys ap Bedo, and Morgan's son, Bedo Morgan ap Rhys Bedo, all of Llandybie parish. They belonged to a stock of freeholders, the kind of family from whom so many of the later gentry derive their lineage. Rhydderch is said to have married Margaret daughter of Owen Philipps of Cilsant, one of the oldest families in south-west Wales, and by her had an only child, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, heiress of Derwydd, married John Gwyn William of Piode, a property above Nant Gwynnau, less than half a mile from the village of Llandybie. The bridegroom was the second son of William ap Philip who traced his ancestry back to the ancient princes of Deheubarth.1 The gleeman, Lewis Glyn Cothi, composed 1 See Dwnn, Heraldic Visitations, ┊i 26; Mest Wales Historical Reconds, i, 1 See Dwnn, Heraldic Visitations, i 26; West Wales Historical Records, i, 94; BM.Add.MSS.39750; and Golden Grove MSS, for genealogical trees.