Cylchgronau Cymru

" Old Brecknock Chips." 3C> FEIDAY, MARCH 2nd, 1888. ANCIENT BURGESSES OF BRECON. (Continued from February 24th, 1888.) The family of Waters (sometimes called Walters) appears in much affluence in Brecon during the middle fifty years of the 17th century. These were the people of whom Churchyarde writes (describing their tomb in the Priory Church, Brecon):— Within that church there lies beneath the quere These persons two whose names now shall ye heare In tomb of stone full fayre and finely wrought One Waters lyes with his wife fast by his side. Of this family Theo. Jones says : " The "tomb here described, as that of Waters, is " that now surrounded with rails on the left " hand entering Cappel y Cochiaid : of this " nothing remains save the altar part, on "which formerly lay two recumbent figures " in stone, one of them, although in a " mutilated state, lay there within my " memory, and there are some persons still " living, who recollect another figure placed " upon this tomb. The persons here meant "to be commemorated, were certainly a " Walter and his wife, a family of consider- " able note in this town during the reigns of " Henry VII. and his successor, though from " what ' fayre stock' originally descended I " know not, or whether they were of Welsh " extraction, but they are not found among " the descendants of Brycban or Cradoc, or " even among the strangers long settled in " Wales." We find that a William Walter was prior of Brecknock in 1434 ; a William Walter was archdeacon of Brecon in 1504-10, and in 1515 Thomas Walter was bailiff of Brecon : at the time of the attainder of the last Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, Matthew Walter was bailiff, having been appointed by the Lord of Brecon. There was also a Judge Walter on the Brecon circuit, wbo died at Ludlow in 1592. Judge Walter's family was considered the elder branch of the family. Of course if these Walters and the 17th century Waters are one and the same, then the family goes back into antiquity much further than any of the other burgesses of whom we have been treating. The second branch of the family continued in Brecon even when Mr Theo. Jones wrote, and in the time of Hugh Thomas " the Breconshire Herald," the Waters' were evidently a family of the higbest consider¬ ation in our municpal life, for Hugh Thomas observes : " Besides these (referring to the " great wealth and position of the common " councilmen) there are in the borough several " gentlemen of quality that live upon their " estates, of which number the chief of note " at this present is my hon and worthy " friend John Waters, Esq. . . who abounds " in wealth and fortune above all thegentle- " men of this place : his worthy father, John " Waters, Esq., was once high sheriff of this "county, and Justice of the Peace, once " Mayor, and several times bailiff of this "borough." The father was bailiff in the years 1679-83, and "mayor" in 1688—one of the short four years that the town enjoyed this special honour, but the erratic King James called in the mayor charter in a pet, and Brecon resolved itself once more into a " bailiff town." The son was bailiff in 1703. We find John Waters the father, H.S. of the county in the year 1678. The further records of the Waters' family are few and incomplete. We find a " John Waters *' married Mary, daughter of Thomas Penry, " of this town, mercer ; she died in 1682." Then again: " Jane, daughter of Thomas " Bullcott, married — Waters, Esq., she "died in child-birth, 26th April, 1631." And : " John Waters, of Brecon, married " Jane, one of the daughters of Judge Lewis " Lloyd, of the North Wales circuit, (the " Crickadarn Lloyds) and by her he left one "daughter, Jane, who married Sir Halswell " Tynte, Bart." And with the marriage of this heiress, the Waters family disappear from off the scene of earth and time. This last John Waters left a charity in 1698 " four pounds annually to eight poor tradesmen," and this charity is now administered by Messrs Wilkins and Co., Brecon Old Bank. There are many other essentially town families, risen from trade to affluence and position, that have not only provided bailiffs for Brecon but members of them have fulfilled the duties of the Shrievalty. We will enumer¬ ate a few: Saunders Saunders, 1686 ; Howel Jones, 1698 ; Charles Penry, 1718 ; Richard Hughes, 1721 ; Wm. Brydges, 1749 ; John Bullock Lloyd, 1760. The Saunderses, Penrys, Joneses, Hugheses, were bailiffs and aldermen in rotation, and over a long series of years. The trades of Brecon were of high repute three hundred years ago. Tanners and curriers of more recent gener¬ ations will be interested to know that Evan ap Richard was in business as a tanner in Brecon as early as 1507; the Watkinses and Hugheses were corvisors; Evan David was tucker in 1695; the Prossers enjoyed the monopolies then attached to the trade- crafts of mercers and saddlers ; the Powels were the Brecon ironmongers for gener¬ ations ; and the Wynstones were barbers and apothecaries. It is a very interesting study of family history to see how various families stuck to their calling. Unless the consent of the town council of