Pen y Bryn

Sir Richard Colt Hoare  1811

References and Information

‘ABER GWYN GREGIN’

Conditions existing in Aber during the last years of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd are reflected in an Extent of the manor* compiled by authority of Edward I in the summer of 1284. The Extent shows that all the traditional features of an old commote capital were still flourishing there at the close of the 13^th century.

There was the manor house-Y Ty Hir or Long House as it was popularly known ….this ancient seat of the princes of Gwynedd (for its structural maintenance the free inhabitants of both upper and lower Arllechwedd were jointly responsible) was probably situated on or near the elevated site now occupied by the house known as Pen y Bryn. On the lower ground below this hillside and on the east bank of the river there was a small fortification of which the earthworks are still visible from the present village. Not far away on open ground between the curial buildings and the shore and covering an area roughly co-extensive with fields belonging to the present farms of Pen y Bryn and Henfaes – the Old Field – were the arable lands of the manor, lands which included a 200 acre demesne or home-farm once cultivated for the benefit of the princes.

….A servile village or maerdref, formerly a characteristic of all demesne manors, certainly flourished at Aber where a community of 24 families occupied the village adjacent to the court and demesne.

….the introduction of 11 additional families (called ‘cottagers’ in the Extent), to supplement labour provided on the demesne by the men of the maerdref, suggests that some contraction had occurred in the customary labour force formerly available.

….Between them the members of the maerdref community contributed 684 days work on the demesne in autumn and 576 days in winter and spring – an average of 52½days per family. When supplemented by 793 day works from the so-called cottagers (an average of 72 days each), the total labour force available for the cultivation of the demesne was equal to that of some six or seven labourers working constantly throughout the year.

….For the cottages and lands allocated to them within the manor of Aber the group of 11 labourers, whose status in the community was one that had been freely contracted, rendered nothing in return other than the days works or opera specified in the Extent. On the other hand, from the men of the maerdref, whose inherited servitude bound them to the soil of the manor, custom required tribute and service over and above that represented by the their works on the demesne. 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 his horse as well during the winter season; and on one day in season of the year subsidence had to be found for as many as 96 members of the Prince’s entourage, as well as fodder for as many horses on the stipulated days in winter and spring. There were also a number of minor dues including some carriage service, provision of fire-wood for the Prince’s hall, a gift of 3 dozen hens, and a small payment in cash.

….A rent of 4d. every year from each of the villains of Aber is a large enough sum for one to conclude that these villains had enough stock and grain to exchange for money at one of the local markets established during the 13^th century at Bangor, Aberconwy, or across the Strait at Llanfaes.    …..

                     Professor T. Jones-Pierce

‘Aber Gwyn Gregin’ published in the Caernarvonshire Historical Society Transactions  (volume 23, 1962)

(Note: * The Extent itself is missing, but its details are preserved in P.R.O. Ministers’ Accounts 1230/2.

References to Ty Hir will be found in the Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, Vll. P. 144.

The data for boundaries and other topographical features mentioned in the article are drawn from the Tithe Map and Commutation Award for the parish of Aber, which is now preserved in the National Library of Wales.

The diagrammatic map which accompanies this article was drawn by L. A. S. Butler.)

‘THE COMMOTAL CENTRE OF ARLLECHWEDD ISAF’

The Cantref of Arllechwedd was divided into three Commots – Arllechwedd Uchaf lying along the northern coast from just east of Bangor to Penmaen bach and stretching inland as far as Capel Curig; Arllechwedd Isaf running along the west side of the Afon Conwy from its mouth to the Afon Porthlwyd; Nant Conwy to the south and of this reaching up into the mountains round Dolwyddwlan and Penmachno.

The commotal centre of Uchaf and the Royal Court were at Aber Gwyn Gregin, where an earthen motte in the mouth of the valley marks the site of the settlement and the Prince’s residence was set on a shelf just above it to the east. The hall at this spot was a place favoured by Llywelyn Fawr. …

                        Dr. Colin Gresham

‘The Commotal Centre of Arllechwedd Isaf’ published in the Caernarvonshire Historical Society Transactions  (volume 40, 1979)

‘ABERGWYNGREGYN’

The stream in the picture is at Abergwyngregyn, Arllechwedd. This stream runs into the Menai past Garth Celyn where the manor of the royal family of Gwynedd stood in the thirteenth century. It is highly probable that the main home of the princes Llywelyn the Great, Dafydd ap Llywelyn and Llywelyn ll (the Last prince of Wales) was located where the old house of Pen y Bryn stands.

For fifteen of the forty-six years of the reign of Llywelyn the Great, his arch enemy was John, king of England. The relationship improved for a while when Llywelyn married the King’s daughter, Joan, ‘Siwan’ in the drama of that name by Saunders Lewis. In the senate of Aberdyfi 1216, Llywelyn demonstrated his diplomatic skill when he succeeded in giving the independent and divided Wales an administrative system which remained in place throughout the remaining quarter of his life. He also made an agreement at Ystrad Fflur with the princes of Wales to acknowledge his son Dafydd as his heir. But the princely line was shattered with the premature death of Dafydd.

Llywelyn the Great’s grandson, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, managed to draw the Principality together and expand it. In 1267, half a century after the Aberdyfi senate, he was recognised by England as the Prince of Wales. But Edward I ascended the throne fifteen years late determined to reduce the size of the Principality of Wales and then destroy it.

His chance came in the spring of 1282, with the rebellion of Dafydd, Llywelyn’s brother. A truce was announced at the end of the autumn. But the Norman-English terms offered were completely unacceptable to Llywelyn. He responded with a dignified declaration from Garth Celyn, that stated the long history of the Welsh, insisting that they were fighting for more than Gwynedd alone. They were fighting for the rights of all the people of Wales; they were battling for a nation. Better for them to die, he said, than to live under the oppression of the English.

Within weeks after these discussions, Llywelyn lay dead at Cilmeri.

Six months later prince Dafydd was delivered into the hands of the English at Bera, a mountain that rises above Garth Celyn. 

                        Gwynfor Evans

Cymru O Hud (2001)

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