survey1445

THE STORY OF TWO PARISHES

DOLGELLEY & LLANELLTYD

by T.P.ELLIS

XIII. THE SURVEY OF 1445 A.D.

THE SURVEY-NANNAU, BRITHDIR., DYFFRYDAN, CEFN YR. OWEN, DOLGLEDR., GARTHMAELAN-THE WYRION LLYWELYN-LLANELLTYD-DOLGELLEY.

IN or about the year 1445, a fresh survey of Merioneth was set on foot. Unfortunately the report of that survey is fragmentary and incomplete, and the information it gives is not as considerable as we might desire. It bears on it the impress of the country having gone through a terrible period of stress, for over and over again is it said that land, which once paid dues to the Crown, is now lying derelict for want of men.

Nannau is said to be in the hands of a single free “gwely,” that is, an associated group of relatives holding together, doing suit at Hundred and Llanfachreth mill, and rendering as dues 18/6 per annum for food and drink. Two plots of land, Moeldynog and another unnamed, were in the hands of the King. Brithdir was possessed by a free gwely named Ithel ap Gwyn. Gwyn was a grandson of the famous Ednowain ap Bradwen, and had lived himself in the time of Edward I. This gwely owed suit at Hundred and County, and paid dues of 3/1 per annum to the King. It possessed a mill of its own at Felin Rythallt.

In Dyffrydan there were two free gwelys, called Dafydd Goch and Heilyn Afanc, owning land extending from near Dolgelley to Llwyngwril, and Possessing a mill at Dolgelley. Each " gwely” paid 3/1 as dues. There was another free gwely at Cefn yr Owen and one at Dolgledr, paying 3/1 and 2/5¼ respectively as dues, and doing suit at Llanfachreth mill.

Garthmaelan is also mentioned as in the possession of a free gwely Eignon ap Cedmor, paying 3/9 as dues and owing suit at Llanfachreth mill. On the slopes of Cader dwelt a famous gwely, the Wyrion Llywelyn ap Tudor, the great-great-grandson of Ednowain ap Bradwen, and who, like Gwyn, lived in the days of Edward I. This gwely also owned a mill of its own, and paid 4/1 as dues. Llanelltyd is referred to as held in two free " gafaels" or holdings, paying 4/7 as dues.

No mention is made of Dolgelley itself, but there is a footnote, added in the year 1576, to the effect that Dolgelley was leased out by the Crown and surveyed in the Rolls. Perhaps someone, more fortunate than I have been, will discover these Rolls in days to come, and so add to our knowledge of those olden times.

These facts throw much light on the state of social life in the neighbourhood at the end of the Wars of the Roses.

Dolgelley was still an unfree "maerdref," though it was enfranchised a few years later by Henry VII.; but all around the land was held by free men, associated together in communal bodies, which had been in existence for centuries and paying little beyond nominal dues to the Crown.

The free people owned the free land, not individually but in groups. That system came to an end under the Tudors, who abolished the old system of communal land-holding and made way for the later system of landlords leasing out land to individual tenants.

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