Pen y Bryn, Bryn Llywelyn, Garth Celyn, Aber Sketch by Sir Richard Colt Hoare (1811)
From the time of the Edwardian conquest in 1283, the name Garth Celyn was deliberately eliminated from the record books of the Crown of England. Aber Garth Celyn became 'Aber'. The landholding became the 'Manor of Aber'. Garth Celyn, the 'demesne messuage', eventually became known as 'Pen y Bryn' ((Top of the Hill), 'Bryn Llywelyn' (Llywelyn's Hill). The original names and the traditions passed down the generations among members of the local communities.
The Thomas family of Aberglasney
Aberglasney He has a proud hall. A fortress made bright with whitewash, And encompassing it all around Nine green gardens. Orchard trees and crooked vines, Young oaks reaching up to the sky. Lewis Glyn Cothi, 'Ode to Rhydderch ap Rhys' (translated from the Welsh)
Rhys ap Gruffudd sister Jennet m. Nicholas ap Philip l l Rhydderch ap Rhys Gruddudd ap Nicholas l l Thomas ap Rhydderch Thomas ap Guffudd (killed 1468) l l Sir William Thomas of Aberglasney Sir Rhys ap Thomas (b. 1449, d. 1525) l Rhys (Rice) Thomas of Aber (d. 1577) I Captain William Thomas (killed 1586) l Sir William Thomas
7 August 1485 Henry Tudor and a group of followers landed at Mill Bay, Milford Haven. On 22 August Richard lll was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field. Henry Tudur was crowned King Henry Vll on 30 October. King Henry was swift to reward his followers. Rhys ap Thomas, whose support had been crutial to the victory, was knighted on the battlefield at Bosworth. In November he became Chamberlain of the Royal Principality of South Wales and was granted numerous offices. William Griffith of Penrhyn had his appointment as Chamberlain of North Wales renewed one month after Bosworth. Early in the fifteenth century, Gwilym ap Gruffudd, the grandfather of Sir William Gruffudd , built a house on a site that had early royal associations. The house on Penrhyn promontory was extended by his son.
In 1480, Sir Rhys ap Thomas had acquired Carew Castle, another site with royal associations; he transformed the building adding a grand ceremonial entrance that led into the Grand Hall. In 1505 he was admitted to the Order of the Garter and the following year held a spectacular Great Tournament at Carew, the last of its kind to be held in Wales. He died in 1525 and was buried in the Friary church in Carmarthen. His grandson Sir Rhys ap Gruffudd inherited the vast estates. However in 1531 Sir Rhys, accused of treason, was executed and his property, including Carew Castle, was seized by the Crown.
Sir William Gruffudd of Penrhyn died in 1531. He was succeeded by his son Edward Gruffudd, who was married to Jane Pulesdon, daughter of the influention Sir John Pulesdon. They had three daughters, Jane (born 1529), Catherine (born 1532) and Elin (born 1535).
On June 14, 1551, Rhys Thomas of Aberglasney, appointed by Roger Williams, the surveyor of crown lands in north Wales, to be the deputy surveyor, obtained a lease for himself of the royal manors of Cemais in Anglesey and Aber in Caernarfonshire. The acquisition of the lordship of Aber [Garth Celyn], the main home of Prince Llywelyn Fawr, his son Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn, and grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales and lord of Eryri, was of exceptional mportance to a man striving to elevate himself among the local gentry of North Wales.
June 14, 1551 Lessee, Ryce Thomas, gent.
As above, manor of Kemmeys, co. Anglesey, and lordship or
manor of Aber, co. Carnarvon, with all rents of assize, courts,
to Nicholas Hurleston, esq., 8 June, 21 Henry VIII, 21 years,
£11 6s. 8d.
Rent £11 6s. 8d. 21 years.
Records of the Court of Augmentations Relating to Wales and Monmouthshire
In October 1551, William Herbert was made Baron Herbert of Cardiff and then Earl of Pembroke.
In 1551 the Duke of Somerset fell from power and in December was brought to trial accused of conspiracy.
The Earl of Pembroke took part in the trial and was later rewarded with Somerset’s Wiltshire estates.
In January 1552 Somerset was beheaded on Tower Hill.
On 27 April 1553 the fifteen-year-old King Edward VI, gravely ill with a 'disease of the lungs', probably unknowingly, granted the royal manors of Aber and Cemais to William Herbert, earl of Pembroke and William Clerke.
7 Edward VI
Grant to William, earl of Pembroke, K.G., president of the Council of Wales and William Clerke of Poonesborne, Herts., gentleman, of the manors of Aber and Kenneys, cos Caernarvon and Anglesey, parcel of the principality of North Wales.
Calendar of Patent Rolls
William Herbert, earl of Pembroke
Lady Jane Grey and her younger sister Lady Katherine Grey were Henry VIII’s great-nieces, granddaughters of his sister Mary, to whose heirs he had willed the succession of the crown after the lines of his children Edward, Mary and Elizabeth had died out.
John Dudley, formerly Earl of Warwick and now Duke of Northumberland, who had overthrown and replaced Somerset as head of state during the young king’s minority, was determined to retain his power. He persuaded Edward to sign a document altering the succession
In May, Northumberland arranged for his son Lord Guilford Dudley to marry Lady Jane Grey.
The same month, Henry Herbert, the eldest son of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke married Lady Katherine Grey.
On 8 June William Herbert, earl of Pembroke and William Clerke obtained a licence from the king to sell Aber and Cemais to Rhys Thomas and his wife Jane.
7 Edward VI The like, for 3L 14s. 1/2d., to William earl of Pembroke, K.G., president of the Council of Wales and William Clerke of Punsborne, Herts, to grant their manor of Aber, in co. Carnarvon, and their manor of Kenneys in co. Anglesey, late parcel of the principality of North Wales;- to Rees Thomas of Lanveyer, co. Carnarvon, esquire, and Jane his wife, and the heirs and assigns of the said Rees.
Calendar of Patent Rolls
Garth Celyn, the site of the ‘palace on a hille… whereof yet parte stondith’ passed from Crown of England ownership, to the Thomas family, kinsmen of the earl of Pembroke.
King Edward VI died on 5 July 1553.
RICE THOMAS (d. 1577), was the second born son of Sir WILLIAM THOMAS of Aberglasney, sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1541-2. Rice married Jane Pulesdon, widow of Edward Gruffudd of Penrhyn, near Bangor, who had died of dysentry at Dublin Castle while serving as a soldier in Ireland in 1540. Roger Williams, the surveyor of crown lands in North Wales, appointed William Thomas to be his deputy in the counties of Anglesey, Caernarfon, and Merioneth; the role of Deputy Crown Surveyor put William in an advantageous position which, together with his kinship to the earl of Pembroke, enabled him to acquire in 1551 leases of the manors of Aber (Caernarfonshire) and Cemaes (Anglesey).
Penrhyn promontory from Garth Celyn
On the death of Edward Gruffudd, his younger brother Rhys Gruffudd claimed his esttes as heir male. Sir John Pulesdon disputed this; he took sixteen armed men and forced his way into Penrhyn; he removed furniture and family heirlooms from the house. Sir John put a claim before the courts on behalf of his granddaughters; after two years the courts reached a compromise which gave the Anglesey lands to the girls leaving Rhys Gruffudd with the Caernarfonshire lands including Penrhyn. Sir John was not satisfied and years of costly litigation followed, but to no real effect.
In 1553 William and Jane acquired for themselves and their heirs the grant of these two manors (Cal. Pat. Rolls., 1553, 121). Rice Thomas rising up the social ladder in North Wales became a justice of the peace for Caernarvonshire in 1552. He was sheriff of Anglesey in 1563-4, and of Caernarvonshire in 1573-4. Rice and Jane created a Manor house from the remains of the medieval royal home, the 'Palace on the hille' that John leland, Henry VIIIs Antiquary had recorded in 1537 'still in part stondeth'. The inside walls of the medieval watch tower (c.1200) were cut back to produce square interior rooms, and windows inserted in the structure. The social implication of living at the top of the hill in the royal home was in itself a deliberate statement: the Thomas family were intent on rising up the social ladder, and they used the symbolism of Garth Celyn and its royal associations to great effect.
Rhys Thomas 'of 'Aber' died in 1577.
WILLIAM THOMAS (1551-1586), the son and heir of Rhys Thomas was born at Caernarvon in 1551. As a boy William was sent to London to be educated and placed as a page in the household of the duchess of Somerset, sharing the same tutors as her son lord Edward Somerset. William, bilingual in Welsh and English, studied Latin, Italian, and French; he made influential friends at Court including Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester,
Queen Elizabeth granted Leicester the lordship of Denbigh, made him Chief Ranger of the Forest of Snowdonia, and gave him the authority to investigate titles to land in north Wales. William Thomas was to benefit from Leicester’s position and influence.
Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (1587)
William Thomas married Elen, daughter of William Gruffudd of Plas Mawr, Caernarfon, a son of Sir William Gruffudd of Penrhyn. William and Elen had nine chidren. Jane Griffith, the eldest half-sister of William Thomas, married William Herbert of St. Julians, the grandson in the male line of William Herbert, the first earl of Pembroke. William Herbert, earl of Pembroke, died on 17 March 1570 ; he was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.
William, with a military career, served in Ireland and later in Flanders. He was a justice of the peace for Caernarvonshire from 1575, sheriff in 1580-1, and Member of Parliament for the county in 1574 and 1584. In Jan. 1581, he purchased from the earl of Leicester lands in Llŷn, which had formerly belonged to the abbey of Bardsey. In 1583, he became Deputy-Constable of Caernarfon Castle.
Captain William Thomas made his will in 1584 ‘by reason I am imployed in her maiesties service in Flaunders’ (P.C.C., Spencer 2). He was captain of 200 men from North Wales and went to the Low Countries with the earl of Leicester; he was killed at the battle of Zutphen in 1586. 1586 The fight was because the Prince of Palma tried to re-victual Zutphen; in fact he put in some food but so little that it surrendered after a great fort was taken. Calendar of State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth. Sir Philip Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland and President of the Council in the Marches, a friend of Captain Thomas was shot in the thigh in the same battle and died from his injuries twenty-six days later. Queen Elizabeth ordered court mourning for Sir Philip Sydney. His body was brought back to England in a ship with black sails, and he was given a state funeral.
Elin Thomas gave birth to their ninth child posthumously. At his death William Thomas left lands in Carmarthenshire, as well as his estates in Anglesey and Caernarvonshire.
Mary Queen of Scots was brought to trial before a special commission in October 1586. The earl of Leicester was one of ten members of the Privy Council who signed her death warrant and on February 8, Mary was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle.
Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester died on 4 September 1588 and was buried alongside his son in the Beauchamp Chapel in the Church of St Mary the Virgin at Warwick.
Captain William Thomas's eldest son and heir, Sir WILLIAM THOMAS (knighted in 1603), was born in 1572 and educated at Christ Church, Oxford; he matriculated 24 May 1588, B.A. 28 Jan. 1592. He became a justice of the peace and deputy-lieutenant for Caernarvonshire, sheriff in 1607-8, and was admitted a member of the council of the Marches in 1617 (Hist. MSS. Comm., 13th Report, App., iv, 254). He was a prominent ally of Sir John Wynn of Gwydir. In 1605 Sir William took steps to acquire the ‘Koydalen’ estate, on the outskirts of Caernarfon, which eventually became the family's seat. (Cal. Wynn Papers, 343). The family already owned property within the borough of Caernarvon, and Sir William's town house was in Church Street within the walls.
In 1609, under the king's commission for confirming defective titles, Sir William was obliged to pay £56 13s. 4d. to the Crown for the renewal of a grant of the manors of Aber and Cemaes. About the year 1620, if not before, Sir William Thomas modernised the manor house on Garth Celyn. (The manor house has been commonly known as ‘Pen-y-bryn’ at least since 1672.) Sir William died at Caernarvon in 1634, leaving a widow, six sons, and two daughters. For some undiscovered reason, he had disinherited his eldest son, John, in 1618, entailing most of the estate on his second son (P.R.O., C142/534/112, inq. post mortem); but in his will he left to John the moiety of the tenement called ‘Y Fferme Vawre,’ in the manor of Cemaes, and the remainder of other lands in Anglesey that should be unsold after the portions of his (Sir William's) daughters and four younger sons had been paid, provided that John did not attempt to disturb his father's settlement of the estates. Sir William appointed his wife, Gaynor, his sole executrix (P.C.C., 113, Seager).
Sir William's second son, WILLIAM THOMAS, succeeded his father in the possession of all the family's estates in Caernarvonshire, consisting of the manor of Aber and various land and property in Caernarvon and elsewhere, including ‘Coed Alen,’ and also some lands in Anglesey. In 1618 he had married Catherine, daughter of Richard Parry, bishop of St Asaph. At the time of Sir William's death, William had two sons, Richard and Gruffudd. He was admitted a student of Gray's Inn in the year of his marriage. The family made Aber their main place of residence. A justice of the peace for Caernarvonshire, and sheriff in 1637-8, he sat for Caernarvon borough in the Long Parliament and made some stir by his speech against deans and chapters. In July, 1642, however, he left to join the king, and in Feb. 1644 was disabled by Parliament for deserting the service of the House, being in the king's quarters and ‘adhering to that party.’ In the same month he was rewarded by the king with the appointment of groom of the chamber to the queen (Cal. S.P. Dom., 1644, 14). His estates were sequestered by Parliament. In July 1650 he referred in a letter to what he had endured ‘from both parties, not only since the last rising in Anglesey, but for many years before it,’ and spoke of his ‘extreme want of necessaries’ (N.L.W., Llanfair-Brynodol, 150). In 1651 he was able to compound for the sum of £780, the fine being later reduced to £646. William Thomas's younger brother (the fifth son of Sir William) Colonel Rhys Thomas, a Royalist serving in the 'Queen's Lifeguard of Foot' having brought with him men from North Wales, was killed at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. William Thomas died in March 1654, leaving his eldest son and heir RICHARD THOMAS , an estate heavily encumbered.
The family suffered a serious setback as a result of the part which William Thomas played in the Civil Wars, and it never recovered its former position. Richard, who had also compounded in 1651 for delinquency in the first and second wars, ‘being an infant in the king's quarters’, seems to have been continually in financial difficulties; Richard married in Oct. 1654, Dorothy, eldest daughter of Edward Williams of Wig. in 1659, he was asking his aunt, Lady Grace Wynn of Gwydir for money and complaining that his wife would 'allow him none' (Cal. Wynn Papers, 2208). Richard died without issue early in 1666; in his will he had asked to be buried in Aber church. He was succeeded by his brother GRUFFUDD THOMAS who, like Richard, was evidently familiar with ‘pressing occasions for money’ during his tenure of the estate (P.R.O., C7/339/71); he d. without issue in 1676. The estate then passed to
JOHN THOMAS , ‘next in kin expectant upon the death of the said Gruffudd Thomas, the tenant for life’ (ibid.). He would seem to have been a first cousin, the eldest son of Robert Thomas, Gruffudd's uncle. He married Gruffudd's widow, Jane, c. 1678. There is evidence which indicates that he lived at Eglwys Gymyn in Carmarthenshire before succeeding to the Thomas estates in Caernarvonshire (U.C.N.W., Garthewin MS. 2077); and that he found himself in financial difficulties very soon after entering upon his inheritance. These difficulties led him, in 1678, into transactions with the Bulkeley family of Baron Hill, Beaumaris, transactions which involved the advowson of Aber and land within that manor (U.C.N.W., Baron Hill MS. 3133). Lord Bulkeley acquired possession of the advowson, and in 1680 appears to have even gained possession of the manor, though only temporarily, for John Thomas was certainly lord of the manor of Aber from at least 1686 until his death. A partial recovery of the family's former prosperity is suggested by the fact that John Thomas was appointed sheriff of Caernarvonshire for 1693-4. Like Richard and Gruffudd before him he appears to have lived chiefly at 'Pen-y-Bryn', Aber. He had a son, William, who matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford, in 1698, aged 18, but the son must have died before him. When John Thomas died in 1705 he was succeeded by his brother, JOSEPH THOMAS , a cleric.
Following the death of John Thomas, the manor of Aber passed out of the possession of the Thomas family, though Jane continued to live in the house. By 1715 it was certainly in the ownership of Richard, viscount Bulkeley of Baron Hill. From this time the main branch of the Thomas family was associated with Coed Helen, Caernarvon.
(Joseph Thomas died in 1708. He was succeeded by his eldest son,
RICE THOMAS , who was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1714 and called to the Bar in 1720. He died in 1722, and was succeeded by his son, WILLIAM THOMAS, sheriff of Caernarvonshire in 1746. In 1753 William brought, unsuccessfully, an action in Chancery against Thomas James, lord Bulkeley, claiming the advowson of Aber (N.L.W., Llanfair-Brynodol MSS.; U.C.N.W., Baron Hill MS. 4590). He died in 1763 and was succeeded by RICE THOMAS (1746-1814), sheriff of Caernarvonshire in 1771, who was in turn succeeded by his son, also named RICE THOMAS (1771-1850), sheriff of Caernarvonshire in 1831-2, a quiet country gentleman, who was the last of the family in the direct male line. His sister, Elizabeth, had married in 1792, Sir William Bulkeley Hughes of Plas Coch, Anglesey. The second son of this marriage was the Rev. Rice Robert Hughes (1800-1850), and it was his eldest son, RICE WILLIAM THOMAS (1841-1892), who inherited the Coed Helen estate, assuming the name of Thomas. )
Bibliography:
Dwnn, i, 27; ii, 152-3;
E. A. Lewis and J. Conway Davies, Records of the Court of Augmentations relating to Wales, 63, 276, 278, 302;
Sir John Wynn, Hist. Gwydir Family, ed. J. Ballinger (1927), 66-7;
Flenley, Register, 135;
E. G. Jones, ‘The Caernarvonshire Squires’(M.A. thesis);
Foster, Alumni Oxon.;
Inv. Caerns., i, 3;
Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn, 151;
Parl. Hist. (1753), ix, 15;
W. R. Williams, Parl. Hist., 59, 66;
A. H. Dodd, Trans. Cymm. (1948), 51;
Cal. Ctte. for Compounding, iv, 2740-1, 2820;
A. Ivor Pryce, Dioc. Bangor During Three Cents., 11;
Adm. to Middle Temple, 273-4;
Burke's…Peerage (1937), 1180;
P.R.O. List of Sheriffs, LRI/213, 215, 222, Sta. Cha. 5/W49/7, 5/J12/23, 8/284/9, Chancery Pdgs. C5/565/67, C6/133/215;
N.L.W. Llanfair and Brynodol MSS., bundles 94, 98;
Bangor diocese probate records (N.L.W.);
U.C.N.W., Garthewin MSS. 2080, 2089;
Plas Coch MSS. 3264, 3267;
Caerns. record office, quarter sessions files. 1640, 1652, 1680, 1686, 1704, 1715, Coed Helen MSS.
Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester 
