My new map is a Bassett and Chiswell edition, so I sat down to have a closer look at it, particularly the coats of arms. There were two, for Christopher Villiers and Arthur Annesley, the Earls of Anglesey. Who?? In my years of studying Anglesey’s history, I’ve never heard of them, and looking through my extensive collection of Anglesey history books I can only find the Earl of Anglesey mentioned in a single sentence.

Well, unlike the Marquesses of Anglesey (the Paget family of Plas Newydd, who were also the Earls of Uxbridge), the Earls of Anglesey seemed to not have any connection to the island whatsoever. It was just a handy title that a king could hang on one of his favoured courtiers.

The title was first bestowed on Christopher Villiers. Born in 1593, he was the son of Sir George Villiers, High Sheriff and MP in Leicestershire. He and his brothers became close to the court of King James VI and I, and Christopher (or Kit as he was known in court) became Gentleman of the Bedchamber and later Master of the Robes to the King. The king granted him the titles of Earl of Anglesey and Baron Villiers of Daventry in 1623. When he died in 1630 the title passed to his only son Charles, but he died childless in 1661. The title then became extinct.

However, the title was resurrected just two months later for another family. Arthur Annesley was born in Dublin in 1614, son of Francis Annesley, 1st Viscount Valentia. His father’s family was from Nottinghamshire, but he moved to Ireland at the time of the rise of the Anglo-Irish landowners. After education at Magdalen College, Oxford, and admission to Lincoln’s Inn Arthur became a Parliamentarian, first for Radnorshire then later for Dublin and Carmarthen. He initially sided with the parliamentarians during the English Civil War, but towards the end of the Protectorate his sympathies turned royalist and he was involved in the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. He was rewarded by being made Earl of Anglesey and Baron Annesley of Newport Pagnel, Buckinghamshire in April 1661. He filled many offices of state through his life, including Lord Privy Seal.

After his death in 1686 the title passed to his son James, also a parliamentarian and landowner. He died just four years later, and his eldest son James became Earl. James died in 1701, having just one daughter, so the earldom passed to his younger brother John, who also died without a son in 1710. The youngest brother Arthur then became the 5^th Earl of Anglesey. He was a prominent politician like his grandfather, being a member of the British Parliament for Cambridge University, and of the Irish Parliament for New Ross, near his estates in Co. Wexford. He was also Vice-Treasurer and Paymaster General in Ireland and Governor of County Wexford. He died childless in 1737.

The 6th Earl of Anglesey was Arthur’s cousin Richard Annesley. He is known for his rather murky dealings surrounding claims to titles and legitimacy of marriages; the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him a “kidnapper and bigamist”. Before becoming Earl of Anglesey he took the title of 5^th Baron Altham in 1727 after the deaths of the previous barons, his father and elder brother Arthur. However, his brother’s son James, who may or may not have been illegitimate (the identity of his mother was disputed) and who had later become estranged from his father, also had a claim to the title. Richard arranged to have the young teenager James kidnapped and sent off to America as an indentured servant. James managed to escape and make his way back to England 15 years later, where he tried to claim the title. He initially won his case in court, but it was overturned on appeal and Richard continued as the 5^th Baron Altham and, by that time, Earl of Anglesey. This incident is thought to have influenced Robert Louis Stevenson for part of the plot of his novel Kidnapped.

Richard was “married” three times, although the legitimacy of the marriages was disputed. He abandoned the first wife, Ann Proust, and was separated from the second, Ann Simpson, based on his cruelty. It seems he married the second Ann when he was still legally married to the first. His third marriage to Juliana Donovan produced two sons and two daughters.

When Richard died in 1761 his titles, including the title Earl of Anglesey, were to have passed to his son Arthur, but a distant cousin, Constantine Phipps, 1^st Baron Mulgrave, claimed that the marriage between Richard Annesley and Juliana Donovan was not legitimate, and he therefore should take possession of the titles, given he was a grandson of the 3rd Earl. The court ruled that the marriage certificate was forged and declared all the English titles for the family extinct. This was the end of the line for the Earls of Anglesey.

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After attending the “Spheres of Influence” day school last month, I decided to finally get myself a copy of this fine book. One of the authors, Richard Suggett of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, gave a talk about “Anglesey’s Plastai”, which whetted my appetite for more details on the ancient manor houses of the Island.

Co-authored with Margaret Dunn of Discovering Old Welsh Houses and published in 2014, this large format and well illustrated book charts the development of gentry houses in North-west Wales through the late medieval and early modern periods. In particular, it places these developments on a firm timeline by using dendrochronology (dating building timber through the growth rings in the wood) to accurately date the main structural elements.

The introduction begins by describing the usual medieval style of house throughout England and Wales, the hall-house. This type of house, built to impress, focused on the large main hall, open to the roof, which was held up by massive curved timber frames called crucks. An open hearth, with no chimney, stood in the middle of the hall, with the smoke rising up to the roof. Portions of the building were partitioned off at either end, with service rooms such as the buttery and pantry at one end, and the owner’s private chamber at the other.

In the first half of the 16th century this house plan began to be modified, initially with the building of fireplaces and chimneys. Existing hall-houses replaced the central hearth with a fireplace, while newly built houses began placing the fireplaces at the end of the hall. Since the chimney took the smoke directly outside the house, the need for a vast open space above the hall, where the smoke dissipated, was eliminated. This space was then used to create a second story of private chambers, increasing the living space.

All these modifications in the house plan lead to the classic Snowdonia-style house. These are two story dwellings with the distinctive feature of an asymmetrically-placed entranceway, positioned one third of the way along the side wall. This formed a passageway through the house to another door on the other side. On one side would be two service rooms, while on the other was the larger main hall, with a fireplace at the far end. Beside the fireplace was usually a spiral staircase leading up to the chambers on the first floor.

The rest of the book describes in detail a number of examples of these ancient houses from around North-west Wales. A brief history of each house is given, along with floor plan diagrams and photographs of key features. This publication being the result of the North-west Wales Dendrochronology Project, the results of the dating of various timbers of the house are also included. A description of the project and the list of the dozens of volunteers involved can be found at the end of the book.

Given the title of the book, it is unsurprising that most of the houses are in Snowdonia. However, two Anglesey houses are featured. I was fortunate to have visited one of them back in 2015 on an Anglesey Antiquarian Society field trip. Gronant was first built around 1540 by Robert Bulkeley, grandson of William Bulkeley, the first of the Bulkeleys to have come from Cheshire and settled in Beaumaris. It remained in the Bulkeley family until 1888.

The main part of the house follows the classic Snowdonia pattern, with a cross passage between the main hall on one side and a parlour on the other. Around 1618 a second house was built at a right angle to the original house, possibly to house one of the newly married sons of the Bulkeley family. In the 19th century the two houses were linked through an extension (to the right in the photo above).

The chamber above the hall in the original building gives us an idea of what it might have looked like at the height of its grandeur. Fragments of wall paintings can be seen, made up of colourful floral and geometric designs. Wall paintings like this would have been very common at the time, but few have survived the elements and centuries of redecoration.

If you find yourself fascinated by the history of these ancient houses, how they developed and were modified, then this is an excellent addition to your library. It is available at Amazon.co.uk or through your local bookshop and other retailers.

Warren Kovach is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

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Yesterday’s ‘Spheres of Influence’ day-conference at Plas Cadnant had a wide ranging cast of characters: the prominent medieval founder of many of Anglesey’s landowning families, the incomer who took on the indigenous families, the bards and musicians who praised and entertained the gentry, the Spanish Armada, and even a very fluffy cat. Also included were tales of feuds and murders, but also of good deeds by social reformers.

Organised by the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (ISWE) at Bangor University, the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, and the Anglesey Antiquarian Society, the conference aimed to explore the impacts of the estates of Anglesey on the history, culture and landscapes of the island, from the medieval period to the present day. Very well attended, with a packed house of well over 100 history enthusiasts, it was an enjoyable and interesting day.

The day kicked off with a brief welcome from Shaun Evans of the ISWE, who introduced the first speaker, Prof. A.D. Carr. The esteemed author of the book Medieval Anglesey, the definitive study of the society and communities of Anglesey in the Middle Ages, Prof. Carr spoke on “The emergence of the gentry and estates of Anglesey in the later middle ages”. He began by pointing out that the early emergence of the estates on Anglesey was well documented through the Extents of Anglesey in 1284 and 1352. These documents recorded all the landowners on the island and how much was owed to them by their tenants, either in money or in goods such as grain, fish and hens, or time working for the lord. The 1284 extent was produced immediately after Edward I’s conquest of Wales and shows the land ownership patterns that existed during the Welsh Princes’ time. The more extensive and detailed Extent of 1352 can then be compared to the earlier one to see how land ownership patterns had changed through the decades.

During this time Welsh law decreed that inherited lands couldn’t be sold; they had to remain in the family. However, post-Conquest, clever ways were found around these rules, so the more ambitious landowners began accumulating larger estates, either through the land market or through marriage. Prof. Carr described the development of two estates, Penrhyn and Bulkeley. Although we now know the Penrhyn estate as the one outside Bangor, the family estate was first developed by Gwilym ap Gruffudd, a descendent of the founder of one of the first hereditary estates on Anglesey, Ednyfed Fychan (seneschal to the Prince of Wales, Llewelyn ap Iorwerth), through acquisition of lands in the northeast of Anglesey. His descendants, now known as the Griffith family, crossed the strait to develop the current Penrhyn estate. The development of the estate is well documented through extensive estate papers now held by Bangor University Archives.

The second example Prof. Carr gave was the development of the Bulkeley estate. The family were incomers, originating from near Cheadle in Cheshire. William Bulkeley arrived in Anglesey in the 15th century and married another descendent of Ednyfed Fychan. They first settled in the town house of Henblas in Beaumaris (which has now disappeared, but once stood near the church), but soon set about acquiring land in the area. Archives hold at least 45 deeds showing land purchases by Bulkeley between 1450 and 1490.

The next speaker was Prof. Robin Grove-White, speaking on “Politics and precedence: Power struggles and estate owners in late-Tudor Anglesey”. He began his talk with the shadow of the Spanish Armada hovering over Anglesey. In 1588 no one knew where the Spanish were planning on invading, so an edict went out to all coastal communities to prepare defences and imprison any possible collaborators. Richard Bulkeley, who had good connections with the Royal Court, was appointed deputy lieutenant of the island in charge of these defences. However, he was accused of using his position to favour his friends and punish his enemies. Feuds broke out with other Anglesey landowners, particularly Sir William Owen of Bodeon, near Bodorgan. The feud led to both men being imprisoned at different times, and with Bulkeley even being accused of murder. The feud was more or less over by 1590, with Bulkeley emerging as one of the most powerful men on the island. Of course struggles for power are part of the human condition, not just restricted to 16th century Anglesey, and Prof. Grove-White gave other examples of political wrangles through the ages.

After a few questions to the first two speakers, the doors opened for the first coffee break. In walked the next character, the very fluffy Plas Cadnant cat, who wandered around the room making sure everyone was welcome.

After the break Andrew Davidson from the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust spoke about church architecture and patronage of the local land owners. He noted that there was a hiatus in the building or extension of churches in northwest Wales during the late 13th and 14th centuries. This can be attributed to the turmoils of the Edwardian conquest of North Wales, the plague years, and the Glyndŵr revolt. After these were over, the political stability allowed the estate owners to look towards using their patronage to build and enhance the churches on their lands. Davidson gave many examples of churches in the area, particularly focusing on the development of Gothic style windows with tracery and trefoils, allowing much more light into the church. He also described some low relief slabs with images of saints, and the rare alabaster tombs such as the Gronw Fychan tomb at St. Gredifael church, Penmynydd, with stylistic elements that indicate the patronage of the local lords.

Next up was Richard Suggett of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. Entitled “From Hafoty to Plas Coch: Anglesey’s Plastai”, he took us on a tour of his favourite country manor homes on Anglesey among the many he has visited through his career. He started off noting that, while Ireland is well known among country house enthusiasts for its fine manor houses, Anglesey is its equal for the quality and variety. “Why go to Ireland when you can go to Anglesey?” he quoted as the feeling among many of his colleagues. His tour started with Plas Llanidan,  which he visited in the 1980s when it was encased in scaffolding and being repaired, through Trefadog, Hafoty, the Tudor Rose shop and Henblas town house (now demolished) in Beaumaris, Gronant, Plas Coch, Henblas in Llangristiolus and Baron Hill.

Our kind host at Plas Cadnant, Anthony Tavernor, gave us a talk about the history of his house and estate. Originally a dairy farmer in the English midlands, his interests in history, gardens and landscapes led him to use the proceeds of a land sale to purchase the Plas Cadnant estate. The estate was founded in the 18th century by John Price, originally of Wern Farm, who was a land agent for the Marquess of Anglesey. His marriage to a local heiress and subsequent land purchases allowed him to develop the estate. His admiration of the work of the landscape designer Humphry Repton led him to begin laying out the grand landscape and gardens of the estate, which was continued by his descendants. The last Price died in 1928 and the estate was bought by the Fanning-Evans family. They modernised the house with electricity and central heating, but the family was often not there, and it was rented out. The estate declined and eventually was sold in 1993, with the new owner planning on developing an equestrian centre. However, these plans (which included demolishing many of the outbuildings) never came to fruition, and in 1996 it was sold to Tavernor. He took us on a photographic tour of his journey of clearing the overgrown walled garden and rescuing the outbuildings buried deep in the surrounding vegetation, creating the beautiful gardens and woodland walks that we can now enjoy.

After lunch Ann Parry Owen, of the Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth, talked to us about “Guto’r Glyn (c.1412-93) and bardic patronage in Anglesey”. The tradition of bardic poetry praising the patrons of the bards thrived in the 12th through 15th centuries. Owen pointed out that in England estate owners would display maps of their estates on the wall to impress their visitors, but in Wales the lords would have their bards recite their verses describing the estate. By the 15th century the bards would also be praising the quality of the food on their patrons’ tables and describing their impressive furniture and decorations in detail. She then went on to talk about the great bard Guto’r Glyn, who travelled all over Wales, but particularly wrote warmly about Anglesey, and spent much time here. She also gave us a tour of the gutorglyn.net web site that she and her colleagues have put together, which brings together all his poems, their translations, and other details about his work and life.

A musical interlude followed as Stephen Rees, of the ISWE in Bangor, was joined by Huw Roberts, both with fiddles, to play a song that was found in the journals of Richard Morris, one of the famous 18th century Morris brothers of Anglesey. In between performing some other 18th century songs, Rees described how many old Welsh folk tunes were preserved in manuscripts of the time.

Richard Morris recorded the words of many songs, but the famous diarist William Bulkeley of Brynddu, a great music enthusiast, also recorded the tunes, as shown in the page shown here from Bangor University’s website of his diaries. However, the greatest source of 18th century folk tunes is the manuscript by Morris Edwards, which contained a large number of variations on old tunes, oral tradition and dance tunes of the time, and some songs that are very likely to be his own compositions. Little is known of him, but his manuscript preserves a great tradition of Welsh folks tunes.

Dinah Evans, of the Bangor University history department, next took the stage to tell us about “Cecilia Constance Irby, Lady Boston”. Evans has been interested in looking at the experiences of women in Wales from various social classes during World War I. One aristocratic woman with an interesting story and an Anglesey connection was Cecilia Constance Irby. She married George Florance Irby, 6th Baron Boston, who had an Anglesey seat at Plas Lligwy, near Moelfre. Evans discovered that during the war Cecilia was working as a nurse for the Canadian Red Cross military hospital on the Astor family’s Clivedon estate in Buckinghamshire. Digging into her life further, she discovered an upper class woman who showed great concern for the plight of the working classes, and was involved in many philanthropic organizations, such as the Welsh Industries Committee, which aimed to develop industries in Wales to provide work for Welsh workers who otherwise might head to the big cities in England. She also wrote a prize-winning essay for the Anglesey Eisteddfod titled “Anglesey Industries”, an extensive and well researched academic work describing all aspects of the island, including agriculture, geology and natural resources.

To round off the day, George Meyrick, owner of the Bodorgan estate and new chancellor of Bangor University, gave us a unique insight on “Inheriting Bodorgan: the influences of the past on the present”. He spoke of the long history of the family and estate, and of the many tasks the current owner/custodian of the land had, such as managing the estate and agricultural holdings, attending to property ownership and access rights issues, and pursuing new ventures to ensure the survival of the estate. He noted that many of the Welsh gentry are “now nearly extinct”, so as one of the remaining estate owning families he is pursuing a strategy of diversifying the estate and looking after its natural environment.

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The most familiar type of mill on Anglesey is the windmill. Thirty two of these dot the island, and at most places with distant views you can see one of these towers on the horizon. Descriptions and pictures of all of these are on the Anglesey History web site.

Tidal mills are less noticeable, rarer and older. Rather than capturing the wind to turn the machinery, these capture the tides. A dam is built across an inlet, at just the right height so that at high tide water will spill over part of the dam to fill the basin behind it. As the tide goes out water will begin flowing out of the basin again, turning a wheel that is built over the outlet. This wheel will then turn a millstone for grinding corn.

Some tidal mills on Anglesey, such as ones at Tre’r Gof near Trearddur Bay, and one near Church Island in Menai Bridge (the current site of the rugby pitch), first appear in the records in the early to mid 16th century (compared to 18th century for the earliest existing wind mills). This mill at Bodior is first mentioned in records somewhat later, in the 17th century, but could be older.

As you can see from the photos, the dam and sluice-way of this tidal mill are still extant, although the wheel is long gone. The remains of the walls of the mill building can still be seen as well. This would have held the millstones and other equipment for grinding the corn.

The placement of a successful mill is important, whether driven by wind, stream or tide. The mill must be able to harness the best of the driving force, so a windmill must be in an exposed position, often on a high point in the topography, and a tidal mill must be someplace with a good tidal range and substantial area for the reservoir. But, it must also be accessible for the farmers to bring in their corn, and take away the resulting flour. Bodior mill is in a remote spot with no apparent track leading to it. The group visiting the mill puzzled about this, and there was speculation that perhaps the corn was brought in by boat. Before the 19th century roads were often in poor condition, and in a place like Anglesey, with an extensive coastline, boat travel was much more common.

Aerial photographs, a location map and a brief description of Bodior mill can be found on the Coflein website, run by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

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