Court Farm, Pembrey
Encyclopedia
Court Farm in Pembrey
, Carmarthenshire
, Wales
, is an ancient and formerly imposing manor house
which is now an overgrown ruin, but structurally sound, and capable of repair and restoration
. It consists of three buildings: the farmhouse, a complex two-storey house of approximately 99 square metres; an adjacent barn; and a later cowshed.
house, a form more associated with Pembrokeshire
. It is built from local sandstone
quarried from a quarry
located in its own land, known as Garreg Llwyd Quarry.
Court Farm has a line of corbels on the south facing walls which are a particular feature of old Carmarthenshire
buildings and, because of its size and visible location it was, together with the nearby St. Illtud's Church, Pembrey, used a navigational point on local shipping charts to help captains of vessels navigate the treacherous Burry Inlet.
Originally, there were seven square chimney
s, two of which were unusually set diagonally in the chimney breast in the east wall. It appears that every room had a fireplace, yet the 1672 hearth tax lists the Court as only having two fireplaces, probably to avoid paying tax of two shillings. Similarly, many of the early windows were blocked up to avoid paying the half-yearly window tax
of 3 shillings. One room retained its Jacobean
panelling
until Court Farm was abandoned in around 1948.
Court Farm has an interesting large barn
, with a defensive military appearance, due its embattled parapet
on the south elevation
. It is not known if the barn had a defensive function of any kind, although it could be part of a more extensive curtain wall
. The Pembrey area was “frontier land” in Medieval times, lying between the Norman occupied areas of the east, and the Welsh
kingdom, north-west of Kidwelly
, which continued to attack the Norman strongholds.
Maurice de Londres granted the Manor of Pembrey to Sir John Butler of Dunraven
in 1128. Maurice de Londres was the son of William de Londres, who was a knight to Robert Fitzhamon
, a Norman baron
from Gloucestershire
.
Fitzhamon invaded Wales
between 1091 and 1093, established himself as Lord of Glamorgan
and built Cardiff Castle
. The knight
s protecting his castle included William de Londres. As a reward for his services, Fitzhamon gave William the lordship of Ogmore. William went on to help Roger, Bishop of Salisbury
, defend his lordship at Kidwelly
from attacks by the adjacent Welsh kingdom
of Deheubarth. On one of his expeditions to Kidwelly, the inhabitants of Glamorgan attacked Ogmore Castle
. William’s butler, called Arnold, successfully repulsed the attack and was rewarded with the castle and manor of Dunraven
. To mark his loyalty, Arnold called himself Arnold le Boteler
; the Norman word for butler is Le Boteler, or Boteler. The family surname
was later anglicized to Butler.
Maurice de Londres succeeded to the lordship of Ogmore, upon the death of his father, William, in 1126. In 1128, Maurice also became Lord of Kidwelly when Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, returned his lordship to The Crown
, having found it too difficult to protect from the attacks of Deheubarth. The Crown then gave the lordship to Maurice. In the same year, Maurice granted the Manor of Pembrey to Arnold Butler’s son, Sir John Butler, whose male line of issue included seven generations, most of them named John Butler. The line became extinct when Arnold Butler, of Pembrey and Dunraven, died without issue. Arnold’s sister, Ann Butler, then inherited both estates.
The manor
of Pembrey was held under military tenure
under the Lordship of Kidwelly. The occupation of the Manor of Pembrey required each Butler occupant, in time of war, to provide five archer
s “according to ancient custom” to help the Lord of Kidwelly within the limits of the land under his control. The Butlers also had to order one knight
to attend the "Court of Foreignry of Kidwelly", which was held every month. Each Butler heir also had an obligation to pay a sum of money to the Lord of Kidwelly of ten shilling
s, to give a day’s ploughing and to help with the hay
for one day.
One of the woods that originally lay on the manorial land of Court Farm is known as Coed Marchog (Knight's Wood, in the English language
), it lies on the eastern side of the Pembrey to Pinged Road, below Garreg Lwyd.
The Butler's coat of arms
appears in Pembrey Church. Its heraldic device is azure
, three cups covered, or (heraldry)
. The Butler coat of arms
can be found in the south east window of the nave
of St Illtud’s Church, Pembrey. A monument
and altar
-tomb
of Sir John le Boteler, of circa 1250, can be found at St Brides Major
church
In addition to the land surrounding Court Farm, the Butlers also controlled the vast area of flatlands known as Pembrey Burrows
, or the Warren, and the greater part of Pinged Marsh, which is now part of Pembrey Country Park
. The Butlers were granted rights to all wrecks found on the Cefn Sidan
sands as far as Caldicot
Point or Tywyn Point
The original caput
of the Manor of Pembrey was probably the mound castle
now called ‘the Twmpath’, which is located about a mile and a half to the north-east of Burry Port
Station. This tumulus
is 100 feet (30.5 m) in diameter, with a ditch
of about 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and about 5 feet (1.5 m) deep surrounding it. The Twmpath has extensive views, but at some stage it became inconvenient and the caput of the Manor was relocated to the site of the present location of Court Farm.
, in Herefordshire
, the Court Farm and Dunraven estates then became part of the Vaughan family estates.
The Vaughans claimed to be direct descendents of the Welsh king Moreiddig Warwyn of Breconshire and north Carmarthenshire. The family has an unusual coat of arms: three boys' heads with snakes coupled around their necks. This is based on a family legend. When the pregnant mother of Moreiddig Warwyn (Warwyn means "fair neck" in Welsh) was resting in the garden, she was frightened by an adder
. Moreiddig was born with a mark, resembling the bite of the adder, on his neck.
Sir Richard Vaughan was born in 1460 and was knighted at Tournai
, in 1513. He became sheriff
of Hereford
in 1530, and again in 1541. Sir Richard was succeeded by his son, Sir Walter Vaughan (1500–1584), who inherited the three estates of Pembrey, Dunraven and Bredwardine. Sir Walter was born at Dunraven Castle
, where his parents had decided to live. After his marriage, he moved to Pembrey, and Court Farm was built as a wedding present for him by his father, in about 1530. The Vaughan part of the current building is the main L-shaped section, facing south and east. Sir Walter was High Sheriff
of Carmarthenshire in 1557 and also a Member of Parliament for Carmarthenshire. His son, Sir Thomas Vaughan, inherited the three estates and added to it the Fullerston Estate, in Wiltshire
. Sir Thomas was High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1566 and 1570. Sir Thomas had a son, also called Sir Walter Vaughan, who inherited the estates but decided to live at Fullerston. He added Caldicot Farm to the estate holdings, in around 1607. During this period, Court Farm was occupied by Sir Walter’s nephew, Roland Vaughan, until the next Vaughan heir, Sir Charles Vaughan, was old enough to take possession. Charles was Sir Walter’s son by his first wife. He bought Porthaml Mansion, near Talgarth
in Breconshire, and Court Farm was then occupied by his son, Sir George Vaughan.
Sir George Vaughan was a fervent Royalist
s and supported King Charles I
against Oliver Cromwell
, in the English Civil War
. As a consequence, in 1648, Sir George Vaughan was imprisoned by Cromwell for a short time at Southwark
and fined £2,609 for his "Delinquency". Cromwell is believed to have passed through the parish
of Pembrey in 1648, on his way to Ireland
and his soldiers may have visited Court Farm to charge and apprehend Sir George at that time. Sir George returned to Court Farm, but the huge fine meant that he had to sell the Dunraven estate, in 1648, and the Fullerston estate, in 1649.
Sir George died without issue and the remaining Pembrey and Porthaml estates passed to his younger brother, the Reverend Frederick Vaughan, who had been blind from infancy as a result of smallpox
. Frederick Vaughan’s only son, Sir Walter Vaughan, married Alice Bond of Wiltshire, in 1653. They lived, in turn, on both estates and had two children, Bridget and Walter. The male line of the Vaughans of Pembrey ended when Sir Walter’s son died in his first year.
After the death of Sir Walter Vaughan, Alice Vaughan married William Ball in 1655. He was a lawyer of Gray’s Inn and became High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1682 and died in 1701. They lived, in turn, at the Porthaml and Pembrey estates.
Many famous people are said to have been entertained at the Court, including the painter
s Van Dyke
, Lely
and Reynolds
, who painted the Vaughan family. Some of these portrait
s can now be seen in Carmarthen
museum.
The Dalton family appear to originate from Whitney
in Oxfordshire
, and some of the family are buried at St. Illtud’s Church, Pembrey, where entries can be found in the Church’s burial register.
, in 1677 at Henry VII's Chapel, in Westminster Abbey
. She was 17 and he was 21 years old. Thereafter they lived at the family's ancestral mansion, Ashburnham Place
, in Ashburnham
, near Battle
, Sussex
and made only occasional visits to the other estates.
The Ashburnham family had been settled in Sussex for many generations, taking their name from a village called Ashburnham
located in the parish of Ashburnham and Penhurst
about 8 miles (12.9 km) north-west of Hastings
. Like the Vaughan family, the Ashburnham family were fervent Royalist
s. They suffered heavy fines and imprisonment by the Parliamentarian
s. After the Restoration, the family was given numerous Crown leases to compensate for losses under the Commonwealth, and the post of Groom of the Bedchamber.
Lord John Ashburnham was married 10 years before he saw Court Farm. He noted in his diary, on Sunday, 3 July 1687, that:
In 1697 the government introduced a window tax
of three shillings per window. In order to reduce the amount of tax payable, the Ashburnham estate arranged for many of Court Farm’s stone and wooden mullion windows to be blocked up. Window tax was repeal
ed in 1851, but the large windows on the west of the house have remained blocked to the present day.
John Ashburnham died at his London residence in Southampton Street, Bloomsbury
, on 21 January 1709 aged 44. His eldest son, William, succeeded him as second baron
but died of smallpox on 16 June 1710. The Ashburnham Estates then passed to his brother John, who became third baron. On 14 May 1730, he became Viscount St Asaph of the Principality of Wales
and Earl of Ashburnham
. The family had been elevated in the peerage
, because a viscount
is one step above the lowest rank of baron. He died on 10 March 1736-7 at the age of 49 and his only son, John, succeeded to the estate as John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham
. The second Earl died on 8 April 1812 aged 87 and his only son, George Ashburnham, succeeded as George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham
.
In 1813, George Ashburnham took legal action to bar the entail
of his Pembrey Estate so that he could regain the freehold. After that he could mortgage
the Estate, which he did on 15 June 1824, together with his other Carmarthenshire and Breconshire properties. Lord Lovaine and Robert Vyner, Esq. of Gautby
, Lincolnshire
were the mortgagees, and the loan was £19,403,4s, 6d.
George Ashburnham died on 27 October 1830 and his son Bertram became fourth Earl. When visiting the Pembrey Estate George Ashburnham usually stayed at Pembrey House, which the family had built on the slope to the north east of St Illtud's Church, Pembrey, in 1823 and which has since been demolished. The house was occasionally let, with rooms being reserved for family use. However, in the 1891 census
, Lord Ashburnham, 5th Earl, is recorded as staying at the Ashburnham Hotel.
Parish. He was High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1679 and, according to The Red Dragon periodical (1886), he went to live at Court Farm:
His grandson, Rawleigh Dawkins Mansel, who was High Sheriff in 1730, then lived as tenant at Court Farm.
During the tenancy of Rawleigh Dawkin Mansel the house was divided into two separate living sections and accommodated two separate families. Walls were added or removed, several doors and windows were blocked and new ones opened, additional stairs were fitted and at least two attic rooms were added. During this period David Thomas (1738/39-1788) was born at Court Farm.
Rawleigh Dawkin Mansel was High Sheriff for Carmarthenshire in 1730 and died ‘under the agonizing pains of the Gout
’ in his 44th year in 1749. Thereafter, Court Farm was home to several Ashburnham agents, steward
s and other estate officials.
On Kitchen’s map of 1701 Court Farm is clearly marked as: ‘Court, Mansel, Esq.’
, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum
, Oxford, and a noted Celtic scholar and antiquary, visited Pembrey Court and reported as follows:-
Swan Pool was located near Towyn Mawr, and has since been drained. Appropriately, the location is now known as Swan Pool Drain.
A picturesque pond, located near to the house, and close to the Mountain Road, was also drained in about 1937.
On 24 July 1843, John Thomas, a farmer, and David Thomas, a shopkeeper, jointly registered a brigantine
of 185 tons burthen known as the “ELIZA” at Llanelli
. Its master was John Thomas junior and it traded to Liverpool
, Malta
, Ancona
, Venice
and as far as San Francisco, where the whole crew deserted the ship to join the Californian gold rush
. Consequently, the ship was anchored, with hundreds of others, in San Francisco harbour for several years. She was later sold, along with many other ships, by the United States Marshall.
John Thomas also owned a sloop
of 29 tons burthen called the “SEDULOUS”, which was built in Cardigan
and registered at Llanelli on 15 February 1842. Its registry was cancelled on 19 March 1842.
Hugh Thomas, together with some other investors, owned the "MARGARET JANE", a vessel built at Pwllheli
in 1850, and whose registry was cancelled on 13 December 1865.
In 1831, Mr. Edward Driver, a surveyor
, made a “Survey
and Valuation
of the Manor of Pembrey and Estate” on behalf of Bertram Ashburham. At this time, Court Farm comprised 194 acre
s plus 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of marshland. The tenant was recorded as John Thomas (later succeeded by his son Hugh) who paid a yearly rent of £88.10s. John Thomas occupied a part of the Mansion, whilst a Mr. T.E. Biederman occupied the other part. Mr. Driver reported as follows :
Later in the survey, Mr. Driver wrote:
During its early period, Court Farm had a high, open-trussed roof, visible from the floor of the main hall and of an elaborate design, with double roll and hollow moulding. Bredwardine Court and Porthaml Mansion, two other ancestral homes of the Vaughans, have similar surviving roofs. However, part of the original roof of Court Farm was lowered and flattened during alterations made during the 19th century, and the carved ornamental detail of the original trussed roof was lost. In addition, the original stone tiles, which needed a more steeply pitching roof, were replaced with Caernarvon slates (as reported in Mr. Driver’s survey), and the roof valleys were finished off with lead flashing.
The 1878 Ordnance Survey
map gives the first known ground plan of Court Farm, this shows the original Vaughan L-shaped structure, with two wings enclosing a courtyard in the rear. Nearby, on the south side, is the barn. A large enclosed garden is outlined, together with Court Wood, said to have been planted by the Vaughans.
A Tithe
Schedule and map dated 7 June 1839 shows Court Farm with 209 acre (0.84579374 km²), a slight increase in landholding since the survey of Mr Driver, with Mr. John Thomas still the tenant. The Thomas family were tenants of Court Farm from 1738 to 1902, and most of their baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded in the registers of St Illtyd Church, Pembrey.
The Tithe Schedule also includes the names of all the surrounding fields, including Clos Edwin, Wedlanis, Abel Dawnsi, Hunting Knap, and Mumble Head. Two fields, Garreg Lwyd and Maes Graig Lwyd, may have had a religious origin.
Management of the colliery was undertaken from an office at Court Farm and the coal was carried by packhorse
to the estuary
of the River Gwendraeth
and to the Burry Inlet, from here it was shipped to the west of England and Ireland
.
The second Earl Ashburnham, impressed by the success of a canal built by Thomas Kymer in the Gwendraeth valley, decided upon a similar scheme for his Pembrey colliery. Kymer’s Canal was built between 1766 and 1768 in order to carry coal from pits and levels at Pwll y Llygod and Great Forest (near Carway
) to a place of shipment on the Lesser Gwendraeth river near Kidwelly.
The Ashburnham canal ran from the foot of Pembrey Mountain to the Gwendraeth estuary and its aim was to improve the transport of coal from the Pembrey colliery to the sea. The plan initially encountered opposition from colliers, whose ponies used to do the job, but by 1796 work on the canal had begun below Coed Farm, close to the Llandyry-Pinged road. By 1799, the canal had extended across the Kidwelly-Pembrey road, near to Saltrock Farm, and by the end of 1801 it had reached the sea at Pill Towyn, a creek running in from the south bank of the Gwendraeth Fawr river. Two shipping places were built on the canal, one of them at Pill Ddu, and the total length of the canal was about two miles (3 km). Flat terrain meant that there were no locks, and in 1805 a short branch was constructed towards Ffrwd when new levels were opened in Coed Rhial. The entrance to Pill Ddu was deepened in 1816 and a dry dock
was added in 1817. By 1818, however, the colliery had become exhausted and the canal became redundant.
In the returns of Owners of Land in 1873, Bertram Ashburnham is shown as having substantial estates in Wales, with 5685 acres (23 km²) producing an estimated annual rental of £3,547 in Carmarthenshire, and 1881 acres (7.6 km²) producing an estimated annual rental of £1,963 in Breconshire. In Sussex, the family seat, 14051 acres (56.9 km²) produced £13,069.
, Canada
in 1903.
George Ashburnham had taken out a mortgage on his Welsh estates in 1824 for £19,403,4s, 6d after he had freed the Welsh properties from entail on certain leases. By 1897 the mortgage debt on the Welsh properties had increased to £87,600, as the loan had not been repaid on its due date. In order to repay the loan, the Porthaml estate was sold in 1913 and the Pembrey estate in 1922. Thomas Ashburnham died without issue on 12 May 1924, leading to the extinction of the Ashburnham title.
Court Farm was tenanted by the Thomas family until around 1902. After that, William Bonnell (senior), and his family, were tenants. The house once again became a single dwelling. The Bonnell family farmed Court Farm until August 1922, when the whole of the Ashburnham Estate was sold. The sale was a major local event. The Ashburnhams had, for 245 years, controlled much of Pembrey Parish, and been intimately involved in turning it into a centre of industry. At the auction Mr William Bonnell (senior) purchased Penllwyn Uchaf Farm and thereafter vacated Court Farm.
Court Farm was advertised for sale by auction
on 14 September 1929, subject to tenancy, and plans could be inspected at the auctioneer's office or the local butchers. Mr James Butler of Treorchy
bought Court Farm at the auction. The Manor was then let to the family of Mr Sidney Thomas. They remained as tenants after the death of Mr Butler, in 1937, and the purchase of the Manor by Mr Charles Harding from the Links, Pembrey.
Mr Harding bought Pembrey Court as a business proposition. He developed the Garreg Lwyd quarries, located on Court Farm land, as a brickworks
, and used material from the quarry for his brick
mixture. The brickwork project failed when the brick making machinery ran into technical difficulties. Probably as a result of these activities, a large front section of the quarry collapsed.
During the 1970s, Court Farm remained unoccupied and thieves twice stole the lead flashings from the roof. After the first theft, Mr Owen Bonnell replaced the lead, but after the second theft he could see little point in replacing it again. It was at this stage that the structure of the house began to deteriorate. Nevertheless, in 1972, he appointed Messrs, Peter Howell and Donald Jones, Architects, of Uplands, Swansea
to apply for grant aid from the Historic Buildings Council. The Marquis of Anglesey and representatives of the Historic Buildings Council visited Court Farm in order to assess the property for grant aid, but their report to the Secretary of State for Wales
pointed out that the property was beyond repair and so a grant was refused.
Owen Bonnell died in January, 1976 and Court Farm was inherited by his nephew, John Bonnell Davies, who was born at Court Farm. He is the present owner and lives in Pembrey.
, but it was believed that the building had deteriorated too far and would cost an estimated £50,000 to put right. Considerable theft and vandalism left the property in a badly damaged condition, and so a planning application was made by the owners for consent to demolish the building. On 23 October 1980, Llanelli Borough Council refused the application for the following reasons:
Despite the decline in the fortunes of Court Farm, local concern for the building remained strong, as evidenced by the publicity in the local press. The late Mr John Evans, of Erw Terrace, Burry Port, who was a member of Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society, commenced a campaign to save Court Farm and. in August 1981, a Court Farm Committee was established. The Committee requested that the Borough Council place a compulsory purchase order
on the building and plans were formulated to restore it and develop it as a museum
, in a £100,000 project phased over 3 years. Unfortunately, the plans suffered a setback when solicitors representing the owners refused to accept a valuation figure of £4,000 for the 1.8 acres (7,284.3 m²) site.
On 19 October 1984, another application was made to demolish Court Farm, but the application was refused. The refusal notice, issued on 18 July 1985, stated that demolition was considered premature, due to the Borough Architect’s museum feasibility study.
By 14 November 1984, the Western Mail newspaper was reporting on the proposed 48-hour fast of Mr John Evans. The planned fast was the "ultimate threat" if demolition were to come about and "would be a last resort gesture".
In his campaign to save the building, Mr Evans wrote to the former Lord Chancellor
, Lord Elwyn Jones (a native of Llanelli), to the Archbishop of Wales
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
, Llanelli Borough Council, Dyfed County Council, the Welsh Office
, the Welsh Development Agency
, Members of Parliament, Government Ministers, various trusts and influential academics. Letters of support were received from the Prince of Wales
, who was reported to be pleased that efforts were being made to save Court Farm, and a letter of support was also received from Professor Sir Glanmor Williams
.
By 1985, local concern was such that funding was made available for a feasibility study for the property. Cadw
generously offered a grant of 50% towards the cost of preparation of the study and the balance came from Llanelli Borough Council. The feasibility study concluded that Court Farm was worth retaining on the basis of :-
On 30 August 1985, Llanelli Borough Planning Officer, Mr Clive Davies, stated that the ultimate step of demolition would not be justified until the results of the feasibility study were known. Apart from Mr Evans and Cadw, others who objected to demolition included the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments in Wales, Dyfed Archaeological Trust
, Llanelli Civic Society and Pembrey Community Council.
In November 1985, the Reverend W. Roberts of Burry Port wrote to the Western Mail Civic Pride Competition arguing for the preservation of Court Farm, and concluded with the following call to action:
Meanwhile, plans by Llanelli Council to restore Court Farm had stalled because the asking price remained too high. On 27 June 1987, Mr John Evans urged the Secretary of State for Wales
, Mr Peter Walker
, to take over the planned restoration, fearing that otherwise the plans would come to nothing. By this stage, the proposed Court Farm museum was in jeopardy because of plans to develop a Heritage and Tinplate Centre at Kidwelly which is now Kidwelly Industrial Museum
.
The importance of Court Farm was still recognised by Cadw, however, and in July 1987 they agreed to offer a grant to fund restoration at a rate of 60%, which was 10% above the then usual rate. Sadly, Cadw’s offer was not taken up and changes in grant regulations meant that the offer lapsed.
However, there was renewed hope when, on 29 January 1988, Llanelli Borough Council announced plans to buy the property in order to develop it as a tourist promotion and information office. Mr George Harris, estate officer for Llanelli Borough Council, stated that the situation of Court Farm would not be suitable as a tourist attraction in itself, but could be used as a base to promote tourist interest in the Llanelli area.
Court Farm remains posted as a building at risk on the web site of SAVE Britain’s Heritage and the posting attracted the interest of Cadw Sir Gaerfyrddin/Carmarthenshire Building Preservation Trust who obtained funding to conduct a fresh feasibility study, which was completed in 2003 by Davies Sutton Architecture. This architectural firm have successfully restored Sker House
, a similar type of building. This Study was funded with by Cadw
and the Architectural Heritage Fund
. The Study established the intrinsic value of Court Farm and looked at all the options for saving the building. The Study established that the building represented an important historical resource and could be saved for a new beneficial use, by with repair retaining a flexible layout, allowing fitting-out for an optimum end use. The structural engineer
’s report, prepared by Mann Williams Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers of Cardiff
collateral to the Study provided a structural assessment and report on the basis of an inspection carried out during February 2003. This stated that “the main walls remain reasonably plumb and stable when considering the extensive period of neglect. Replacement of floors and roof structures will reinstate the necessary support to the walls and provide a significant improvement to stability.”
and is the only surviving Elizabethan manor house in Carmarthenshire. Before the construction of Whiteford Lighthouse
, Court Farm and St Illtud's Church, Pembrey formed two of the few prominent local landmarks in the Pembrey area and so became important navigational aides. It is the seven “towering chimneys” that made Court Farm such a landmark, and both the Manor and Church are clearly marked on William Jones of Loughor’s ‘Plan or Directions for Ships to Come Safe into Burry and to Several Places of Safety to be within the Same’, made in 1757.
The Burry Inlet has always been a notoriously difficult place to navigate, due to the quickly changing course of the river and shifting sand banks. Ships crossing the Burry Bar, which is roughly on a line drawn from Burry Holms
on Gower
to Tywyn Sands or Cornel Mawr, near Pembrey, were crossing a treacherous area. Charts indicate that the contours of the estuary are constantly changing. As an example, in 1764 John Wesley
crossed the Burry Inlet on horseback from Pembrey on his way to Oxwich, in Gower. Today, such a crossing would not be possible.
In the 17th century, Sir Walter Vaughan, conceived a life saving sea rescue scheme, and as local Member of Parliament, enthusiastically tried to get the Government to take-up his plans, to no avail.
of Pembrey had rights and privileges over the disposal of wrecks found along the coast.
Cefn Sidan
was frequently the graveyard of many unsuspecting vessels, whose victims were buried in the grounds of Pembrey Church, including a relative of Napoleon's Josephine. Entries in the Pembrey Church registers record numerous burials of passengers and crew. The demand for coal, in the 19th century, led to a big increase in the number of wrecks along the coast.
Despite this close connection with the sea, when King Charles I asked Sir Walter Vaughan if he could supply the Crown with a ship of 30 tons, Sir Walter avoided the issue by claiming that Carmarthenshire was an inland county with only a few creek
s. However, this did not prevent Sir Walter from acquiring possession of at least two ships at auction, after mishaps led to them running aground at Pembrey. One of these was of 60 tons burthen and known as “DOROTHY”. She was registered at Burry and leased for a voyage from Laugharne to Chester
, with a cargo of salt. The other ship was the vessel “HOPE”, she was registered at Harborough
, but was driven by a storm into the North Burry Road in June 1631, damaging the cargo of salt and leading to the desertion of the vessel by her crew. Sir Walter acquired possession of both vessels and cargoes and later assigned them to a Plymouth
merchant for £500.
The statements of Lord Ashburnham sought to claim that Lord Ashburnham’s tenants had always exercised their right to take any wreck or articles found on the shore to a recognised storage place, or even to Court Farm itself. The salvors were then granted a sum of money to cover the “salvage and expenses”. It may be that such articles were stored in the barn at Court Farm. The following are two examples of the many depositions that were made in favour of the Ashburnham estate:
By 1830 the dispute had been settled amicably, without a court case, and the agreement allowed Lord Ashburnham to maintain his ancient manorial rights over the Pembrey foreshore, and Lord Cawdor to maintain his rights over the Kidwelly foreshore. The agreement document stated:
There are also occasional accounts in Ashburnham documents of sales of wreck found on the Pembrey sands:
Eventually, all wrecks became the sole responsibility of the Receiver of Wrecks and Droits and it was his prerogative to dispose of a wreck, and its cargo, by auction, or any other suitable means. By this time, all ships from the Pembrey area were registered with the Register of British Ships at the port of Llanelli, and each ship was issued with a certificate of registry and details of the vessel were entered in the Register.
A narrow strip of land near the Court, known as the "Narrow Yard" (Llathed Fain, in Welsh) was traditionally granted, or leased, by the Lord of the Manor to a favoured yeoman
, who quickly delineated his property with a surrounding hedge. At Court Farm, the field shapes do suggest enclosure of former "strips" or "lands" in an open field system. The Antiquarian Society found that, on average, there were five tree species per hedge, indicating an early 16th century enclosure from open fields.
Most of the survey effort was concentrated here, and in the Kidwelly area, because of the amount of medieval, and later, documentation available for this area, which can act as a “control” check for dates obtained from species counting. The constituent manors of local lordships are described in a 1609 Survey. This covers different soils, field types, settlement patterns and tenurial customs of the Welshries and Englishries. Dr. Max Hooper, of the Nature Conservancy, pioneered this system of calculation from English hedgerows, whose antiquity was attested by similar documents, such as hedged parts of Anglo-Saxon
estate boundaries delineated in the charters, medieval "assarts" or clearances in the forest or waste registered in the Court Roll
s, etc. The equation between age and number of species present is due to the relative abundance of colonizing species in the immediate vicinity, and the rate at which some species can colonize existing hedges, whether planted or made by clearing woodland either side of them.
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a large number of oak
trees were planted on the eastern slope below Garreg Llwyd Quarry. In early times the oak tree was sacred to the Druid
s, and in 1842 a newspaper reported that "A grand Druidic procession took place in Pembrey", although it is not clear if there is any link to the wood.
During the early 19th century, women were employed in the area to strip the bark of the oak trees, which was sent to the nearest tannery
, where tannin was extracted from the bark and used in leather
production.
Court Farm used to have a large and heavy stone bowl, filled by spring water, in its grounds, which was used to water cattle for almost a hundred years by Court Farm’s tenant farmers. This was believed to be the "lost" Norman font bowl of the Church, and subsequently, the bowl was moved to the Lady Chapel of the Church in 1933, where it still remains.
, the party proceeded to a point on Pembrey Mountain where they paused to admire a panoramic view of Carmarthen Bay. At Court Farm Mr. Brynmor Voyle outlined the main architectural and historical features of the mansion, including its single hall-type structure. Members were, unfortunately, unable to inspect the inside of the house. The castellated barn structure in front of the mansion aroused a great deal of interest.
At St. Illtud's Church, the Reverend T.A. Jones welcomed the party and made special mention of “Butler's Window” and the hagiascope, the opening in the church tower through which lepers viewed the consecration of the bread and wine at the altar. Members then inspected the parish register
s, dating from 1700 and the memorial to families such as Rees of Cilymaenllwyd
, Mansel of Stradey
, Vaughan of Trimsaran, Thompson of Glyn Abbey and Wedge of Goodig.
Pembrey
Pembrey is a village in Carmarthenshire Wales, situated between Burry Port and Kidwelly, overlooking Carmarthen Bay.-History:The name Pembrey is an Anglicisation of the Welsh, Pen-bre...
, Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, is an ancient and formerly imposing manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
which is now an overgrown ruin, but structurally sound, and capable of repair and restoration
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
. It consists of three buildings: the farmhouse, a complex two-storey house of approximately 99 square metres; an adjacent barn; and a later cowshed.
Construction
The present farmhouse is 16th century, with an earlier medieval core, and may have been a towerTower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
house, a form more associated with Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
. It is built from local sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
quarried from a quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
located in its own land, known as Garreg Llwyd Quarry.
Court Farm has a line of corbels on the south facing walls which are a particular feature of old Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
buildings and, because of its size and visible location it was, together with the nearby St. Illtud's Church, Pembrey, used a navigational point on local shipping charts to help captains of vessels navigate the treacherous Burry Inlet.
Originally, there were seven square chimney
Chimney
A chimney is a structure for venting hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the...
s, two of which were unusually set diagonally in the chimney breast in the east wall. It appears that every room had a fireplace, yet the 1672 hearth tax lists the Court as only having two fireplaces, probably to avoid paying tax of two shillings. Similarly, many of the early windows were blocked up to avoid paying the half-yearly window tax
Window tax
The window tax was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France and Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces , as a result of the tax.-Details:The tax was introduced in England and Wales under...
of 3 shillings. One room retained its Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
panelling
Panelling
Panelling is a wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials....
until Court Farm was abandoned in around 1948.
Court Farm has an interesting large barn
Barn
A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
, with a defensive military appearance, due its embattled parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
on the south elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
. It is not known if the barn had a defensive function of any kind, although it could be part of a more extensive curtain wall
Curtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...
. The Pembrey area was “frontier land” in Medieval times, lying between the Norman occupied areas of the east, and the Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
kingdom, north-west of Kidwelly
Kidwelly
Kidwelly is a town in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, approximately north-west of the main town of Llanelli.It lies on the River Gwendraeth Fach above Carmarthen Bay. The town is twinned with French village St Jacut de la Mer.-History:...
, which continued to attack the Norman strongholds.
Ownership by the Le Botelers
Evidence suggests that the Le Boteler family were the first to occupy a manor on the site of the present Court Farm.Maurice de Londres granted the Manor of Pembrey to Sir John Butler of Dunraven
Dunraven
Dunraven may refer to:*Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl*HMS Dunraven*SS Dunraven*Dunraven school*Dunraven Pass - a mountain pass in Yellowstone National Park...
in 1128. Maurice de Londres was the son of William de Londres, who was a knight to Robert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon , or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales...
, a Norman baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
from Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
.
Fitzhamon invaded Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
between 1091 and 1093, established himself as Lord of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
and built Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle and Victorian architecture Gothic revival mansion, transformed from a Norman keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.-The Roman fort:...
. The knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s protecting his castle included William de Londres. As a reward for his services, Fitzhamon gave William the lordship of Ogmore. William went on to help Roger, Bishop of Salisbury
Bishop of Salisbury
The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...
, defend his lordship at Kidwelly
Kidwelly
Kidwelly is a town in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, approximately north-west of the main town of Llanelli.It lies on the River Gwendraeth Fach above Carmarthen Bay. The town is twinned with French village St Jacut de la Mer.-History:...
from attacks by the adjacent Welsh kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
of Deheubarth. On one of his expeditions to Kidwelly, the inhabitants of Glamorgan attacked Ogmore Castle
Ogmore Castle
Ogmore Castle is located near the village of Ogmore-by-Sea, south of the town of Bridgend in Glamorgan, South Wales. It is situated on the south bank of the River Ewenny and the east bank of the River Ogmore. Cowbridge is nearby. Its construction might have begun in 1106...
. William’s butler, called Arnold, successfully repulsed the attack and was rewarded with the castle and manor of Dunraven
Dunraven
Dunraven may refer to:*Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl*HMS Dunraven*SS Dunraven*Dunraven school*Dunraven Pass - a mountain pass in Yellowstone National Park...
. To mark his loyalty, Arnold called himself Arnold le Boteler
Arnold le Boteler
Arnold le Boteler, the first recorded 'lord' of the Welsh village of Pembrey, was a late 11th and early 12th century Norman squire with a penchant for property development....
; the Norman word for butler is Le Boteler, or Boteler. The family surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
was later anglicized to Butler.
Maurice de Londres succeeded to the lordship of Ogmore, upon the death of his father, William, in 1126. In 1128, Maurice also became Lord of Kidwelly when Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, returned his lordship to The Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
, having found it too difficult to protect from the attacks of Deheubarth. The Crown then gave the lordship to Maurice. In the same year, Maurice granted the Manor of Pembrey to Arnold Butler’s son, Sir John Butler, whose male line of issue included seven generations, most of them named John Butler. The line became extinct when Arnold Butler, of Pembrey and Dunraven, died without issue. Arnold’s sister, Ann Butler, then inherited both estates.
The manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of Pembrey was held under military tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
under the Lordship of Kidwelly. The occupation of the Manor of Pembrey required each Butler occupant, in time of war, to provide five archer
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
s “according to ancient custom” to help the Lord of Kidwelly within the limits of the land under his control. The Butlers also had to order one knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
to attend the "Court of Foreignry of Kidwelly", which was held every month. Each Butler heir also had an obligation to pay a sum of money to the Lord of Kidwelly of ten shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s, to give a day’s ploughing and to help with the hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...
for one day.
One of the woods that originally lay on the manorial land of Court Farm is known as Coed Marchog (Knight's Wood, in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
), it lies on the eastern side of the Pembrey to Pinged Road, below Garreg Lwyd.
The Butler's coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
appears in Pembrey Church. Its heraldic device is azure
Azure
In heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation....
, three cups covered, or (heraldry)
Or (heraldry)
In heraldry, Or is the tincture of gold and, together with argent , belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". In engravings and line drawings, it may be represented using a field of evenly spaced dots...
. The Butler coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
can be found in the south east window of the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
of St Illtud’s Church, Pembrey. A monument
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
and altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
-tomb
Tomb
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...
of Sir John le Boteler, of circa 1250, can be found at St Brides Major
St Brides Major
St. Brides Major is a village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. It has a population of 2,009.The village is the location of St. Bridget's church, the Fox & Hounds and the Farmer's Arms pubs, Pitcot Pool and St. Brides Primary School....
church
In addition to the land surrounding Court Farm, the Butlers also controlled the vast area of flatlands known as Pembrey Burrows
Pembrey Burrows
Pembrey Burrows stretch from Burry Port's harbour area – a former coal port, now a marina – to Pembrey Country Park, a leisure and nature complex that is one of West Wales's leading visitor attraction....
, or the Warren, and the greater part of Pinged Marsh, which is now part of Pembrey Country Park
Pembrey Country Park
Pembrey Country Park is a country park in Britain. It is on the coast of south Wales, near the village of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, and the town of Llanelli....
. The Butlers were granted rights to all wrecks found on the Cefn Sidan
Cefn Sidan
Cefn Sidan, roughly translated from Welsh, means "Silky Back". This long sandy beach and its dunes form the outer edge of the Pembrey Burrows between Burry Port and Kidwelly, looking southwards over Carmarthen Bay in South Wales....
sands as far as Caldicot
Caldicot
Caldicot may refer to:In the United Kingdom:* Caldicot, Monmouthshire** Caldicot Castle, Monmouthshire** Caldicot * Caldicot, Buckinghamshire- See also :* Caldecote * Caldicott * Caldecott...
Point or Tywyn Point
The original caput
Caput
The Latin word caput, meaning literally "head" and by metonymy "top", has been borrowed in a variety of English words, including capital, captain, and decapitate...
of the Manor of Pembrey was probably the mound castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
now called ‘the Twmpath’, which is located about a mile and a half to the north-east of Burry Port
Burry Port
Burry Port is a small town five miles outside the larger centre of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales, lying on the Loughor estuary. The town's population is roughly 8,000 although in the 2001 census there were 4209 residents....
Station. This tumulus
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
is 100 feet (30.5 m) in diameter, with a ditch
Ditch
A ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water.In Anglo-Saxon, the word dïc already existed and was pronounced 'deek' in northern England and 'deetch' in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank...
of about 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and about 5 feet (1.5 m) deep surrounding it. The Twmpath has extensive views, but at some stage it became inconvenient and the caput of the Manor was relocated to the site of the present location of Court Farm.
Ownership by the Vaughans
Ann Butler was the last of the Pembrey Butlers. She married Sir Richard Vaughan of BredwardineBredwardine
Bredwardine is a village in Herefordshire, England, located off the B4352 road in the west of the county.Features include a brick bridge over the River Wye, a historic late 17th century coaching inn named the Red Lion, St Andrews parish church and the site of Bredwardine Castle.The Wye Valley Walk...
, in Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
, the Court Farm and Dunraven estates then became part of the Vaughan family estates.
The Vaughans claimed to be direct descendents of the Welsh king Moreiddig Warwyn of Breconshire and north Carmarthenshire. The family has an unusual coat of arms: three boys' heads with snakes coupled around their necks. This is based on a family legend. When the pregnant mother of Moreiddig Warwyn (Warwyn means "fair neck" in Welsh) was resting in the garden, she was frightened by an adder
Vipera berus
Vipera berus, the common European adder or common European viper, is a venomous viper species that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of Western Europe and all the way to Far East Asia. Known by a host of common names including Common adder and Common viper, adders have been...
. Moreiddig was born with a mark, resembling the bite of the adder, on his neck.
Sir Richard Vaughan was born in 1460 and was knighted at Tournai
Tournai
Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
, in 1513. He became sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
in 1530, and again in 1541. Sir Richard was succeeded by his son, Sir Walter Vaughan (1500–1584), who inherited the three estates of Pembrey, Dunraven and Bredwardine. Sir Walter was born at Dunraven Castle
Dunraven Castle
Dunraven Castle was a mansion on the South Wales coast near Southerndown. It was built in 1803 and demolished in 1963.The site of the castle was the location for several earlier buildings, the first of which is said to have been built by Armand Botiler in the mid-12th century...
, where his parents had decided to live. After his marriage, he moved to Pembrey, and Court Farm was built as a wedding present for him by his father, in about 1530. The Vaughan part of the current building is the main L-shaped section, facing south and east. Sir Walter was High Sheriff
High Sheriff
A high sheriff is, or was, a law enforcement officer in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.In England and Wales, the office is unpaid and partly ceremonial, appointed by the Crown through a warrant from the Privy Council. In Cornwall, the High Sheriff is appointed by the Duke of...
of Carmarthenshire in 1557 and also a Member of Parliament for Carmarthenshire. His son, Sir Thomas Vaughan, inherited the three estates and added to it the Fullerston Estate, in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. Sir Thomas was High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1566 and 1570. Sir Thomas had a son, also called Sir Walter Vaughan, who inherited the estates but decided to live at Fullerston. He added Caldicot Farm to the estate holdings, in around 1607. During this period, Court Farm was occupied by Sir Walter’s nephew, Roland Vaughan, until the next Vaughan heir, Sir Charles Vaughan, was old enough to take possession. Charles was Sir Walter’s son by his first wife. He bought Porthaml Mansion, near Talgarth
Talgarth
Talgarth is a small market town and community in southern Powys , Mid Wales, with a population of 1,645. Notable buildings in the town include its 14th-century parish church and 13th century Pele Tower, located in the town centre, now home to the Tourist Information and Resource Centre...
in Breconshire, and Court Farm was then occupied by his son, Sir George Vaughan.
Sir George Vaughan was a fervent Royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
s and supported King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
against Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. As a consequence, in 1648, Sir George Vaughan was imprisoned by Cromwell for a short time at Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
and fined £2,609 for his "Delinquency". Cromwell is believed to have passed through the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Pembrey in 1648, on his way to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and his soldiers may have visited Court Farm to charge and apprehend Sir George at that time. Sir George returned to Court Farm, but the huge fine meant that he had to sell the Dunraven estate, in 1648, and the Fullerston estate, in 1649.
Sir George died without issue and the remaining Pembrey and Porthaml estates passed to his younger brother, the Reverend Frederick Vaughan, who had been blind from infancy as a result of smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
. Frederick Vaughan’s only son, Sir Walter Vaughan, married Alice Bond of Wiltshire, in 1653. They lived, in turn, on both estates and had two children, Bridget and Walter. The male line of the Vaughans of Pembrey ended when Sir Walter’s son died in his first year.
After the death of Sir Walter Vaughan, Alice Vaughan married William Ball in 1655. He was a lawyer of Gray’s Inn and became High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1682 and died in 1701. They lived, in turn, at the Porthaml and Pembrey estates.
Many famous people are said to have been entertained at the Court, including the painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s Van Dyke
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
, Lely
Peter Lely
Sir Peter Lely was a painter of Dutch origin, whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.-Life:...
and Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
, who painted the Vaughan family. Some of these portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
s can now be seen in Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....
museum.
Relationship with the Dalton family
Under the Vaughans, the Pembrey Estate was administered by agents comprising at least three generations of the “capable and loyal” Dalton family. It was probably during this period that a number of fireplaces were blocked up. One of Court Farm’s more impressive architectural features comprises seven tall chimneys, made up of five single stacks and two diagonal twin stacks. These reflect a house of substance with many hearths, but the 1672 Hearth Tax records the house as having only two fireplaces. As an economy measure, many of the original fireplaces were blocked-up in order to avoid paying Hearth Tax at the then substantial rate of two shillings per hearth.The Dalton family appear to originate from Whitney
Whitney
-Places:Canada* Whitney, OntarioUnited Kingdom* Whitney-on-Wye, Herefordshire* Witney, OxfordshireUnited States* Whitney, California, a community in Placer County* Whitney, a neighborhood in Beverly, Visalia, California...
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, and some of the family are buried at St. Illtud’s Church, Pembrey, where entries can be found in the Church’s burial register.
Relationship with the Ashburnhams
Bridget Vaughan married John Ashburnham, 1st Earl of AshburnhamJohn Ashburnham, 1st Earl of Ashburnham
John Ashburnham, 1st Earl of Ashburnham was a British peer.-Career:Ashburnham was the second son of John Ashburnham, 1st Baron Ashburnham and his wife, Bridget, daughter of Walter Vaughan from Brecon, south Wales, who had inherited Pembrey...
, in 1677 at Henry VII's Chapel, in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. She was 17 and he was 21 years old. Thereafter they lived at the family's ancestral mansion, Ashburnham Place
Ashburnham Place
Ashburnham Place is an English country house, now used as a Christian conference and prayer centre. It can be found five miles west of Battle in East Sussex...
, in Ashburnham
Ashburnham
Ashburnham may refer to:*Ashburnham, Carmarthenshire, Wales*Ashburnham and Penhurst, East Sussex, England*Ashburnham, Massachusetts, United States*Earl of Ashburnham*John Ashburnham *Ashburnham BaronetsCategory:Surnames...
, near Battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
and made only occasional visits to the other estates.
The Ashburnham family had been settled in Sussex for many generations, taking their name from a village called Ashburnham
Ashburnham
Ashburnham may refer to:*Ashburnham, Carmarthenshire, Wales*Ashburnham and Penhurst, East Sussex, England*Ashburnham, Massachusetts, United States*Earl of Ashburnham*John Ashburnham *Ashburnham BaronetsCategory:Surnames...
located in the parish of Ashburnham and Penhurst
Ashburnham and Penhurst
Ashburnham and Penhurst are civil parishes in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, situated to the west of Battle. The two parishes share a joint parish council which also covers the settlements of Brownbread Street, Ponts Green and Ashburnham Forge...
about 8 miles (12.9 km) north-west of Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
. Like the Vaughan family, the Ashburnham family were fervent Royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
s. They suffered heavy fines and imprisonment by the Parliamentarian
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
s. After the Restoration, the family was given numerous Crown leases to compensate for losses under the Commonwealth, and the post of Groom of the Bedchamber.
Lord John Ashburnham was married 10 years before he saw Court Farm. He noted in his diary, on Sunday, 3 July 1687, that:
"I saw Pembrey House (Court), which is an old stone house, large enough and kept in pretty good repaire. The land hereabouts is very good."
In 1697 the government introduced a window tax
Window tax
The window tax was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France and Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces , as a result of the tax.-Details:The tax was introduced in England and Wales under...
of three shillings per window. In order to reduce the amount of tax payable, the Ashburnham estate arranged for many of Court Farm’s stone and wooden mullion windows to be blocked up. Window tax was repeal
Repeal
A repeal is the amendment, removal or reversal of a law. This is generally done when a law is no longer effective, or it is shown that a law is having far more negative consequences than were originally envisioned....
ed in 1851, but the large windows on the west of the house have remained blocked to the present day.
John Ashburnham died at his London residence in Southampton Street, Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
, on 21 January 1709 aged 44. His eldest son, William, succeeded him as second baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
but died of smallpox on 16 June 1710. The Ashburnham Estates then passed to his brother John, who became third baron. On 14 May 1730, he became Viscount St Asaph of the Principality of Wales
Principality of Wales
The Principality of Wales existed between 1216 and 1542, encompassing two-thirds of modern Wales.It was formally founded in 1216 at the Council of Aberdyfi, and later recognised by the 1218 Treaty of Worcester between Llywelyn the Great of Wales and Henry III of England...
and Earl of Ashburnham
Earl of Ashburnham
The title Baron Ashburnham , of Ashburnham in the County of Sussex, was created in the Peerage of England in 1689 for John Ashburnham, grandson of the John Ashburnham who assisted King Charles I to escape from Oxford and Hampton Court Palace...
. The family had been elevated in the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
, because a viscount
Viscount
A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...
is one step above the lowest rank of baron. He died on 10 March 1736-7 at the age of 49 and his only son, John, succeeded to the estate as John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham
John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham
John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham, PC , styled Viscount St Asaph from 1730 to 1737, was a British peer and courtier....
. The second Earl died on 8 April 1812 aged 87 and his only son, George Ashburnham, succeeded as George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham
George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham
George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham, KG, GCH, FSA was a British peer.He was the son of the 2nd Earl of Ashburnham and the former Elizabeth Crowley, being styled Viscount St Asaph from birth, and was baptised on 29 January 1761 at St George's, Hanover Square, London, with King George III, the...
.
In 1813, George Ashburnham took legal action to bar the entail
Entail
Entail may refer to:* Fee tail, a term of art in common law describing a limited form of succession....
of his Pembrey Estate so that he could regain the freehold. After that he could mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
the Estate, which he did on 15 June 1824, together with his other Carmarthenshire and Breconshire properties. Lord Lovaine and Robert Vyner, Esq. of Gautby
Gautby
Gautby is a village and civil parish about north-west of the town of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England.Gautby parish church is dedicated to All Saints, and is a grade II* listed building, rebuilt in 1754 of red brick, incorporating some medieval work, by Robert Vyner of Gautby Park as a family...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
were the mortgagees, and the loan was £19,403,4s, 6d.
George Ashburnham died on 27 October 1830 and his son Bertram became fourth Earl. When visiting the Pembrey Estate George Ashburnham usually stayed at Pembrey House, which the family had built on the slope to the north east of St Illtud's Church, Pembrey, in 1823 and which has since been demolished. The house was occasionally let, with rooms being reserved for family use. However, in the 1891 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, Lord Ashburnham, 5th Earl, is recorded as staying at the Ashburnham Hotel.
Relationship with the Mansel family
After the death of Bridget Vaughan’s stepfather, William Ball, in 1701, Court Farm was leased to Rawleigh Mansel, of LlangunnorLlangunnor
Llangynnwr is a community located in Carmarthenshire, Wales.It is the southern suburb of Carmarthen town. It consists mainly of typical suburban housing, with a small shop and a Primary school. Adjoining to it is Pensarn, which is a major out of town shopping district for the local populace in...
Parish. He was High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1679 and, according to The Red Dragon periodical (1886), he went to live at Court Farm:
“thoroughly repairing that old mansion for the purpose, and lived there for three or four years, and died there on 27 November 1702 in his 73rd year”
His grandson, Rawleigh Dawkins Mansel, who was High Sheriff in 1730, then lived as tenant at Court Farm.
During the tenancy of Rawleigh Dawkin Mansel the house was divided into two separate living sections and accommodated two separate families. Walls were added or removed, several doors and windows were blocked and new ones opened, additional stairs were fitted and at least two attic rooms were added. During this period David Thomas (1738/39-1788) was born at Court Farm.
Rawleigh Dawkin Mansel was High Sheriff for Carmarthenshire in 1730 and died ‘under the agonizing pains of the Gout
Gout
Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...
’ in his 44th year in 1749. Thereafter, Court Farm was home to several Ashburnham agents, steward
Steward (office)
A steward is an official who is appointed by the legal ruling monarch to represent him or her in a country, and may have a mandate to govern it in his or her name; in the latter case, it roughly corresponds with the position of governor or deputy...
s and other estate officials.
On Kitchen’s map of 1701 Court Farm is clearly marked as: ‘Court, Mansel, Esq.’
Edward Lluyd’s visit
In 1700, Edward Lluyd, a graduate of Jesus College, OxfordJesus College, Oxford
Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...
, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
, Oxford, and a noted Celtic scholar and antiquary, visited Pembrey Court and reported as follows:-
“Penbre Court, ye Seat formerly of the Butlers and afterwards of the Vaughans, and now belonging (in right of his Lady) to [William] Ball, Esqr, whence it descends to my Ld Ashburnham’s Lady………..Diwlais Brook divides this parish from Llan Elhi, springing at Croslaw Mountain and falls into the sea………Here are 2 lakes close together called Swan Pool where there are plenty of Eels, and in the Winter store of Fowls such as Ducks and Teal, sometimes wild Swans or Elks and wild Geese. The adjoining one, stored with Turbot, Bret and Sole. They take here a large sort of fish called Friers or Monk fish (in Hereford, Gloucester, and Worcester, whither they carry them, Soucing Fish) about May, June and July. This Pool (or Pools for both may be called one) is called Swan Pool because the Lord of the Manor (Mr Ball) has thereon about 40 Swans. Before the hard frost there were about 80, which all died to 6."
Swan Pool was located near Towyn Mawr, and has since been drained. Appropriately, the location is now known as Swan Pool Drain.
A picturesque pond, located near to the house, and close to the Mountain Road, was also drained in about 1937.
Relationship with the Thomas family
David Thomas was born at Court Farm during the tenancy of the Mansels, when the house was divided into two. He was a gifted, but unqualified, bone setter from an illustrious family practising bone setting, and is buried in St Illtud's Church, Pembrey. The Thomas family proved to have other talents, and many vocations. Three generations are listed in the Church's registers as farmers, butchers, shopkeepers, and shipowners of vessels that traded from Pembrey, Old Harbour.On 24 July 1843, John Thomas, a farmer, and David Thomas, a shopkeeper, jointly registered a brigantine
Brigantine
In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...
of 185 tons burthen known as the “ELIZA” at Llanelli
Llanelli
Llanelli , the largest town in both the county of Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed , Wales, sits on the Loughor estuary on the West Wales coast, approximately west-north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. The town is famous for its proud rugby...
. Its master was John Thomas junior and it traded to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and as far as San Francisco, where the whole crew deserted the ship to join the Californian gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
. Consequently, the ship was anchored, with hundreds of others, in San Francisco harbour for several years. She was later sold, along with many other ships, by the United States Marshall.
John Thomas also owned a sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
of 29 tons burthen called the “SEDULOUS”, which was built in Cardigan
Cardigan, Ceredigion
Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire. It is the second largest town in Ceredigion. The town's population was 4,203...
and registered at Llanelli on 15 February 1842. Its registry was cancelled on 19 March 1842.
Hugh Thomas, together with some other investors, owned the "MARGARET JANE", a vessel built at Pwllheli
Pwllheli
Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...
in 1850, and whose registry was cancelled on 13 December 1865.
In 1831, Mr. Edward Driver, a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
, made a “Survey
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
and Valuation
Valuation
-Economics:*Valuation , the determination of the economic value of an asset or liability**Real estate appraisal, sometimes called property valuation , the appraisal of land or buildings...
of the Manor of Pembrey and Estate” on behalf of Bertram Ashburham. At this time, Court Farm comprised 194 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s plus 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of marshland. The tenant was recorded as John Thomas (later succeeded by his son Hugh) who paid a yearly rent of £88.10s. John Thomas occupied a part of the Mansion, whilst a Mr. T.E. Biederman occupied the other part. Mr. Driver reported as follows :
"One portion of the Old Court House is occupied by Mr. Biederman. The other portion comprises a very good large kitchen, small cellar, old Entrance Hall, a parlour not inhabitable but now undergoing repairs and filling up, and a new staircase has been lately made to lead to two new formed bedrooms. At the back of the House is a range of offices comprising (besides some held by Mr. Biederman) a dairy and a cheese loft. A newly erected cowhouse and stable with slated roof, and enclosed yard. Adjoining the House is a good barn with cowhouse; coach-house at the end, hereafter described, and held by Mr. Biederman; a stock yard with cowhouse, and another barn, slated, and a lean-to carthouse, thatched, at the back…"
Later in the survey, Mr. Driver wrote:
“Part of the Court House and buildings, heretofore generally used by the Agent, but for the last 3 or 4 years was occupied by his brother and T. E. Biederman. The buildings comprise the old Court House, and was formerly a good residence; it is stone built with slated roof; part has been kept for the accommodation of the Agent to the Estate, and this is now occupied, and has so been for 3 or 4 years by Mr T. E. Biederman, and consists of the large principal room, now subdivided, leaving a good Parlor, a bedroom without a fireplace, and a passage leading to another bedroom; another bedroom, kitchen, and small scullery, and a small bedroom for a servant; a cellar under a part; coalhouse and room over; and a coach-house at the end of the barn; a stable in two divisions for four horses: all the above occupied by Mr. Biederman.”
During its early period, Court Farm had a high, open-trussed roof, visible from the floor of the main hall and of an elaborate design, with double roll and hollow moulding. Bredwardine Court and Porthaml Mansion, two other ancestral homes of the Vaughans, have similar surviving roofs. However, part of the original roof of Court Farm was lowered and flattened during alterations made during the 19th century, and the carved ornamental detail of the original trussed roof was lost. In addition, the original stone tiles, which needed a more steeply pitching roof, were replaced with Caernarvon slates (as reported in Mr. Driver’s survey), and the roof valleys were finished off with lead flashing.
The 1878 Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
map gives the first known ground plan of Court Farm, this shows the original Vaughan L-shaped structure, with two wings enclosing a courtyard in the rear. Nearby, on the south side, is the barn. A large enclosed garden is outlined, together with Court Wood, said to have been planted by the Vaughans.
A Tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
Schedule and map dated 7 June 1839 shows Court Farm with 209 acre (0.84579374 km²), a slight increase in landholding since the survey of Mr Driver, with Mr. John Thomas still the tenant. The Thomas family were tenants of Court Farm from 1738 to 1902, and most of their baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded in the registers of St Illtyd Church, Pembrey.
The Tithe Schedule also includes the names of all the surrounding fields, including Clos Edwin, Wedlanis, Abel Dawnsi, Hunting Knap, and Mumble Head. Two fields, Garreg Lwyd and Maes Graig Lwyd, may have had a religious origin.
Industrial activities
It was during the ownership of the Pembrey Estate by the Ashburnhams that trial workings for coal were made. These proved to be successful and a number of levels and pits were opened in Coed y Marchog (Knight’s Wood) and Coed Rhial (Royal Wood) on the western slope of Pembrey Mountain.Management of the colliery was undertaken from an office at Court Farm and the coal was carried by packhorse
Packhorse
.A packhorse or pack horse refers generally to an equid such as a horse, mule, donkey or pony used for carrying goods on their backs, usually carried in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. ...
to the estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
of the River Gwendraeth
River Gwendraeth
The River Gwendraeth is a river in Carmarthenshire in west Wales.It has two almost equal branches that have their confluence in their joint estuary at Carmarthen Bay...
and to the Burry Inlet, from here it was shipped to the west of England and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
The second Earl Ashburnham, impressed by the success of a canal built by Thomas Kymer in the Gwendraeth valley, decided upon a similar scheme for his Pembrey colliery. Kymer’s Canal was built between 1766 and 1768 in order to carry coal from pits and levels at Pwll y Llygod and Great Forest (near Carway
Carway
Carway is a village situated to the north of the town of Llanelli in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales, in the Gwendraeth Fawr valley. It is part of the Llanelli Rural community....
) to a place of shipment on the Lesser Gwendraeth river near Kidwelly.
The Ashburnham canal ran from the foot of Pembrey Mountain to the Gwendraeth estuary and its aim was to improve the transport of coal from the Pembrey colliery to the sea. The plan initially encountered opposition from colliers, whose ponies used to do the job, but by 1796 work on the canal had begun below Coed Farm, close to the Llandyry-Pinged road. By 1799, the canal had extended across the Kidwelly-Pembrey road, near to Saltrock Farm, and by the end of 1801 it had reached the sea at Pill Towyn, a creek running in from the south bank of the Gwendraeth Fawr river. Two shipping places were built on the canal, one of them at Pill Ddu, and the total length of the canal was about two miles (3 km). Flat terrain meant that there were no locks, and in 1805 a short branch was constructed towards Ffrwd when new levels were opened in Coed Rhial. The entrance to Pill Ddu was deepened in 1816 and a dry dock
Dry dock
A drydock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform...
was added in 1817. By 1818, however, the colliery had become exhausted and the canal became redundant.
In the returns of Owners of Land in 1873, Bertram Ashburnham is shown as having substantial estates in Wales, with 5685 acres (23 km²) producing an estimated annual rental of £3,547 in Carmarthenshire, and 1881 acres (7.6 km²) producing an estimated annual rental of £1,963 in Breconshire. In Sussex, the family seat, 14051 acres (56.9 km²) produced £13,069.
Sale of the Ashburnham estate
Bertram Ashburnham died on 22 June 1878 aged 80. His eldest of seven sons, also named Bertram, succeeded as fifth Earl and actively participated in the development of industry in Pembrey. He died in 1913 leaving an only child, Lady Mary Cathleen Charlotte Ashburnham. The title thus passed to his younger brother, Thomas, the sixth and last Earl of Ashburnham, who had married Maria Elizabeth Anderson of Fredericton, New BrunswickNew Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1903.
George Ashburnham had taken out a mortgage on his Welsh estates in 1824 for £19,403,4s, 6d after he had freed the Welsh properties from entail on certain leases. By 1897 the mortgage debt on the Welsh properties had increased to £87,600, as the loan had not been repaid on its due date. In order to repay the loan, the Porthaml estate was sold in 1913 and the Pembrey estate in 1922. Thomas Ashburnham died without issue on 12 May 1924, leading to the extinction of the Ashburnham title.
Court Farm was tenanted by the Thomas family until around 1902. After that, William Bonnell (senior), and his family, were tenants. The house once again became a single dwelling. The Bonnell family farmed Court Farm until August 1922, when the whole of the Ashburnham Estate was sold. The sale was a major local event. The Ashburnhams had, for 245 years, controlled much of Pembrey Parish, and been intimately involved in turning it into a centre of industry. At the auction Mr William Bonnell (senior) purchased Penllwyn Uchaf Farm and thereafter vacated Court Farm.
Court Farm was advertised for sale by auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
on 14 September 1929, subject to tenancy, and plans could be inspected at the auctioneer's office or the local butchers. Mr James Butler of Treorchy
Treorchy
Treorchy is a village, although it used to be and still has characteristics of a town, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr valley...
bought Court Farm at the auction. The Manor was then let to the family of Mr Sidney Thomas. They remained as tenants after the death of Mr Butler, in 1937, and the purchase of the Manor by Mr Charles Harding from the Links, Pembrey.
Mr Harding bought Pembrey Court as a business proposition. He developed the Garreg Lwyd quarries, located on Court Farm land, as a brickworks
Brickworks
A brickworks also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock often with a quarry for clay on site....
, and used material from the quarry for his brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
mixture. The brickwork project failed when the brick making machinery ran into technical difficulties. Probably as a result of these activities, a large front section of the quarry collapsed.
Ownership by the Bonnell family
In 1942, Mr Harding sold Court Farm to William Bonnell (junior), who lived at Penllwyn Uchaf farm. However, the Thomas family remained as tenants until about 1948, after which Court Farm was left empty. Mr William Bonnell (Junior) continued to live at Penllwyn Uchaf Farm until his death in January 1962 and during this time Pembrey Court was used for storage. After William Bonnell's death, Court Farm passed to his younger brother, Mr Owen Bonnell.During the 1970s, Court Farm remained unoccupied and thieves twice stole the lead flashings from the roof. After the first theft, Mr Owen Bonnell replaced the lead, but after the second theft he could see little point in replacing it again. It was at this stage that the structure of the house began to deteriorate. Nevertheless, in 1972, he appointed Messrs, Peter Howell and Donald Jones, Architects, of Uplands, Swansea
Uplands, Swansea
Uplands is a suburb of Swansea, Wales. It lies about a mile to the west of Swansea city centre, and falls within the Uplands electoral ward. It is centred around the A4118 road, which links Swansea city centre and Sketty. The main road begins as Walter Road from the east, and becomes Sketty Road...
to apply for grant aid from the Historic Buildings Council. The Marquis of Anglesey and representatives of the Historic Buildings Council visited Court Farm in order to assess the property for grant aid, but their report to the Secretary of State for Wales
Secretary of State for Wales
The Secretary of State for Wales is the head of the Wales Office within the British cabinet. He or she is responsible for ensuring Welsh interests are taken into account by the government, representing the government within Wales and overseeing the passing of legislation which is only for Wales...
pointed out that the property was beyond repair and so a grant was refused.
Owen Bonnell died in January, 1976 and Court Farm was inherited by his nephew, John Bonnell Davies, who was born at Court Farm. He is the present owner and lives in Pembrey.
Community interest in Court Farm
In 1972, the possibility of saving Court Farm was first put forward to the former Carmarthenshire County CouncilCarmarthenshire County Council
Carmarthenshire County Council is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales, providing a range of services under the control of elected county councillors that include education, planning, transport, social services and public safety...
, but it was believed that the building had deteriorated too far and would cost an estimated £50,000 to put right. Considerable theft and vandalism left the property in a badly damaged condition, and so a planning application was made by the owners for consent to demolish the building. On 23 October 1980, Llanelli Borough Council refused the application for the following reasons:
~ [Court Farm] is a Grade II Listed Building of special architectural and historic interest, which is capable of renovation, rehabilitation and use, which would ensure its future conservation; and
~ in line with national policy, the Borough Council is disposed not to grant consent for the demolition of Listed Buildings which are capable of preservation or conservation.
Despite the decline in the fortunes of Court Farm, local concern for the building remained strong, as evidenced by the publicity in the local press. The late Mr John Evans, of Erw Terrace, Burry Port, who was a member of Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society, commenced a campaign to save Court Farm and. in August 1981, a Court Farm Committee was established. The Committee requested that the Borough Council place a compulsory purchase order
Compulsory purchase order
A compulsory purchase order is a legal function in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland that allows certain bodies which need to obtain land or property to do so without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for public betterment - for...
on the building and plans were formulated to restore it and develop it as a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
, in a £100,000 project phased over 3 years. Unfortunately, the plans suffered a setback when solicitors representing the owners refused to accept a valuation figure of £4,000 for the 1.8 acres (7,284.3 m²) site.
On 19 October 1984, another application was made to demolish Court Farm, but the application was refused. The refusal notice, issued on 18 July 1985, stated that demolition was considered premature, due to the Borough Architect’s museum feasibility study.
By 14 November 1984, the Western Mail newspaper was reporting on the proposed 48-hour fast of Mr John Evans. The planned fast was the "ultimate threat" if demolition were to come about and "would be a last resort gesture".
In his campaign to save the building, Mr Evans wrote to the former Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
, Lord Elwyn Jones (a native of Llanelli), to the Archbishop of Wales
Archbishop of Wales
The post of Archbishop of Wales was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England , and disestablished...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, Llanelli Borough Council, Dyfed County Council, the Welsh Office
Welsh Office
The Welsh Office was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post which had been created in October 1964...
, the Welsh Development Agency
Welsh Development Agency
The Welsh Development Agency was a QUANGO and later an Assembly Sponsored Public Body established in 1976 to encourage business development and investment in Wales, to clear derelict land and to encourage growth of local businesses...
, Members of Parliament, Government Ministers, various trusts and influential academics. Letters of support were received from the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, who was reported to be pleased that efforts were being made to save Court Farm, and a letter of support was also received from Professor Sir Glanmor Williams
Glanmor Williams
Sir Glanmor Williams was one of Wales's most eminent historians.Sir Glanmor was born in Dowlais, into a working-class family, and was educated at Cyfarthfa Castle School. He studied at Aberystwyth alongside Alun Lewis and Emyr Humphreys, becoming a specialist in the early modern period of Welsh...
.
By 1985, local concern was such that funding was made available for a feasibility study for the property. Cadw
Cadw
-Conservation and Protection:Many of Wales's great castles and other monuments, such as bishop's palaces, historic houses, and ruined abbeys, are now in Cadw's care. Cadw does not own them but is responsible for their upkeep and for making them accessible to the public...
generously offered a grant of 50% towards the cost of preparation of the study and the balance came from Llanelli Borough Council. The feasibility study concluded that Court Farm was worth retaining on the basis of :-
- its uniqueness in the district and probably Wales, particularly in a locality predominantly shaped by the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
;
- its rich variety of architectural features within a single building;
- virtually no examples of medieval or Tudor settlement remain in the district; and
- the extent of local interest and concern over the future of the property, which has long formed part of the local history and character of the village of Pembrey.
On 30 August 1985, Llanelli Borough Planning Officer, Mr Clive Davies, stated that the ultimate step of demolition would not be justified until the results of the feasibility study were known. Apart from Mr Evans and Cadw, others who objected to demolition included the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments in Wales, Dyfed Archaeological Trust
Dyfed Archaeological Trust
The Dyfed Archaeological Trust is an Archaeological Trust organisation established in the mid 1970s as part of the Welsh Archaeological Trusts....
, Llanelli Civic Society and Pembrey Community Council.
In November 1985, the Reverend W. Roberts of Burry Port wrote to the Western Mail Civic Pride Competition arguing for the preservation of Court Farm, and concluded with the following call to action:
"Summing up, the ancient St. Illtud’s Church remains; the notorious wreck-strewn and beautiful Cefn Sidan Sands remain; the third part of the trinity must also remain. In reality, the neglect of the ancient monument is a local and national scandal. Court Farm must be restored."
Meanwhile, plans by Llanelli Council to restore Court Farm had stalled because the asking price remained too high. On 27 June 1987, Mr John Evans urged the Secretary of State for Wales
Secretary of State for Wales
The Secretary of State for Wales is the head of the Wales Office within the British cabinet. He or she is responsible for ensuring Welsh interests are taken into account by the government, representing the government within Wales and overseeing the passing of legislation which is only for Wales...
, Mr Peter Walker
Peter Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester
Peter Edward Walker, Baron Walker of Worcester, MBE, PC , was British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet as the Environment Secretary , Trade and Industry Secretary , Agriculture Minister , Energy Secretary and Welsh Secretary...
, to take over the planned restoration, fearing that otherwise the plans would come to nothing. By this stage, the proposed Court Farm museum was in jeopardy because of plans to develop a Heritage and Tinplate Centre at Kidwelly which is now Kidwelly Industrial Museum
Kidwelly Industrial Museum
The Kidwelly Industrial Museum focuses on the Tinplate industry in Kidwelly. In addition there are exhibits featuring coal mining and brick making. The museum is located near the town of Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, West Wales, on the site of the former Kidwelly tinplate works. The tinplate works...
.
The importance of Court Farm was still recognised by Cadw, however, and in July 1987 they agreed to offer a grant to fund restoration at a rate of 60%, which was 10% above the then usual rate. Sadly, Cadw’s offer was not taken up and changes in grant regulations meant that the offer lapsed.
However, there was renewed hope when, on 29 January 1988, Llanelli Borough Council announced plans to buy the property in order to develop it as a tourist promotion and information office. Mr George Harris, estate officer for Llanelli Borough Council, stated that the situation of Court Farm would not be suitable as a tourist attraction in itself, but could be used as a base to promote tourist interest in the Llanelli area.
Court Farm remains posted as a building at risk on the web site of SAVE Britain’s Heritage and the posting attracted the interest of Cadw Sir Gaerfyrddin/Carmarthenshire Building Preservation Trust who obtained funding to conduct a fresh feasibility study, which was completed in 2003 by Davies Sutton Architecture. This architectural firm have successfully restored Sker House
Sker House
Sker House is arguably one of the most important historical buildings in Wales. Originally built as a monastic grange of the Cistercian order over 900 years ago, it is situated just outside of the village of Kenfig, near Bridgend. The house later became a residential property and has been involved...
, a similar type of building. This Study was funded with by Cadw
Cadw
-Conservation and Protection:Many of Wales's great castles and other monuments, such as bishop's palaces, historic houses, and ruined abbeys, are now in Cadw's care. Cadw does not own them but is responsible for their upkeep and for making them accessible to the public...
and the Architectural Heritage Fund
Architectural Heritage Fund
The Architectural Heritage Fund is a registered charity founded in 1976 to promote the conservation of historic buildings in the United Kingdom. It provides information, advice and finance to Building Preservation Trusts and other charities in the U.K..-Scope:In order to apply for finance,...
. The Study established the intrinsic value of Court Farm and looked at all the options for saving the building. The Study established that the building represented an important historical resource and could be saved for a new beneficial use, by with repair retaining a flexible layout, allowing fitting-out for an optimum end use. The structural engineer
Structural engineer
Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants...
’s report, prepared by Mann Williams Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
collateral to the Study provided a structural assessment and report on the basis of an inspection carried out during February 2003. This stated that “the main walls remain reasonably plumb and stable when considering the extensive period of neglect. Replacement of floors and roof structures will reinstate the necessary support to the walls and provide a significant improvement to stability.”
Relationship with the sea
Court Farm has a panoramic view of Carmarthen BayCarmarthen Bay
Carmarthen Bay is an inlet of the south Wales coast. The coastline includes famous beaches, including the Pendine Sands and Cefn Sidan sands, and is partially covered by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park....
and is the only surviving Elizabethan manor house in Carmarthenshire. Before the construction of Whiteford Lighthouse
Whiteford Lighthouse
Whiteford Point Lighthouse is located off the coast at Whiteford Point near Whiteford Sands, on the Gower Peninsula, south Wales.-Description:...
, Court Farm and St Illtud's Church, Pembrey formed two of the few prominent local landmarks in the Pembrey area and so became important navigational aides. It is the seven “towering chimneys” that made Court Farm such a landmark, and both the Manor and Church are clearly marked on William Jones of Loughor’s ‘Plan or Directions for Ships to Come Safe into Burry and to Several Places of Safety to be within the Same’, made in 1757.
The Burry Inlet has always been a notoriously difficult place to navigate, due to the quickly changing course of the river and shifting sand banks. Ships crossing the Burry Bar, which is roughly on a line drawn from Burry Holms
Burry Holms
Burry Holms is a small tidal island located at the northern end of the Gower Peninsula, Wales. 9,000 years ago it was up to 12 miles away from the sea and inhabited by nomadic Mesolithic hunters...
on Gower
Gower Peninsula
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower"...
to Tywyn Sands or Cornel Mawr, near Pembrey, were crossing a treacherous area. Charts indicate that the contours of the estuary are constantly changing. As an example, in 1764 John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
crossed the Burry Inlet on horseback from Pembrey on his way to Oxwich, in Gower. Today, such a crossing would not be possible.
In the 17th century, Sir Walter Vaughan, conceived a life saving sea rescue scheme, and as local Member of Parliament, enthusiastically tried to get the Government to take-up his plans, to no avail.
Wrecking rights and maritime enterprises
The Butlers had been granted rights to all wrecks found on the Cefn Sidan sands, and so for centuries the Lord of the ManorLord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
of Pembrey had rights and privileges over the disposal of wrecks found along the coast.
Cefn Sidan
Cefn Sidan
Cefn Sidan, roughly translated from Welsh, means "Silky Back". This long sandy beach and its dunes form the outer edge of the Pembrey Burrows between Burry Port and Kidwelly, looking southwards over Carmarthen Bay in South Wales....
was frequently the graveyard of many unsuspecting vessels, whose victims were buried in the grounds of Pembrey Church, including a relative of Napoleon's Josephine. Entries in the Pembrey Church registers record numerous burials of passengers and crew. The demand for coal, in the 19th century, led to a big increase in the number of wrecks along the coast.
Despite this close connection with the sea, when King Charles I asked Sir Walter Vaughan if he could supply the Crown with a ship of 30 tons, Sir Walter avoided the issue by claiming that Carmarthenshire was an inland county with only a few creek
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s. However, this did not prevent Sir Walter from acquiring possession of at least two ships at auction, after mishaps led to them running aground at Pembrey. One of these was of 60 tons burthen and known as “DOROTHY”. She was registered at Burry and leased for a voyage from Laugharne to Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, with a cargo of salt. The other ship was the vessel “HOPE”, she was registered at Harborough
Harborough
Harborough is a local government district of Leicestershire, England, named after its main town, Market Harborough. Covering , the District is by far the largest of the eight district authorities in Leicestershire and covers almost a quarter of the County....
, but was driven by a storm into the North Burry Road in June 1631, damaging the cargo of salt and leading to the desertion of the vessel by her crew. Sir Walter acquired possession of both vessels and cargoes and later assigned them to a Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
merchant for £500.
Manorial dispute
By the end of the 18th century, uncertainty had arisen as to the exact area to which the Lord Ashburnham, at that time, the Lord of the Manor of Pembrey, and Lord Cawdor, Lord of Kidwelly held rights. Both agreed that their agents and their legal advisers should be allowed to investigate their claims, and depositions were taken from a number of older local men, who indicated that uncertainties about the rights had set in during the 17th century.The statements of Lord Ashburnham sought to claim that Lord Ashburnham’s tenants had always exercised their right to take any wreck or articles found on the shore to a recognised storage place, or even to Court Farm itself. The salvors were then granted a sum of money to cover the “salvage and expenses”. It may be that such articles were stored in the barn at Court Farm. The following are two examples of the many depositions that were made in favour of the Ashburnham estate:
“1663, 8th day of June, John William Arnold, yeoman of Pembrey, aged 75, Sworn and Examined before the Court of the Steward…” he had always assumed that he had the right to claim any material from the wrecks on behalf of the “Lordship of Ashburnham until now and of late.”
“1664, 14th day of July, David William John, village of Pembrey, yeoman, four score years, Sworn and Examined before the Court of the Steward…did lay claim, title unto any of the wreck or materials that happened to be cast up by the sea upon any of the lands within the Lordship of Pembrey by Permission of the Lord of the Manor and his agents.”
By 1830 the dispute had been settled amicably, without a court case, and the agreement allowed Lord Ashburnham to maintain his ancient manorial rights over the Pembrey foreshore, and Lord Cawdor to maintain his rights over the Kidwelly foreshore. The agreement document stated:
“The right of wreck upon this immediate part of the coast (Caldecott) seems not to have been distinctly exercised within living memory of man, but whenever a ship has been stranded, large parties come down from the Country, some joining the tenantry of Lord Ashburnham, and others the tenantry of Lord Cawdor, and whichever proved the stronger party took the greater share of the Prey.”
Proceeds and sale of wrecks
Cargo from wrecked vessels was sometimes carried in carts to farms owned by Lord Ashburnham and, when the owner made a claim on the property, Lord Ashburnham’s agent would charge a salvage fee. The following are examples of wrecks claimed by Lord Ashburnham and listed in the 1830 agreement document:1763 Received balance left unpaid of Wine (salvaged) sold this year, 8s. 10d. For salvage of the tobacco ship that came ashore at Pembrey, 5gns. For timber that came ashore at Pembrey, £1. 10. 0.
1764 For ‘uldge’ cast with a small supply of rum in it that came on shore £4. 10. 0.
1766 Caldecott: received for a boat taken up at Towin (in Caldecott) afterwards claimed on oath by Capt. Jones of Carmarthen, 1d.
1768 Caldecott: received the profit of 4 casks of wine, sold by auction at Towin on 15th March 1768, £17. 4. 0.
1770 Received for the salvage of a Dutch vessel, stranded on the fee farm at Caldecott, 5gns. Received for a hogshead of claret, £4. 18. 0, but deducted 5s. for carriage of it from the sand of Towin.
1776 Received of Mr. Griffith the Collector of Customs at Llanelly, the produce of the tobacco of the ship “POMPEY”, thrown on Pembrey Manor in February 1773, £83. 4. 0.
There are also occasional accounts in Ashburnham documents of sales of wreck found on the Pembrey sands:
“Account of wreck sold by William Davies for the Right Honourable the Earl of Ashburnham – collected from Pembrey Manor (The Court).
September 1804 To piece of elm, timber sold, being 8 cwts. and a half at 2s. 0. 17s 0
August 1805 To an old cannon sold to Mr Morgan at 4 @ 2/6 10s 0
Received from Steven Jones for use of the storeroom at Court to put the late wreck £1. 1s. 0
Eventually, all wrecks became the sole responsibility of the Receiver of Wrecks and Droits and it was his prerogative to dispose of a wreck, and its cargo, by auction, or any other suitable means. By this time, all ships from the Pembrey area were registered with the Register of British Ships at the port of Llanelli, and each ship was issued with a certificate of registry and details of the vessel were entered in the Register.
Looting
There were reputed to be many wreckers in the Pembrey area. "Mat of the Iron Hand", who had lost a hand and boasted an iron hook, used to tie lanterns to the sheep grazing on the headlands during a winter storm to draw vessels into shore. One day, these false lights lured a ship onto the rocks before Sir Walter Vaughan could get the boats of his sea rescue crew out to save them. It was said that Mat's custom was to kill all survivors, so that there could be no witnesses. One swimmer that he allegedly despatched turned out to be John Walter Vaughan, the eldest son of Sir Walter Vaughan. As Mat had been imprisoned, over the years by, Sir Walter, he took his revenge by cutting off the young man's hand. As he did so, he noticed that he was wearing a gold signet ring with the well-known Vaughan crest of the three boys' snake-entwined heads, given to John Walter on attaining his majority. This was the private seal of the family. Mat was subsequently hanged.Manorial hedgerows and woodland
In 1979 a group of Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society members carried out some hedge counting on Court Farm land. This involves counting the number of different tree species in alternate 30m lengths of hedgerow. Each species in the hedge approximates to one hundred years.A narrow strip of land near the Court, known as the "Narrow Yard" (Llathed Fain, in Welsh) was traditionally granted, or leased, by the Lord of the Manor to a favoured yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
, who quickly delineated his property with a surrounding hedge. At Court Farm, the field shapes do suggest enclosure of former "strips" or "lands" in an open field system. The Antiquarian Society found that, on average, there were five tree species per hedge, indicating an early 16th century enclosure from open fields.
Most of the survey effort was concentrated here, and in the Kidwelly area, because of the amount of medieval, and later, documentation available for this area, which can act as a “control” check for dates obtained from species counting. The constituent manors of local lordships are described in a 1609 Survey. This covers different soils, field types, settlement patterns and tenurial customs of the Welshries and Englishries. Dr. Max Hooper, of the Nature Conservancy, pioneered this system of calculation from English hedgerows, whose antiquity was attested by similar documents, such as hedged parts of Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
estate boundaries delineated in the charters, medieval "assarts" or clearances in the forest or waste registered in the Court Roll
Court roll
The Manorial Roll or Court Roll is the roll or record kept in connection with a manorial court, in particular containing entries relating to the rents and holdings, deaths, alienations, and successions of the customary tenants or copyholders. A copy of the court roll constitutes the tenant's title...
s, etc. The equation between age and number of species present is due to the relative abundance of colonizing species in the immediate vicinity, and the rate at which some species can colonize existing hedges, whether planted or made by clearing woodland either side of them.
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a large number of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
trees were planted on the eastern slope below Garreg Llwyd Quarry. In early times the oak tree was sacred to the Druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
s, and in 1842 a newspaper reported that "A grand Druidic procession took place in Pembrey", although it is not clear if there is any link to the wood.
During the early 19th century, women were employed in the area to strip the bark of the oak trees, which was sent to the nearest tannery
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
, where tannin was extracted from the bark and used in leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
production.
Relationship to St Illtud's Church, Pembrey
Fanciful claims have been made that a tunnel connected Court Farm with the nearby St Illtud's Church.Court Farm used to have a large and heavy stone bowl, filled by spring water, in its grounds, which was used to water cattle for almost a hundred years by Court Farm’s tenant farmers. This was believed to be the "lost" Norman font bowl of the Church, and subsequently, the bowl was moved to the Lady Chapel of the Church in 1933, where it still remains.
Antiquarian interest in Court Farm
Interest in Court Farm goes back over a number of decades. On the afternoon of Saturday, 12 September 1970 the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society held its final Field Day of the 1970 season, when a visit was made to the Pembrey area. The seventy members were conducted by Mr W.H. Morris of Kidwelly and Mr Brynmor Voyle of Llanelli. After assembling at TrimsaranTrimsaran
Trimsaran is a former mining village which lies on the B4308 between Llanelli and Kidwelly, in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire.Trimsaran is six miles from Llanelli, and from Carmarthen...
, the party proceeded to a point on Pembrey Mountain where they paused to admire a panoramic view of Carmarthen Bay. At Court Farm Mr. Brynmor Voyle outlined the main architectural and historical features of the mansion, including its single hall-type structure. Members were, unfortunately, unable to inspect the inside of the house. The castellated barn structure in front of the mansion aroused a great deal of interest.
At St. Illtud's Church, the Reverend T.A. Jones welcomed the party and made special mention of “Butler's Window” and the hagiascope, the opening in the church tower through which lepers viewed the consecration of the bread and wine at the altar. Members then inspected the parish register
Parish register
A parish register is a handwritten volume, normally kept in a parish church or deposited within a county record office or alternative archive repository, in which details of baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded.-History:...
s, dating from 1700 and the memorial to families such as Rees of Cilymaenllwyd
Cilymaenllwyd
Cilymaenllwyd is a community on the extreme northwest of Carmarthenshire in West Wales. It lies about 40 km west of Carmarthen, 20 km southeast of Fishguard and 30 km northwest of Haverfordwest.- History & Amenities :...
, Mansel of Stradey
Stradey
Stradey is an area of the town of Llanelli in the county of Carmarthenshire in Wales, home to Stradey Park, where the Llanelli RFC and Llanelli Scarlets rugby teams were formerly based. Stradey is also home to the town's only Welsh language secondary school, Ysgol y Strade....
, Vaughan of Trimsaran, Thompson of Glyn Abbey and Wedge of Goodig.