Cilybebyll Estate Papers

Cilybebyll estate papers comprising mainly title deeds, 1497-1946, deeds of settlement, 1575-1954, and mortgages, 1859-1916.

The Cilybebyll estate was small and compact, made up for the most part of lands in the southern and central parts of the parish of Cilybebyll and neighbouring parts of Blaenhonddan to the west of Alltwen, and farms near Pontardawe in the parishes of Llangiwg and Llangyfelach. The estate also owned Cwmtwrch Farm in Carmarthenshire, near the foot of the Black Mountain. Whereas some estates could boast continuous ownership by one family over several centuries, tenure of the Cilybebyll estate was rather more complicated. Alice, daughter of Thomas ap Griffith Goch of Ynys-arwed, married Griffith ap John ap Lewis. Alice was probably the heir of Cilybebyll, as some pedigrees describe Thomas ap Griffith Goch as of Cilybebyll. Their son Lewis Griffith, the first of the family to use a surname, married (as his second wife) Jenet Herbert, and had issue a daughter and heir, Jenet, who married George Herbert, the fourth son of Matthew Herbert of Swansea. The Herbert family of Swansea was part of the same clan as the Herberts, earls of Pembroke, and was the source of the Herbert families of Cilybebyll, Cogan Pill and White Friars. The Herbert family retained Cilybebyll until the death of Matthew's great-grandson, Richard Herbert (c.1669-1725). He had married Elizabeth Lloyd (c.1686-1771) of Cilymaenllwyd, but died without male heirs, leaving his two daughters and co-heirs, Elizabeth (dsp. 1797), the heiress of Cilybebyll and wife of Richard Turberville (c1708-77, dsp.), and Mary, the wife of Samuel Hughes of Llwyn-y-Brân. On her death, Elizabeth left Cilybebyll to her mother's family. Her heir was her cousin John Herbert Lloyd (d. 1817), the son of John William Lloyd (d. 1752) of Carmarthen. He was succeeded by his sister Jane (d. 1828), the wife of William Bassett. Jane was succeeded by her kinswoman Jane Brand (d. 1849), the daughter of John Jones (d. 1787) of Brawdy, Pembrokeshire, and wife of Henry Leach (d. 1848) of Milford. Henry Leach completely modernized and improved Cilybebyll "as scarcely to retain any vestige of its ancient character". Jane and Henry's son Francis Edwardes Leach (1805-1865) assumed the surname Lloyd on inheriting Cilybebyll on the death of his mother. His son Herbert Lloyd (1838-1914) of Cilybebyll married in 1864 with Frances Harriette (1838-1929), daughter of S. G. Purdon of Tinerara, Ireland. Their eldest son John Herbert Purdon Lloyd (1868-1957) inherited Cilybebyll on his father's death.

Arranged into the following: papers from the family estate office; records from the family solicitor's office; and papers from the miscellaneous collections.

No restrictions

It is the policy of the West Glamorgan Archive Service to withhold the names of depositors.

Compiled by Mair James for the HMC/NLW Family and Estates project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (London, 1833); Nicholas, Thomas, Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County families of Wales (London, 2 vols., 1872), vol. II; Clark, George T., Limbus Patrum Morganiae et Glamorganiae (London, 1886); Lloyd, R. J. H., The Lloyds of Plâs Cilybebyll (Pendoylan, 1990); Collis, Kim, The West Glamorgan Archive Service: A Guide to the Collections (West Glamorgan Archive Service, 1998); West Glamorgan Archive Service, Catalogue of Cilybebyll Estate Papers.

Hard copies of the catalogue are available at West Glamorgan Archive Service and the National Register of Archives

Usual copyright regulations apply.

All records deposited at West Glamorgan Archive Service have been retained

Accruals are not expected

Further papers relating to the Cilybebyll estate are National Library of Wales, Cilybebyll Deeds (groups I & II), and Ethel Lloyd Deeds; and West Glamorgan Archive Service: D/D Xga, D/D Xjl, and D/D SB 5.