Notable Houses in and around Llanelli
Cilfig House
Built by James Buckley
James Phillips Rowland Maclaran
Details of buildings between 1843 &1838 Trade Directory listings
When Maria Buckley died in 1831 her husband the itinerant Wesleyan preacher, James Buckley (1770-1839), began to suffer ill health and decided to retire in 1832. Following his retirement as a travelling minister he became a supernumerary in the Swansea Circuit and looked after the Llanelli congregation. At first he lived in Alexander Raby’s, ‘Furnace House’ until he built a new house which he called Cilfig.
James Buckley’s new house had a brewing kitchen, pig sty, hen roosts and stables, and his daughters Elizabeth, Catherine and Maria looked after him with great care.
His son John Mark ran away to sea and his namesake James Buckley (1802-83) married Elizabeth Wedge in 1834 and lived at Penyfai.
Following James’s death on 24 August 1839 at Cilfig House his daughters continued to live at the family home. The census of 1841 shows that Elizabeth Buckley, unmarried, aged 25 of independent means was living at Cilfig with three servants, Catherine Griffiths, Mary Malor and Elizabeth Jones. Also staying at the mansion was William Lidiard aged 50 and Emily Lidiard aged 20 both of independent means.
On 12 January 1843 Maria Buckley of Cilfig House married James Wilson, an architect from Bath and the 1843 Parish Register records the marriage. Maria and James later had a son, James Buckley Wilson, who designed some of the elegant buildings in Llanelli.
Following the departure of the Buckley family Cilfig was home to some of the Tinplate industrialists who had come to town to make their fortune. The Dafen Tinplate Works had been established in 1846 by Thomas and James Motley and their partner John Winkworth but by 1847, following difficulties, they sold out to Sidney James Phillips, Benjamin Phineas Nunes and Robert Smith.
By 1868 Sidney James Phillips’s son Edward Nunes Phillips had taken over management of the Dafen Tinplate works and he moved with his family to Ael y Bryn also known as Allt y Gof in Felinfoel.
By 1878, Roland Maclaran, who had started with the Dafen Tinplate Works in 1849 as a cashier, was now works manager and by 1881 he was living at Cilfig House.
In 1893 a new company was formed known as the Dafen Tinplate Company Limited and Roland Maclaran continued as manager. By 1898 the Dafen Tinworks was in financial difficulties and the John family formed a new company to take over responsibility for the production of tinplate. Rowland Maclaran, after nearly 50 years involvement with the Dafen Tinworks decided to relinquish his interests in the company and retired to Ilfracombe.
Details of Buildings between 1834 and 1838
Taken from the Llanelli Mercury of March 29 1894.
Cilfig was built for Revd James Buckley (d. 1839)
Cilfig £220;
Partitioning Yard £6;
Outbuildings £42;
Veranda & Greenhouse £10;
Extra Cornice £5 10s;
Extra Sheds £11 11s;
Pantry £3 10s.
Pigot’s Trade Directory
1835 Cilfig House. Reverend James Buckley (d. 1839) living at Cilfig
1867 Cilfig House. Rowland MacLaran living at Cilfig
Chalinder’s Directory
1872 Cilfig House. Rowland Maclaran living at Cilfig
Rowland Maclaran began work as a cashier in Dafen Tinplate Works in 1841 and was married to Emily Jane from Westminster, London. They had two sons and a daughter – all born at Clerkenwell in London. By 1861 he was a widower and his daughter Alice (a boarder) was living with a family next door in Church Street – there is no mention of his other children – they may have been packed off to boarding school.
By 1891 he had aspired to Manager and had remarried sometime after 1861 probably 1863 because another daughter was aged 27 in 1891.
On 24 October 1877 Eliza Mary Maclaran, of Cilfig, daughter of Rowland Maclaran, Esquire, married John Henry Rogers Esq., of Highfields, St Pauls, at All Saints Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church after Banns.
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Page updated Saturday July 14, 2007