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Notable Houses in and around Llanelli

Machynys

Machynys which is thought to date back to ancient times, is situated on flat ground on a headland, called Penrhyngwyn, about two miles south of Llanelli town centre, overlooking the estuary of the River Llwchwr and Llanrhidian Sands. The origin of the name has been open to dispute, with some maintaining that ‘Mach’ was a person, whilst others have suggested that it means the ‘Little Island’.

It is said that around 513 AD St Pizo, who was the first Abbot, founded a monastery at Machanis or Machunnis. A Charter in the Book of Llandaff, refers to a Synod which was held about the year 735 AD, when Gwgan ap Gwynon was excommunicated. In order to obtain a pardon, he had to cede ‘terra Machnis’, an area of 6 modi (about 54 acres), to the Church.

Tradition says the island is linked to Llanrhidian Church by a tunnel, but such a feat of engineering is unlikely, although it is possible that a path existed across the estuary, accessible at certain states of the tide. The precise route would have been a secret, which probably led to the suggestion that there was a tunnel.

In a lease of 1375, the farm of ‘Makeneys’ is described as being in the hundred of Llanethly, and the tenant Johan Wrenche agreed to pay the Exchequer of Kidwelly, £8 at the times of Easter and St Michael.

Another early 14th century reference to Machynys, occurs on the map produced by William Rees, where the location is marked as ‘Machennys’ and Morfa Mawr is marked ‘partly submerged’.

A Cistercian Monastery thought to have been built at Machynys was destroyed during the reign of Henry VIII, during the dissolution of the monasteries.

Note

When a young lad, Harold Harries of the Kidwelly Industrial Museum, recalls speaking to an old man he used to work with, who had at one time worked at Machynys Farm. The old man vividly remembered how one day when he had to go to the basement he saw a wall with an arched doorway that had been bricked up. The old man was convinced that this arched doorway was the entrance to a tunnel, that local tradition implied, led under the estuary to Gower. Harold’s opinion was that the tunnel only went to the shoreline when Machynys was an island and it was through this tunnel that the monks received their supplies by sea.

When Gerrard Bromley, surveyed the Duchy of Lancaster Lordships in Wales, around 1609, he reported that ‘they say there is a ffayre kepte within the sayd Borough of Llanelly aforesayd upon the XIX daye of September by the ffarmers of Bachynys and nowe by Harry Bowen ffarmer of the same’.

In 1612 a poet and dramatist wrote of ‘Her best beloved Isle Bachannis’, and at one time Machynys was described as an island, not far from Llanelly.

A Mansion House which was probably built in 1627, was a landmark for many years and according to the Royal Commission for Ancient Monuments, the property was purchased in 1627, by Walter Vaughan of Llanelly House. Also a document dated 1633, refers to ‘Maughinis’ being transferred from the Earl of Carbery and Richard Vaughan, to Walter Vaughan.

When Walter Vaughan died in 1635, he bequeathed the messuage of ‘Maughinis’ to his son and heir Francis Vaughan. In 1637, Francis Vaughan died, and the estate passed to his brother John Vaughan. Records show that in 1640 it was called ‘Machennys Iland’.

Machynys remained in the possession of the Vaughan family until the Deed of Partition of 1705, when the Llanelli Estate was divided between the Vaughan co-heiresses, Jemimah, Anne, Mary, and Margaret. One of the co-heiresses, Anne Vaughan married to Griffith Lloyd, and living at Cwmgwili, had inherited Machynys, under the terms of the Deed of Partition, and when she died in around 1706 or 1707, her Estate passed to her younger sister Margaret. Since Margaret had married Sir Thomas Stepney, 5th Baronet, Machynys, with other properties, passed to the Stepney family and remained in the hands of their descendants until the 20th century.

Described on a 1754 map as ‘Machynis, Stepney, Baronet’ the Mansion House was a large double-pile edifice, which was very prominent when viewed from the sea.

A ‘Plan of Directions for Ships to come in safe into Burry’ drawn by William Jones of Loughor in 1757, shows ‘Machynys House, as belonging to Sir Thos Stepney Baronet, a seat on high land yet an Island on Spring Tides’ as a landmark for sailors.

The house was lived in from time to time by members of the Stepney family, and several of their portraits adorned its walls.

The Mansion House was turned into a farmhouse and in the Stepney Estate Book of 1761, it is described as ‘Machynis farm’, 228 acres, with Mr Morris tenant, and shows the house and grounds surrounded by water. It is also known that when Sir John Stepney 8th Baronet inherited the property it was described as being a farm.

In May 1795 the farm was advertised for sale, and described as ‘Machynis Mansion House and Island, a small island of 209 acres, adjoining the Bay of Bury in the River Loughor, has formerly been a Residence of a Gentleman’s Family, and the Mansion House (which is a substantial building) may be made habitable at no great Expense.'

In 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars, the importance of the headland became evident, when the gentlemen of Llanelly and neighbourhood, contemplated entering into a subscription for purchasing six 24-pounders to be placed on Machynys Point to safeguard the navigation of the Burry River

In 1807, Carmarthenshire’s first Enclosure Act was passed, which gave the Burgesses of Llanelli the power to enclose ‘Y Morfa Mawr’, the Great Marsh which lay to the east of Machynys.

As a result of the ‘Act of Inclosure’, there were two major alterations, namely, the Great Embankment, from Penrhyngwyn Point to Maesarddafen, which was started in June 1808, and the Dafen River, which was diverted from its southward meandering course, into a new channel, flowing westwards into Machynys Pool.

Machynys, was described as having a fine walled garden, and there is a reference to Machynys in a manuscript entitled ‘Pictures at the Dell, Llanelly’, by Sir Emile Arthur Keppel Cowell Stepney, the last Baronet of the second creation, who lived at the Dell. Sir Emile, described how his father remembered an avenue of trees which began at the shrubbery of Llanelly House and led almost unbroken, all the way to Machynys, which had been the eldest son’s house. Sir Emile also recalled that when Sir John (Stepney) his father’s uncle took over the property, the House was turned into a farm.

A long low building attached to the main building was used as a milking shed in the 20th century. The tall chimney was said to be of Scandinavian design but the large fireplace was not used after the building had been converted into a milking shed.

The house was thought to be very old, and a Mr Jeremiah Williams also recalled that the date he saw on the rafters was AD 1450. A traveller in 1815 called Machynys ‘an old seat of the Stepneys’, and during 1817 when work was carried out to deepen the Dafen River, workmen found a stag’s horn 13 feet below the surface supposed ‘to have lain there since the Deluge’.

Lord Cholmondeley, (a friend of Sir John Stepney 8th Baronet) and life-tenant of the Llanelli Stepney estate died in 1827, when the estate passed to William Chambers who is said to have been responsible for having the old avenue cut down – selling the trees for timber.

A map of Llanelli of the 1830’s gives a detailed view of Machynys farm, its fields, its drains and its bulwark. During the 1830s the western beach was known as the Sker, which was a sand dune system extending southwards around the nose.

In 1841 the farm was leased by Williams, Nevill, Druce and Dewas from William Chambers, and on a plan attached to the lease, field names were given. The narrow coastal strip is called ‘The Warren’. The plan provides an insight into the landscape which was altered almost beyond recognition within 40 years.

When the ‘Island’ had been united to the mainland, it began to provide an area for industrial use, and played its part in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. Even in 1841 there was evidence of some industry. One field was called Cae bricks (Brickfield) and another area was named Pwll y Bricks (The Brick Pit).

The industrial take-off of the area can be traced by the leases granted by the Stepney Estate on the lands of Machynys.

1851 Sawmills

1854 Brickworks

1863 Chemical Works

1867 Arsenic Works

1870 Tinplate Works

1872 Ironworks, Rolling, Mills, Reservoirs & Workers Cottages

In 1882 a petition to re-apportion the tithes due on Machynys shows how rapidly the land use changed:

Arable and pasture 136 acres 66%

Brickyards 47 acres 22 %

Tinplate Works 8 acres 4 %

Iron and Steel 11 acres 5%

Coal Yards 2 acres 1 %

Chemical Works 2 acres 1%

In October 1886 a dangerous combination of a high incoming tide and strong gale led to the sea breaching the embankments, which then inundated a large area. During the violent storm the offices of the Machynys brickworks were blown down and the roof was said to be floating for hours.

An Ordnance Survey of 1900 shows that kilns were sited on the northern side of the area and a series of tramways led southwards towards to clay reserves, in an area which is now open water, but used to be a deep claypit. It is possible that the claypits became water filled as a result of the devastating storm. The lands used as claypits by the Machynys Brick & Tile Company, extended southwards from the area occupied by the former BSC Foundry. The Brick & Tile Company must have encountered problems with drainage, because a windmill had been installed to pump water.

There is some evidence of wrecking at Machynys, and James Lane Bowen recorded a story in 1895, of a servant girl who was sent to the top of a cliff with a lantern, so that a ship might be drawn on to the rocks below. The servant girl inadvertently set some gorse bushes alight, which alerted the vessel’s crew to their peril. Later the poor servant girl was found with her throat cut, and, according to the story, her ghost haunted the spot for some years.

According to tradition Machynys is also supposed to be haunted by a mad Monk – this tale probably dates to the time of the dissolution of the monasteries.

A newspaper report of 26 January 1952, reported the proposed opening of the new Machynys Foundry and Engineering Works, covering 12 acres of land, near the South Wales Steelworks and Trostre Cold Reduction Plant, being the largest and most modern in Wales. The new Works which was designed to replace Nevill’s Foundry at the Wern, was planned to undertake any kind of breakdown or maintenance job that was required in any of the associated works of Richard Thomas & Baldwin, or the Steel Company of Wales.

Machynys Farm as it came to be known, which once stood opposite Cliff Terrace, a grand Mansion House in its heyday, was finally demolished in 1970.

References

Historic Carmarthenshire Homes and Their Families, Francis Jones, Brawdy Books 1997.

RCAM in Wales and Monmouthshire 351, p. 120