Trebeddrod

Notable Houses in and around Llanelli

Trebeddrod – c. 284 - c. 1866

also known as Trebedded and Trebeddod

Tradition suggests that Tydu near Trebeddrod, was the site of an ancient battlefield where Ancient Britons encountered a Roman Legion in the reign of Diocletian 284-305, the last Great Roman Emperor.

Between 1318-19 Trebeddrod was said to be the ‘Chief House’ of Morris Castle (Mores Castle), who had married the daughter and heiress of Sir John Wiltshire (Walshall) constable of Dinefwr Castle. Both Trebeddrod and New Castle belonged to Morris Castle, and deeds of 1318-32, show that some of his descendants adopted the Welsh form of nomenclature (ap), whilst others retained the name Castle.

When Morris Castle died, his youngest son Willcock held Trebeddrod, which then passed to his youngest son John Willcocks. John Willcocks had two sons, William and John, and Sir Thomas Rhys ap Thomas, supporter of Henry Tudor, agreed that the older son William, who was in his service should have Trebeddrod. However a dispute arose between William and John Willcocks, the great grandsons of Morris Castle and the younger brother John evicted the older brother William.

Sir Rees ap Thomas (d. 1525), who was described as a ‘Great Commander and Chief Ruler,’ came to Llanelli and upheld William’s claim, threatening to hang John from the nearest tree if he tried to evict his brother again.

After Sir Rhys ap Thomas had settled the dispute between the brothers William and John Willcocks, to prevent further aggression from John, Sir Rhys ap Thomas gave William £5 in mortgage, for the lands in the presence of witnesses. Immediately after the witnesses had gone, Sir Rhys ap Thomas received his mortgage money back, and from that time, the family were allowed to live rent free at Trebeddrod, during the lifetime of Sir Rhys ap Thomas, his son Sir Gruffydd ap Rees, and his son Rhys ap Gruffydd who was executed for treason in 1531.

Some time later, John Vaughan, eldest son of Huw Vaughan, Keeper and Receiver of the lands in Kidwelly, confiscated from Rhys ap Gruffydd in 1531, by Henry VIII, bought Trebeddrod from the King. However, upon hearing that Ellen William, wife of Mores Dd Mores, daughter and heir of William Willcocks, had received the estate from Sir Rhys ap Gruffydd, John Vaughan obtained a release from her, by paying ‘a bushel pilcorne, or some small trifle’.

When John Vaughan died in 1574, his estates including Trebeddrod, passed to his eldest son Walter Vaughan, whose third son Henry Vaughan (c. 1586-1660) married Sage of Derwydd near Llandybie.

Henry Vaughan’s daughter, Mary Phillips, married John Mansel, who was the first Mansel to live at Stradey, which Estate included Trebeddrod, and then formed part of the Derwydd Estate.

John Mansel died in 1655 during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1653-58) and his son Henry Mansel who had married Frances Stepney inherited the Stradey Estate. The same year there was a devastating plague, similar to that of 1348-49, when many local people died. Tradition relates that townspeople belonging to the Catholic faith were not allowed to bury their dead in the local Parish Church, and were forced to bury their loved ones in a communal grave at Tydu near Trebeddrod.

The literal translation of Tydu is Black House, Tre is Home, Homestead or Town, and Beddrod is Tomb, or Sepulchre, and local tradition suggests that this is how the area acquired the name Black House and Town Grave.

Around 1672, Sir Henry Vaughan of Derwydd, granted his grandson Edward Mansel, the only son of Henry and Frances, the Stradey Estate ‘Forever’. The Estate which included Trebeddrod stayed in the Mansel Family until Mary Martha Ann Margaret Mansel died childless in 1808 and left her Estates to her Solicitor Thomas Lewis of Llandeilo.

In the 18th century Trebeddrod was a farm, which formed part of the Stradey Estate that Thomas Lewis the Solicitor from Llandeilo, had inherited from Mary Martha Ann Margaret Mansel.

Alexander Raby, the English industrialist, who came to Llanelli in the late 1790s, is known to have obtained a leasehold interest in Trebeddrod Farm from Thomas Lewis, later known as Squire of the Stradey Estate. Raby, and his son Arthur Turnour Raby, faced financial ruin around 1821, when he was forced to relinquish his interest in Trebeddrod, and many of his other interests in the town.

Thomas Lewis, Squire of Stradey died in 1829 and his Estate passed to his son David Lewis, who was also known as Squire of Stradey. During their financial crisis the Raby Family was extended assistance by the Nevills, under the auspices of the Copperworks Company. However, Alexander Raby’s 27 year involvement in Llanelli Iron and Coal Industries ceased in November 1830.

When he left the area in 1830, Alexander Raby went to live at Burcott House, near Wells in Somerset, where he died in 1835 aged 88 or 89.

By 1853 land at Trebeddrod Farm owned by David Lewis, Squire of Stradey, was used as a brickworks and the Board of Health decided to construct a reservoir at Trebeddrod, and approached Lewis – with a view to purchasing the land including the brickworks. The brickworks was demolished, a plantation was cut down, and a ‘fine fishery’ was destroyed. Construction of the reservoir, estimated to have a capacity of 8,000,000 gallons of water, cost £15,000, which sum included land purchase and pipe laying.

By 1859, the reservoir at Trebeddrod was insufficient for the needs of the growing town, and the Board of Health were repeatedly asked to find a solution to the problem of water shortage.

In 1866, after a cholera epidemic which shocked the Board of Health into action, they decided to build another reservoir at Quarry Mawr at Cwm Lliedi.

References

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

The Carmarthenshire Antiquary, Vol. XVIII 1982. Ed.W H Morris.

Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society & Field Club (1918-21) 14.

Inventory of the County of Carmarthen 349, p. 119.