Vaughans of Llwydiarth
The founder of this tribe
Celynin ap RIRID is said to
have fled from South Wales after killing the mayor of Carmarthen. He was a descendant of Aleth the King of Dyfed. A tradition in
the family has it that his home in South Wales was either burnt by the Normans or by some hostile chieftan of the neighbourhood.
Gwladus, his mother, the daughter of Richard, Lord of Dinas Certhin, was obliged to flee and gave birth to Celynin under a
holly bush i.e "Celynen". The aformentioned story explains why he was baptised Celynin; and from this also the crest of the family,
a goat browsing a holly bush, is said to be derived.
Celynin's first wife was Gwladus, heiress of Llwydiarth,
who descended on both sides from the princes of Powis. In 1340 Celynin's son, Einion, had a grant of Weston,
in the ville of
Pennyarth in Glannynoc, from John de Charleton. Gwenllian, Einion's wife, is said to have been the daughter of Adda ap Meuric, who was the rector of
Meifod in 1265.
Celynin's great great grandson,
Gruffudd ap JENKIN,
was a supporter of Owain Glyndwr and was pardoned by Edward de Charleton, Lord of Powys, in 1420. Lewis Glyn Cothi (1447-1486) the great
Welsh bard does not refer to the Llwydiarth family, implying that they did not come into prominence until Tudor times.
The Vaughans were persistently quarrelling with the Herbert family thus explaining why no member of the Llwydiarth family
became an MP for Montgomeryshire, and that only one became a Sheriff of Montgomeryshire, being
John ap Owen VAUGHAN in 1583. The date 1577 is probably the year
when
John ap Owen VAUGHAN installed the thirty armorial
shields canopy placed over the Vaughan pew in the church of Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa, Montgomeryshire; the canopy was later
transferred to the Wynnstay Chapel at Ruabon, Wrexham.
The first connection with the
Vaughans of Glanllyn was brought about following the marriage of
Dorothy VAUGHAN the daughter of
Howell VAUGHAN of Glanllyn with
Sir John VAUGHAN of Llwydiarth; she was the sister of
John VAUGHAN of Glanllyn, Sheriff of Merionethshire
in 1594.
Sir John VAUGHAN's son
Owen VAUGHAN married
Catherine, sole heir of Morrice ap ROBERT, of Llangedwyn, by whom he had five sons, including
Sir Robert VAUGHAN who married
Catherine HERBERT,
daughter of William HERBERT, 1st Lord Powis; the Llangedwyn estate thus came into the possesion of the Vaughans of Llwydiarth
In 1622
Sir Robert VAUGHAN conveyed the Llwydiarth Estate by deed for the benefit of his brothers
Edward VAUGHAN, Rowland and Charles VAUGHAN (and their heirs) because of disaffection with his wife Catherine HERBERT. When
Robert VAUGHAN
died in 1624 there arose a bitter dispute which became a
cause celebre.
Robert VAUGHAN's
widow and later her son
Herbert VAUGHAN
laid claim to the estate; the litigation came to end many years later on Herbert's death in 1650.
Edward VAUGHAN (1600-1661) left
the Llwydiarth Estate in trust to his nephew Charles SALUSBURY and sister Dorothy VAUGHAN for the benefit
of any male heirs of his brother Rowland VAUGHAN, should he marry. If no such heirs were produced the estate was to go to the
male heirs of Howell VAUGHAN of Glanllyn, 'succesively one after another as they shall happen to be in seniorite'.
Eventually the Llwydiarth estate was inherited by
Eleanor VAUGHAN's grandson,
being
Edward VAUGHAN of Glanllyn.
Edward VAUGHAN the son of
Howell VAUGHAN reunited the
Vaughans of Glanllyn and Llwydiarth by marrying
Mary PURCELL,
daughter of
John PURCELL of Nantcribba and
Eleanor VAUGHAN
daughter and heiress of
Sir Robert VAUGHAN of Llwydiarth
and Llangedwyn.

The above drawing of Llwydiarth (now demolished), was taken from the Duke of Beaufort's ‘Progress’ (1684) after
Edward VAUGHAN of Glanllyn took occupancy of Llwydiarth. Beaufort comments that over
the entrance to the quadrangle were the crest, "a wolf's head earsed",
and the arms, vert, a chevron, between three wolf's heads, erased argent, of the Vaughans of Glanllyn. Llwydiarth is located in the parish of Llanfinhangel-yng-Ngwynfa, six miles from the market town of Llanfyllin (in the former county of Montgomeryshire).
The estates of Llwydiarth, Llangedwyn and Glanllyn were inherited by
Anne Josephine VAUGHAN,
daughter of
Edward VAUGHAN of Glanllyn; she married
Sir Watkin WILLIAMS WYNN 3rd bart of Wynnstay in 1715.
Anne Josephine VAUGHAN
died in 1748 with no surviving issue.;
Sir Watkin WILLIAMS WYNN 4th bart was the first borne of the second marriage of
Sir Watkin WILLIAMS WYNN 3rd bart with
Francis SHACKERLEY; therefore, he wasn't a direct descendant of the Vaughans of Glanllyn and Llwydiarth.
In 1947, Sir Watkin WILLIAMS WYNN (1891-1949) 8th bart sold the Llwydiarth estate.
The male line of the Lloyds of Dolobran was descended from
Deio ap LLEWELYN
of Llwydiarth. The family of Lloyd of Dolobran, in the parish of Meifod, Montgomeryshire, distinguished itself in the annals of the
Quakers in Wales, in the iron industry, in the banking world and in public administration in the
United States and the British Empire. In 1765,
Sampson LLOYD co-founded Taylor and Lloyds Bank in Birmingham;
this is the bank which became Lloyds Bank, and then Lloyds TSB.
Captain Rowland VAUGHAN the famous poet and royalist who lived at Caergai,
Llanuwchllyn was a great grandson of
Owen VAUGHAN of Llwydiarth.
Robert Vaughan of Llwynhir (d 1662) - who was married to Gwen Bynner - was a descendant of
Dafydd Llwyd ap DAFYDD of Glanllyn and
Lowri ferch HOWELL VAUGHAN of Llwydiarth.
Lowri ferch HOWELL VAUGHAN was a grandaughter of
Hywel ap GRUFFUDD of Llwydiarth and
Margaret ferch Ieuan ap OWAIN of Neuaddwen.
Robert VAUGHAN's great granddaughter
Gwen JONES (b. 1711) married
Oliver JONES (b. 1710) of Coedtalog, Llanerfyl.
Oliver and
Gwen JONES's
granddaugther
Mary JONES married
Robert JONES (b. 1781) of Neuaddwen.
References:
Society of the Cymmrodorion (1953),
The Welsh Biographer up to 1940, Williams Lewis (Publishers), Cardiff.
Rev. W V Lloyd (1881),
Description of the Armorial Insignia of the Vaughans of Llwydiarth, T. Richards, London.