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.