Stone Street The Half Moon

Heol Cerrig (Stone Street).
 

"The Price properties had evidently constituted a single block, the sites of the present Nos. 30 - 52. One moiety [share], now represented by Nos. 30 - 36, descended to William Price of Tynyllwyn........ The other, where Nos. 38 - 52 now stand......" Arber-Cooke


 Stone Street today. No. 30 (green) was the Half Moon
with 32 The Plough next door.

In the last post I noted that A-C does not cite any evidence for the above statement but on the basis of the quality of the rest of his work I find it hard to believe that somewhere such evidence does not exist.  In the following descriptions quoted from A-C it should be remembered that Stone St. has even numbers on one side and odd on the other and that around 1800 many of the properties seen today did not exist.

The Half Moon No.30 Stone Street

The small round window in the gable originally contained a board with a crescent moon when it was a public house.

“The history of The Half Moon is told in the deeds of the house. At the end of the 18th century the owner was William Price of Tynllwyn in the parish of Myddfai, gentleman, who bequeathed the house, with other property, between two of his sons - the eldest, the Rev. John Price of Tynllwyn, and a younger, William Price of Mothvey. The latter died, leaving a son, William Price of Pentreoyn [Pentwyn], Myddfai, gentleman. On the 28th May 1818, the Rev. John Price conveyed the premises to his nephew, William Price of Pentreoyn, by Lease of Possession and, on the following day, by Release and Confirmation,

William Price (Pentreoyn) remained the owner until his death in 1859. By will dated 19 Feb 1859 in which he is described as William Price of Porthyrhyd, Mothvey, farmer, he divided his property between his five sons: Morgan Price of Porthyrhyd, Cilycwm, farmer, his sole executor; John Price, Middlesboro' on Tees, Yorkshire, railman, Daniel Price, 3, King St. Bloomsbury, Middlesex, carpenter; David Price, 21, King St. Bloomsbury, draper; and Rees Price of Myddfai, farmer. By indenture dated 10th August 1860 the four younger brothers released The Half Moon to Morgan Price, then described as of Vanfach, Myddfai, farmer. On the 8th January 1865 Morgan Price sold The Half Moon to Rowland Williams of Cefnllan, Llanfairarybryn for £300., the purchaser to retain £30 to satisfy legacies of the late William Price not discharged.” (A-C Vol.2 p222]

It may well be that A-C had access to an earlier will of William Price Tynllwyn because as can be seen from his final will, his younger son William predeceased him by 2 years. Ultimately William Price left his Llandovery property to his eldest son John. I can only assume that A-C had access to the deeds of the Half Moon when he tells us that John Price conveyed the property to his nephew, William Pentwyn, the son of William of Mothvey, in 1818 just over a year before John died.

The description of William Price of Porthyrhyd could be confusing (since there was a Portyrhyd in Myddfai).  However it is simply the case that William Price Pentwyn ended his days with his son Morgan Price who was indeed living in the village of Porthyrhyd, Cilycwm at the time of his father's death. Pentwyn continued to be farmed by William Price Pentwyn's youngest son Rees Price.