Stone Street The Plough

No. 32 Stone Street (The Plough Inn)

The Plough and its neighbours, Nos. 34 - 36, formed part of The Half Moon property in 1810 - 1811, but thereafter had a history of separate ownership...In 1810 - 1811, John Jones and John Davies were rated for "a house of Mr Price", which either stood on this site or, possibly, on that of No. 38. The Rate Book of 1836 has two entries of "House, Garden and Building" in respect of this site, by then already separated from the Half Moon and in the ownership of David Price. One house was The Plough, the other stood where Nos. 34 - 36 stand now. The tithe roll of 1841 names Mary Price as the owner of the two houses but the rate book of the same year names another David Price. In 1846, the rate book describes the property as a house and two part houses. By 1866 there were three houses on the site, the present 32 - 36. William Price then owned The Plough while David Price, the same or another owned Nos. 34 and 36. The " (A-C Vol. 2 p 224)

According to A-C there were two taverns at the Old Town Hall between 1810 and 1811, "The Plow" (sic) and "The Greyhound". These had closed before 1826 but the names were later revived for public houses in Stone St. "The Plough came into being in 1835 where Thomas Jones figures as a beer retailer in Pigot's Directory. The house is first mentioned by name in the rate book of 1836. Thomas Jones was still licensee in 1868, according to Slater's Directory. He was apparently the mayor in 1858."

"The house on the site of Nos. 34 - 36 was occupied in 1836 by William Davies, dealer in earthenware."

Now this is where things get complicated. The first thing to say is that William Price Tynllwyn must have either conveyed these properties to his son Morgan Price Nantygweision before his (William's) death in 1799 because in his final will William bequeathed all his Llandovery property to his son Rev. John Price and we know that at least this included The Half Moon (see previous post). The alternative is that Rev. John Price conveyed them to Morgan after his father's death in 1799 and Morgan's death in 1804. This is less likely for Morgan is described earlier in the parish records as a freeholder. At any rate these properties formed part of his estate at the time of his death in 1804.

In Morgan Price Nantygweision's will of 1804 he bequeaths these properties to his brothers David Price Glasallt and Rev. John Price in trust for the benefit of his wife Gwenllian until her death when they are to be shared between two of his sons John and David. Morgan identifies the properties clearly in his will as "situate in Stone Street within the town and borough of Llandovery in the parish of Llandingat in the said county of Carmarthen and now in the several tenures or occupations of John Jones, cobler [sic.], William Jones, blacksmith, John Davies, earthenware man and Joseph Jones, taylor [sic.]"

At the time of Morgan's death his sons John Price (Tircyd) and David Price (Trawsllwynddu) were 22 and 19 years old respectively. Gwenllian died in 1844 at which time the properties passed to her sons John and David as Morgan had willed.

The Plough is identified in the will of his son John Price Tircyd in 1855. "The Plough and The Star in Stone Street Llandovery now in the occupations of Thomas Jones and David Thomas to my sons John, Rees and David."

Rev. John Price died in 1819 so in 1836 David Price Glasallt would have held the properties in trust pending Gwellian Price's death. He died in 1837 and so presumably the property would have passed to one of his children continuing to be held in trust until Gwenllian's death in 1844. The David and Mary Price mentioned in the rate book of 1841are difficult to identify. David Price Glasallt did indeed have a son David Price of Tynewydd Myddfai who could have held the property in trust after his father's death but the Mary must remain a mystery.

By1866 at least part of the properties identified in the will of John Price Tircyd had passed to his sons John (also of Tircyd), Rees Price Cwmnantyboidy and David Price. William of 1866 is difficult to identify unless the property had been sold or conveyed to another branch of the family.

The mention of The Star in John Price Tircyd's will is also problematic. The 1861 census records Thomas Jones as the Innkeeper of the Plough but there is no Star in Stone Street. However there is a public house called The Star or The Old Star which is associated with the Price family and this will be looked at in another post.

No. 38 Stone Street The Drovers Arms

A-C states "The house cannot be identified in the rate books of 1810 - 1811 unless it was "a house of Mr Price" then jointly tenanted by John Jones and John Davies, but the site of this house in uncertain. At that period the land on which No. 38 stands must have formed part of another property, either that of Rev. John Price and William Price to the South (30 - 36) or that of Samuel Price, Postmaster to the North (40 - 52). The Drovers Arms was already in existence and in business as a tavern by 1826."

(Samuel Price was the grandson of Thomas Price, mercer who had inherited a ‘moiety’ (part) of Stone St. properties with William Price Tynllwyn.)

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.

An Inheritance in Llandovery.

One of the intriguing aspects of William Price Tyllwyn's will is the revelation that he owned property in Llandovery. This is almost certainly what qualified him as a freeholder and the style Gent. and hence to have the right to vote.

A detailed history of many of the properties in Llandovery town was written and published by the Llandovery Civic Trust as “Pages from the history of Llandovery” by Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke in two volumes (1975 and reprint 1994). Arber-Cooke was the town clerk of Llandovery and had access to many historical records. This source, particularly Vol. 2, proved invaluable in many respects. The Appendix Notes of Vol. 2 actually contains a pedigree for William Price (although not correct in every detail). Mr. Arber-Cooke's detailed descriptions and histories of several Llandovery properties were particularly revealing. In the following paragraphs and subsequent posts I have quoted from Vol.2

Arber-Cooke's Pedigree of William Price

In his notes with reference to the Half Moon in Stone St., A-C writes “A pedigree of this branch of the Price family is printed here. It does not show how David Price of Glasallt was related to this family - he may have been another son of William Price of Tynyllwyn but was not baptised at Myddfai with the rest of William's children.”  (PFHL Vol2 p. 451)

(In fact A-C is correct that David Price of Glasallt does not appear in the parish register. For some reason the register page for 1755 has been (literally) cut short and the last baptismal entry is for 12 Oct 1755. However the Myddfai Bishop's Transcript for 1855 has the entry for 26 Oct 1755 - David son of William Price and Margaret. The fact that David was indeed one of William's sons is also confirmed by William's will and by a draft bond drawn up by his brother John which also identifies him as David Price of Glasallt Fawr. It is further confirmed by another son - Morgan Price's will of 1804 which mentions his brother David.)

A-C continues, “Neither does it show the link between this branch and that once headed by Thomas Price of Llandovery, mercer (d. 1796) who held another group of Stone Street properties. 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, came into the possession of John Rolley of Nantymwyn, probably when he married Rachel, daughter of Thomas Price, in 1779. This moiety is later found in the hands of one of Rachel's nephews, Samuel Price, Postmaster. Rachel and several other children of Thomas Price was baptised at Myddfai.”  This is an intriguing speculation based on information which I have not been able to trace. A-C gives no details of the source of his information regarding the legacies of the Stone Street properties and in spite of some research no will has been found. There may be some clues in the deeds of the relevant properties but access to this sort of information is difficult if not impossible. More information regarding Thomas Price, mercer, John Rollwy etc. will be provided in a later post.

 

The Pedigree

The pedigree provided for William Price Tynyllwyn is incomplete (it was almost certainly not intended to be complete) but it is also understandably inaccurate. Apart from the omission of David, the children are all shown. However, William Price Tynllwyn's son William (identified by A-C as William Price of Mothvey b. 1758 and hereafter identified by the same title for the sake of clarity) is shown as married to Magdalen who, in fact was his father's second wife. William of Mothvey was actually married to Elizabeth William at MPC in 1783 but died comparatively young in 1797 thus predeceasing his father. A-C correctly identifies William Price of Pentreoyn (Pentwyn) as the son of William Price of Mothvey.

Jane, the eldest daughter of William Tynllwyn (bp. 1750) is assumed by A-C to have married Benjamin Davies 3 May 1771 - this being the only marriage recorded for a Jane Price at Myddfai and she would have been of an appropriate age. However, at the time of William's will she was married to Rees John of Llanthoysant and at this time she had nine children. Some further research is required to clear this matter up but it is made difficult by the fact that most of the Llanddeusant Parish Records do not survive apart from the Bishop’s Transcripts.

Leaving aside the pedigree, A-C has painstakingly researched much of the history of individual properties in Llandovery and some relevant extracts are reproduced in the next post.

Notes: Mothvey is an old form of Myddfai. Llanthoysant is an old form of Llanddeusant (Church of Two Saints) a parish bordering Myddfai to the North West

Some Welsh meanings - Tynyllwyn = House in the Grove. Pentwyn - top of the mound.