The Lost Cottages - Penrallt Inco, Llanrhychwyn Parish

High up on the hill above Trefriw, where the ground levels a little and slopes gently up to Llyn Cowlyd, sits the cottage of Penrallt Inco. For the name I'm using the form found on the 1888-1913 map, because various accounts have it as Penrallt Inco, Penrallt Ynco, Pen’ralltdinco, and Tanrallt Digwm. Rather ominously, the majority of the information about the place comes from newspaper reports in 1877 about a possible murder, and the crime of sending threatening letters.

 

The house is at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 77140 65761, directly on a public footpath that leads down to the valley.

 

Walking down towards Penrallt Inco from the road. Formerly a track would have passed the house, but there is little to no evidence of this now. The track is remembered in the line of the public footpath.

 

Penrallt Inco can be seen at the centre of this section of the 1888-1913 Ordnance Survey map, with an established track running down from the now-metalled road above, all the way to the valley floor near Dolgarrog. Not far away is Tyddyn Wilym, erstwhile home to Gwilym Cowlyd, a noted local poet. Nothing appears to remain of his home under modern barns.

 

The house of Penrallt Inco is so lost in a jungle of bracken and overhanging trees that it's almost impossible to decipher. The map above shows two distinct buildings, and there's an implication in records that an older house was abandoned for a newer one - a 1907 newspaper article states  'Pen'rallt (now re-built), thirty years ago was a dilapidated farm', but I found nothing more modern looking than boulder-built structures on the site. This may be the most recent structure, since it's shown as roofed on the map above, but it has obviously been abandoned for a long time. However, the vegetation was so thick I could have missed a mansion a few yards away.

 

 

 There are some walls possibly forming a yard or small outbuilding at the end of the house.

I hadn't been particularly aware of this ruin until I read the reminiscences of John Owen from the early twentieth century, when he lists various houses of yr Allt Wyllt, and comes to a house called Lletty. Owen writes:  

 

Lletty. – This is a cottage situated close to Gwyndy, where Mr. John and Mrs. Catherine Roberts lived. They had two sons, named Robert and Rhys. This Catherine Roberts was a maid servant at “Pen’ralltdinco” at the time of the disappearance of the old maid “Jane Griffiths” (otherwise called “Siani Siag”). This unusual incident created a great disturbance in the Valley. Jane Griffiths was a house-keeper to a farmer. One day the house-keeper disappeared. The police were informed, and a careful search was made throughout the district. Bloodhounds were used, and divers engaged to search the lakes and ponds of the district, but no trace of the old lady was found.

 

Newspaper accounts of the incident expand the facts. Jane Griffiths was actually Jane Owen, forty-five, working in 1877 as housekeeper for a farmer named David Robert Griffith. She was evidently something more than housekeeper, since she had supposedly given birth to two children fathered by Griffith, one which died and one which was adopted by a family in England. She was possibly pregnant at the time of her disappearance.

 

At around five in the morning of 19th April she had given her notice to Griffith, after working for him for four years, and left the house. Supposedly she had £120 with her, paid to her by Griffith; £48 for her six mountain ponies and possibly some sheep, £30 to clear a mortgage she had on the farm, and the rest debts due to her from neighbours. Griffith seems to have told police either that she was met by a man, or that he last saw her alone at a stile some three hundred yards from the house, in the direction of Rowen. Other reports, however, state that she was a cripple on crutches, and unable to walk far. They also say that she was a bad tempered woman, and the relationship between the two was often stormy.

 

After Griffith reported her missing, sixty men aided in the search. Searches continued for some time, with cliffs being scaled, lakes being dragged, and bloodhounds used, but all to no avail. Jane Owen was never seen again.

 

 

 This may be the end of the house which housed the fireplace, looking at the amount of collapsed rubble at this end. The place looks like it would have been a traditional cottage, possible a crogloft, with a large inglenook fireplace at this end.

 

The story concerning Jane Owen became more complicated when David Robert Griffith was arrested the following May for sending a threatening letter. He was described as an intelligent man, an avid reader who could read and write in both Welsh and English. He was known as a farrier and for his understanding animal disorders. It's said that he was a kind neighbour, but not if his enmity were roused. Neighbour Gwilym Cowlyd stated that he carried a gun with him when he walked in the area for fear of him.

 

Allegedly Griffith had written a letter in September 1876 to Edward Elias of Gorswen, near Rowen. The letter (translated from Welsh by the newspaper) read:

 

Edward Elias. – Sir, – If you don’t get the wife of Cowlyd to divide the sheep that are between her and Moses Ardda, we shall destroy you all, and kill you, as the Lord liveth, and shall destroy all that she has as well. Moses, Tynwyd, Dolgarrog, must divide also or else we shall fire him into flames to the devil, like Griffith Rowlyn. Moses is stealing our sheep fearfully, and if you don’t make them up without delay, you shall see something fearful in haste. Send a man to Cowlyd without delay, or else take your chance. – Rebecca and children.

It seems that the letter was designed to incriminate one of Griffith's neighbours, Moses of Ardda, against whom Griffith bore a grudge because Moses had been telling people that Griffith's son was the father of his servant girl's child.

 

Moses Thomas of Ardda, Dolgarrog parish, was 41 in the 1871 census, living with wife Anne, 35, and son William, 4. By 1881 they had two more children, Mary Jane, 8, and Grace, 3. Griffith Rowlyn was likely Griffith Williams of Rowlyn Uchaf, 74 in 1881, and, if my conclusions about Jane Owen are correct, living on the same site as Jane's family - there are two entries for Rowlyn Ucha in the censuses of this time. I haven't identified Tynwyd, or the 'wife of Cowlyd,' who is named as 'Mrs Edwards', 'formerly Mrs Jones of Cowlyd' in a newspaper report. Who 'Rebecca and children' are in all this is also unknown. The only Rebeccas I can find in the surrounding parishes live in Maen y Bardd township, which covers the Rowen area.

 

Griffith denied the charges put to him, but by July he was serving 18 months hard labour in Caernarfon Gaol for the offence. Whether he returned to Penrallt Inco is unknown, but had certainly moved on by the 1881 census, and he died about twelve years later, in George Street, Llanrwst. Supposedly his house was looked after by a man, Robert Davies, as no woman could come near him. His death is recounted by Davies in a 1907 newspaper article: 

 

Bu yn wael am rai wythnosau cyn marw. Holasom lawer ar Robert Davies a oedd David Griffith wedi dadlenu rhywbeth yn nghylch diwedd “Shian,” ac y mae geiriau yr hen wr pert a duwiol yn fyw ar ein cof – “Marw mawr, welwch chwi! ie wir, marw mawr! Faswn i ddim yn licio marw yr un fath: na faswn wir! Be ydi ‘dihofryd,’ deudwch?” –  “‘Diofryd,’ ydych yn ei feddwl?” – “Ie, dyna fo reit siwr. Yr oedd o (David Griffith), yn fy nhyngu ar ‘ddiofryd’ na nawn i ddim deyd ei fod o wedi deud wrtha i mau y fo ddaru.”

(Unfortunately my Welsh isn't good enough to translate this accurately, but Ann Corkett has kindly translated it:

 

He was ill for some weeks before he died. We questioned Robert Davies a lot as to whether David Griffith had revealed something about “Shian”’s end, and the (?)pleasant/dapper and Godly old man’s words live in our memory – “A (?)frightful death, you see! yes indeed, a frightful death! I would not like to die like that; I wouldn’t indeed! What is ‘dihofryd’, tell me?” – “Do you mean ‘diofryd’ (oath)?” – “Yes, that’s it I’m sure. He (David Griffith) swore me on oath that I wouldn’t tell that he had told me that he did it.”)

Trees are collapsed over the building, making it even harder to explore.

Jane Owen's story resurfaced a couple of times in local newspapers after the excitement of Griffth's trial died down. In 1881 a woman living at Aber Llyn, between Llanrhychwyn and Betws y Coed, saw some children playing with tresses of grey hair near a small stream near Llyn Parc. She took little notice, until she realised the hair appeared to have scalp attached. After she raised the alarm, the lake was investigated by a diver from Holyhead, who thought he saw some bones. The lake was then dragged, and bones discovered, but nothing conclusive was proven.

 

In 1907 the story came to the fore again, when bones were found near Coedty, Dolgarrog, about three quarters of a mile from Penrallt Inco. John Williams, working for the Aluminium Works in Dolgarrog, was blasting with some other men when he discovered bones hidden under a slab in a hole in the rocks. Although some of the bones crumbled to dust, a piece of skull and a left thigh bone were identified. These were examined by a doctor and said to be from a small person, who showed signs of rickets.

Perhaps modern DNA examination could have told us who the bones belonged to. As it is, there's no way of telling if these were the bones of Jane Owen. Perhaps more interestingly, if the bones found in Llyn Parc were from a different person, there are the remains of at least two unsolved deaths in the hills.

There are, of course, multiple possibilities for Jane Owen's disappearance. The obvious thought is that she was murdered by her employer, an apparently vindictive man who struck fear into the hearts of his neighbours. But she was supposedly leaving his house with a large sum of money. If she did meet a man, as Griffith claimed, this man could have killed her for her money. She could have left alone, pregnant and disabled, and met by some kind of accident. She could have crawled into shelter in the rocks near Coedty if the weather had turned bad - a distinct possibility in a Welsh April - and died there. There is nothing conclusive about this story except that she is certainly dead by now.

 

 At the opposite end to the fireplace, there are curious suggestions of a blocked up opening in this end wall - unusual since doors and windows are commonly in the long walls at right angles to the fireplace, rather than in the short wall facing it, unless leading through to another part of the building. There was so much bracken and growth that the layout was very hard to discern. Winter would be a better time for exploring.

 

The dog rose rambling over the walls seems to speak something of domestication in this area.

 

 

 More fallen tree limbs obscuring the view of the site.

 

At first I had thought I couldn't find Penrallt Inco in the censuses, except for in the 1911 census, where it's listed in Llanrhychwyn parish as being uninhabited. The map boundaries would seem to indicate the house was in Llanrhychwyn parish, and should fall somewhere near Tyddyn Wilym and others in the area. However, in earlier censuses the house appears in the Trefriw parish census. In 1841, the first preserved census, the place is lived in by farmers Robert and Margaret Griffith, 55 and 50 respectively, and their twenty year old son David - the David Robert Griffith of the story above. Interestingly, under 'place of birth' in the 1851 census all three are down as simply 'British Subject.' I'm not sure what conclusions to draw from this but perhaps it indicates a reluctance to give information to the census taker. It's only in this census that the house is named as Penrallt Inco. In all others it is simply Penrallt.

By 1861 the census says that all three were born in Trefriw. Robert, now 74, is a farmer of 72 acres, and his and Margaret's son still lives with them. In this and the previous census David - now down as 'David R.' - is listed as married, but no wife ever appears.

By 1871 Robert Griffith is widowed, aged 84, and blind of old age, but he's still listed as a farmer of 62 acres. Although he's lost his wife the household has expanded. David R., now 52, is still living with his father, but Robert's grandson 'R. D' - presumably the son of David Robert mentioned as impregnating a servant girl in one of the newspaper reports - is also living there. At the age of 18, he's listed as a scholar, which is relatively unusual for a boy of that age in this era. David Robert is also marked as widowed at this point. The other two household members are Robert Davis, a 49 year old labourer visiting the property, and Ellenor Jones, a 20 year old servant. All are listed as having been born in Trefriw.

It's after this that the property disappears from the records, apart from the one mention of it as uninhabited in the 1911 census. It would be harder to distinguish from other Penrallts once the family left the property because there's no continuity, but I don't believe it appears. Presumably in this time Jane Owen has come to work for David Robert Griffith, and perhaps servant Ellenor had moved on. The implication in the newspaper reports is that his son still lives with him - they speak of David Robert visiting neighbours along with his son. It seems likely that the place was lived in until David Robert Griffith was committed to prison in 1877, and perhaps then abandoned.

In the 1881 census David Griffith, 62, and son Robert D Griffith, 28, are both living in Pandy, Trefriw, as two of six boarders of William and Margaret Evans. David is of independent means, while his son is a labourer.

 

As for other records - David Robert Griffith was baptised in the Llanrwst Tabernacle chapel, the son of Robert and Margaret Griffith of Berthllwyd, Llanrhychwyn, on 5th February, 1818, having been born on 23rd January. He’s listed in the Trefriw parish burials as David Griffith of George Street, Llanrwst, buried 24th November, 1888, aged 70. A probate report for 14th December, 1888 tells us that his personal estate on death was worth £213 11s 6d. He is described as ‘Veterinary Surgeon a Widower who died 21 November 1888 at 4 George-street’, and administration was granted to Robert David Griffith of 63 Dorrit-street off Park-road Liverpool, ‘Railway Checker the Son and only Next of Kin.’

There's so little information about Jane Owen that she is impossible to trace conclusively. The implication in the newspaper reports seems to be that she was local, and there is a Jane Owen of the right age living in Rowlyn Ucha from the 1841 through to the 1861 censuses, the daughter of Anne Owen, a widowed farmer. In 1861 she is still unmarried at the age of 29. Rowlyn Ucha is relatively close to Penrallt Inco, so perhaps this is the right person. Her family offered money for news of her fate, so it's obvious that she still had a concerned family around her at the time of her disappearance.

Another view of the end wall, although it's hard to see in the photo what looked like a blocked up opening.

 

Another titbit from the John Owen accounts perhaps suggests an origin for the house name of Penrallt Inco.  "Dolygarrog- This place took its name from Carrawg Ynyr, The plain was called Dol Carrawg and the cliff above is Clogwyn Ynyr, which in later times became known as the Inco Cliff. Tradition has it that it was in a farmhouse at the top of this cliff that Inigo Jones, the famous builder, devoted himself to his English expedition during the Civil War."

I hopes this cut wood might be something remaining of the original timbers, but it was just a rotting pallet.

What seems to be a small, crude window.

This is possibly another small window, now blocked.

Looking back towards what may have been the fireplace.

Just outside the structure, a narrow doorway through the ruined walls.

The corner of the house is roughly built, but the stones are quite large.

Possibly a blocked up doorway or window in one of the ruined walls of a chamber built onto the end of the house.

One of the small windows in the end chamber.

Another small window. If the later structure was built in the late Victorian, this seems like a very old-fashioned building for the time.

It's clear to see that this structure was built onto the end of the house at a separate time, and is of a more crude construction than the mortared house wall it abuts.

A last look at the area which may be the newer building.

These conifers are typical of the area around these upland houses, where ruins are often marked by conifers of various types, presumably planted by the inhabitants as wind breaks or for fuel.

Curiously, there are telegraph poles and wires leading past the house. The wires have been brought down by fallen trees, but none of the structure looks terribly old.

A view of the second structure on the site, a little further up the hill, which may simply be outbuildings, or an older house abandoned or turned into outbuildings when the newer one was built. Still, nothing at all looks more modern about either structure, so it could be that the accounts I've read are misleading.

There's not much to see here apart from tumbled, moss covered walls.

 

The view along the structure possibly shows a doorway to the right, but, like the other, there is so much vegetation and ruin that it's hard to decipher.

Leaving the house, the problems of exploring this one are obvious. The bracken is chest high and almost impenetrable. A winter visit is definitely warranted.

The Lost Cottages - Coed Sadwrn, Dolgarrog Parish

Coed Sadwrn is a rather interesting building on the trackway running from Coedty reservoir. There are old outbuildings alongside a rather more modern looking abandoned house, which is apparently being looked after by the company in charge of the reservoir. Why they're looking after this one and ignoring the others in the area is a mystery. Also a mystery is the date of the newer house, although almost certainly an architectural historian could look at the place and date it. It resembles few of the other more modern houses in the locality, with its neat brickwork embellishing stone which doesn't quite look like the stonework of nearby quarried-stone houses.

The dwelling of Coed Sadwrn - not the later house, obviously - goes back to at least 1700 in the parish records of Caerhun, when 'Lowry, the illegitimate daughter of George Symond of Coed Sadwrn and Anne Robert Owen of Galltwyllt was baptised September 11th.' A Gwynedd Archaeological Trust report asserts that the farm 'probably dated from at least the 16th century.' I don't know if this means the older house, still on the site, was built in the 16th century, or if it were a later evolution of an earlier dwelling. The house seems to have had plenty of life and death going on through the centuries since then.

The house is at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 7612 6708 on one of the public access tracks near Coedty reservoir. See a video of the place here.

Coed Sadwrn from the east on a cold March day.

The view east along the leat and track towards Coed Sadwrn, with the older buildings closer to the camera.

The aforementioned Gwynedd Archaeological Trust assessment is worth quoting in full here, since I'm having trouble parsing it. The assessment states, 'A ruined and roofless cottage was recorded here in 1956 and described as being of former crogloft type, about 6m by 3.7m and constructed of mortared rubble, with a farm building to the south-west of one build with the house. The fireplace, at the north-east end was 2.3m by 1.2m deep, with a large beam slightly cambered and chamfered (RCAHMW 1956, 74). The cottage has been reroofed, although there is no evidence that it had completely lost its roof, and maintained to ensure it is sound and weather proof. The farm buildings to the SW are ruined. Both cottage and farm buildings are shown on the 1788 map. The farm is marked on the 1816-1824 map, named on the 1847 tithe schedule and all the buildings are shown on the 1889 map. The site of the farm is clearly the focus of the fields in this area and in comparison with similar farms in neighbouring areas it probably dated from at least the 16th century.'

I think the RCAHMW description, which is also used in a 2010 report by the same people, has been put together with this description in the 2011 report, resulting in the confusion. I can't believe that the later building, shown in the next photo, originated as a crogloft cottage, nor that it was roofless and ruined in 1956 and then repaired and roofed at a later date. This just doesn't make sense. I believe that the crogloft cottage is in the older portion of the buildings, a range which seems to have a cottage in the middle with an outbuilding on either end. This makes sense, fitting with the 1956 description of it as 'about 6m by 3.7m and constructed of mortared rubble, with a farm building to the south-west of one build with the house. The fireplace, at the north-east end was 2.3m by 1.2m deep.' Before reading this report, that was how I read the building, with the (now ruined) fireplace in the same location. The report seems to conflate the older crogloft cottage with the newer cottage, which has only a small, perhaps Victorian, fireplace at either end, and evidently had a first floor which stretched the length of the building. I find it hard to believe one of those fires replaced a fireplace that was 2.3m by 1.2m deep. I also can't see the later cottage on the 1788 map included in the report, although the resolution isn't very good on this. I think what has been read as the cottage is the bottom of the letter A marking the field as A1.

 

The newer house, externally, is completely intact, and sits on the south side of one of the leats running from Coedty reservoir. The older outbuildings (and original house) are far older than the leat, and the later house almost certainly predates the leat. Wikipedia dates the reservoir to 1924, but the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust report asserts that 'work on the dam at Coedty started in May 1908, and by 1911 the aluminium works was powered by a hydro-electricity station which derived its water from Llyn Eigiau and the Afon Ddu.'

The older outbuildings, and what I believe is the original house, are very close to the leat, which may have been built when the reservoir was made in the early 20th century.

 

In the earliest Dolgarrog census, 1841, the head of the house was Rowland Roberts, 35, an agricultural labourer. He is living with Elizabeth Roberts, 80, who is probably mother to Rowland, and to Anne Roberts, 60, Margaret Roberts, 45, and Mary Roberts, 40, who also live in the house. These are listed in 1851 as Rowland's sisters. The final member of the household is Elizabeth Roberts, 6, who is listed in 1851 as Rowland's niece.

 

The older Elizabeth died in 1844 at the grand age of 87, being buried in Llanbedr y Cennin on December 31st.

 

In 1851 Rowland, 44, is a shepherd, Anne is 72, Margaret, housekeeper, is 52, Mary, a servant, is 50, and Elizabeth, now listed as Elizabeth Jones, a general servant, is 16. Jones is probably her father's surname, or a patronymic from his first name if this were John.

 

Mary was buried in Llanbedr y Cennin in 1853 on November 11th, aged 50. (These ages don't tally exactly with the censuses but census ages are often inaccurate.) Anne Roberts was buried February 23rd, 1854, aged 76.

 

By 1861 the house only contains Rowland, 55, a shepherd still, Margred, 68, and Elizabeth Roberts, 26, a general servant still. It's reasonable to assume this is the same Elizabeth through the three censuses. It seems that none of the family married, but an eleven month old baby, Elizabeth Roberts, was buried on March 10th, 1862. Margaret Roberts was buried May 20th, aged 72. Elizabeth Roberts, the niece, was buried on June 24th, aged 27. I would assume that the baby Elizabeth was born to Elizabeth Roberts the niece. Perhaps one of the sisters of the household was Elizabeth's mother.

A local historian has told me that he recalls a date of of 1866-7 for the newer house in the Newborough archives, and this seems to fit with the look of the building. The implication of this is also that the house was built by the Newborough estate. I don't know if the other houses further west were also part of the same estate. If this is the date of the house then the families named in the above censuses would have lived in the older crogloft cottage.

From the front, the house is of a traditional design, with a central front door and a window either side, but the brick arch in the porch looks more unusual and the stone doesn't look quite the same as other quarried stone houses up here. Perhaps the porch is a red herring; after all, many of these houses have lost their porches, or any part of them from about four feet upwards. There's just something indefinable about this house that doesn't chime with other local houses, to me. It may be of the same period as some of the later houses, but it looks as if it were built to a different plan.

The brick arch is very prettily done, letting onto a doorway which has been blocked with a locked and barred gate. These stones seem either quarried or very heavily faced.

Both windows are also barred to prevent people getting into the property.

Above this right hand window, I had wondered if this were something to do with an electrical supply. It's also been suggested they might be rollers for shutters. I wonder if the place were used at any point as a base during the reservoir works. That might explain why it's still looked after.

The left, eastern, window is barred in the same way. 

 

The floor of the porch seems to be made of brick, but is quite damaged. 

It's hard to tell what the floor inside is made of, under the dirt. It may be tiled. 

There are two fireplaces in the house, and both are very small. Neither look very suitable for cooking on, although two small ovens can be seen to the left of the western fireplace. 

 

After the demise of Rowland Roberts' family in September 1869, when Rowland died aged 69, a new family moved into Coed Sadwrn. If the date of 1866-7 is correct for the newer building then Rowland may have moved into the new house not long before his death. Alternatively, it's possible that he continued in the old house while the new one was built to house a new family.

In the 1871 census the house is lived in by Griffith Jones, 40, a shepherd, wife Grace, 27, and children John, 7, William, 5, Rowland, 3, and Anne, 1. In 1881 Griffith is 40 and Grace is 38. John, now 17, is a scholar, which seems rather surprising given the date and his age. William is now 15, Rowland 13, Anne 11, and they have been joined by Griffith, 8, Robert, 4, and Hugh, 1.

This snapshot in the census would seem to show a bountiful family, but the parish records tell a more tragic tale. In 1871 the family lost Mary, aged six weeks. In 1872 they lost another daughter called Mary, at seven months. In 1881, tragedy struck, and over the course of one and a half years the family was ravaged by early death. First mother Grace died in May, 1881, aged 37. Fourteen year old son Rowland died in December. In March 1882 their father, Griffith Jones, died aged 48. Less than two weeks later in April, two year old Hugh died. Twelve year old Anne died two weeks later, and Griffith died in October, aged nine. In the space of 18 months six family members died, including both parents, leaving only brothers John, William, and Robert. 18 and 16 year old John and William must have been old enough, especially in those days, for independence, but what happened to five year old Robert is unknown.

On a happier note, it seems likely that it is 18 year old John referred to in a 3rd August, 1883, marriage announcement in the North Wales Express. The notice reads: Jones-Jones – July 13, at the Independent Chapel, Llandudno, by the Rev R. Parry (Gwalchmai), Mr John Jones, Coed Sadwrn, to Miss A. Jones, Tan y Bwlch – both of Lampeter. I'm assuming Lampeter is simply an anglicisation of Llanbedr, unless coincidentally two people from the South Welsh Lampeter, living in houses with the same names as two local houses, came all the way up to Llandudno to wed. A Jones family is listed living at Tan y Bwlch in 1881.

It's also possible that William Jones was still living in Coed Sadwrn in 1890. Baner ac Amserau Cymru reports, on 25th June, 1890, about a literary and musical competition held in Capel Salem, Tal y Bont. The paper reports; Parti Mr W Jones, Coed Sadwrn, oedd y goreu ar y pedwarawd. (Mr W Jones' party, Coed Sadwrn, was the best of the quartets.) This, along with John still being a scholar at 17, makes one wonder about the academic talents of the household.

The ceiling above shows some damage but the roof is well looked after. The level of the first floor can be seen running around the walls.

The only piece of furniture remaining is what looks to be a settle with a cupboard above, or, since it looks rather thin, perhaps the wooden backing for a mirror. It may be a settle pushed up against a cupboard.

Perhaps this furniture belonged to the last census-listed inhabitants of the house, the Williams family, who appear in the 1891 census. In 1901 the place is listed as unoccupied, and in 1911 it isn't mentioned at all. In 1891 the head of the house was William Williams, 28, a farmer from Tal y Bont. His wife, Margaret, was 27. With them lived children Lewis L, aged 5, possibly Jenny E (the record is blurred), aged 3, and son William, aged 1. They also had a farm servant, 16 year old Robert B Williams, born in Bethesda. It seems the family must have moved from Capel Curig, since that is where the older two children were born.

Interestingly, the property is mentioned in the North Wales Weekly News in 1909, so it must have been in occupation again at some point in that decade. The story reads:

TALYBONT.
A FAMILY SQUABBLE.—On Monday, at Conway, a squabble between brothers was detailed at the Police Court, when John Williams and William Williams, residing at Siglan, Trefriw, were charged with assaulting their brother Robert Williams, who resides at Coed Sadwrn, Dolgarrog. Mr J. D. Jones appeared for the complainant, and Mr E. Davies-Jones represented the defendants. From the evidence for the complainant, it appears that there was some ill-feeling between the brothers, and that they visited Coed Sadwrn and William struck complainant a severe blow in the mouth, and John threatened him with a stick. From the cross-examination of the complainant, it appears that William Williams is the tenant of Coed Sadwrn, and that he had given him notice to quit. On the day in question, complainant was found to be ploughing some pasture land, and the defendant requested him not to do so. After hearing the evidence of the man named Richard Roberts, the magistrates dismissed the case.

William Williams is mentioned in the 1901 census for Siglan, as a 14 year old grandson. In 1911 John Williams is listed as the 39 year old head of the household at Siglan, living with his sister, parents, and a servant.

At the east end of the building is another fire, without ovens. A window can be seen above to the right, mirroring an identical one on the left. It looks like the joists for the first floor would have rested their ends on this wall above the fire. There are no obvious signs of wood partitions having been in the cottage but undoubtedly originally they were there. The central position of this eastern fireplace makes it look more likely the space was divided into two rooms downstairs, though, than one living room, a parlour, and a scullery or dairy.

A closer look at the eastern fireplace.

The ceiling above this eastern end looks rather more damaged. 

 

I think there may be a blocked window here in the back wall to the east end of the house. There is a vague suggestion in the plasterwork of something there, and it corresponds with a change in the render on the outside of the building.

I think this is about the same spot on the wall, from outside, where there is a change in the render.

The house is still well rendered on the western and southern sides but the front and eastern end are bare stone.

The render on the back of the house looks rather newer.

The windows in the eastern end of the house. There seem to have been no upstairs fireplaces.

A pair of gateposts sits near the house but there's no wall or fence still associated with them. A boundary fence is shown running rather closer to the house on the 1888-1913 map.

These two bits of ceramic were on the ground near the house.

The underneath of one of the pieces of ceramic.

The old building sits a little west of the newer house, at an angle to the leat, and must have narrowly missed being demolished by the works. It's easy to discount this more ruined building next to the neat little house nearby.

The doorway into the eastern cell, with a good stone lintel. The building stones look faced rather than quarried.

The western wall of this cell, where it joins the house. There's a little nook in the wall at the centre. This may have been a handy shelf, or it may just be that a stone has fallen from the wall.

At the back, in the southern wall, is a very small window to the left, which would let in light but not so much of the weather. To the right this may be just a nook or a place where a stone has fallen. There's no sign of an opening on the outside.

A broken bottle found in the wall.

I don't think the bottle is very old, but it's not very modern either.

It seems likely that this upper opening was a door, perhaps letting onto a first floor storage area.

The wall above the door into the cell is covered in moss and ferns. There may be joist holes immediately above the beam.

A wide angle shot of the eastern wall of this cell.

Looking along the north face of the building.

The seam between the eastern cell and what I believe to be the original house shows they were probably built at different times. The corner of the house has been built with long corner stones.

 

The 1888-1913 map shows another little outbuilding opposite this end building, where the track and leat now stand. It looks at if it were about the same size as this eastern outbuilding. A few little enclosures in front of the long building must also have been lost.

Inside the second cell, what I think is the house, this seems to be the fireplace end at the east, judging by the large fall of stone here. It may just be rubble from the wall but it seems that often this much rubble indicates a collapsed chimney and front of the fireplace. Also, fireplace walls collapse much more quickly as soon as the beam has gone because it's such a structural weakness. This assessment fits with the 1956 description of 'The fireplace, at the north-east end was 2.3m by 1.2m deep, with a large beam slightly cambered and chamfered.'

 

The back of this chamber has been made into a run for dipping sheep, or perhaps guarding against foot rot, cunningly using a doorway at the west end of the cell, either original or put in later, to direct them into the bath. Perhaps this wall at the back for the run is where so many of the stones from the front wall have gone.

It's possible that the doorway into the house was here, roughly at the centre of the north wall, although it's very hard to be sure.

There is a large amount of stone at the east end of the room, that may have formed the fireplace. It would be interesting to see if anything remains under the stone. I thought this big bit of wood in the foreground looked more like a fallen tree branch than a beam, but on a second visit I think it may be the beam from the fireplace.

 

At the top of the rubble pile, this looks like the right hand side of the fireplace as it slopes in to join the narrower chimney.

 

With a little less moss on it the wood starts to look more like a beam. Its length is about eight feet, or two and a half metres, which would be a good length for a fireplace that was 2.3m wide, allowing some extra for the beam to rest on the sides of the fireplace.

There doesn't seem to be any bark on the wood and it looks roughly squared off.

The piece of wood is extremely rotted, and it's not surprising it finally failed, if it were the beam.

A wider shot of the fireplace with the beam in the foreground.

A look at the underneath of the possible beam. Is this a peg hole to the left? This shot was only made possible by putting my phone under the beam, so I couldn't see what I was photographing.

Possibly there is some charring at the bottom of the piece of wood here, although it could just be damp and rot.

A final look at almost the full length of the piece. There are a lot of photos of this but it may not be around for much longer, considering how decayed it is already.

 It looks as if something of a wall has been built up here at the end, under the rubble. This could be to do with the conversion of the space for farming use, though, making a channel to lead the sheep into the run at the back of the cell.

 

The western wall is made up of very small stones, but the corner stones are large.

To the left side of this western wall is a small doorway into the next chamber. It's unknown if this is original or associated with the change of use into a sheep dip.

There seems to be a small blocked up window here in the back of the room, although it's hard to tell what shape it was, and also hard to see if there's a corresponding window mark on the outside of the building.

Looking through the narrow doorway into the next cell, where the dip is.

This may be the area of the window, seen from the outside of the building, but it's hard to make out any kind of lintel.

If this is the original house, it seems that earlier records probably refer to people living in this building. As mentioned before, the earliest mention I have found so far was of illegitimate child Lowry born in 1700 to George Symond of Coed Sadwrn and Anne Robert Owen of Galltwyllt. It seems likely in this case that the child was born in Galltwyllt, not in Coed Sadwrn.

Various marriages are mentioned early in the eighteenth century. In the Caerhun parish records Owen Pierce of Coed Sadwrn and Catherine Thomas Probert Williams were married November 16th, 1702. Cadwalader Probert of Coed Sadwrn and Elizabeth Owen were married May 22nd, 1704. The Llanbedr y Cennin records, in Latin, mention John ap Robert of Aber marrying what looks like Ellina (probably Ellin) Ellis of Coed Sadwrn, in April 1705. In 1712 an entry is recorded about someone who is possibly called William Owen ab Reynallt. This may be a burial rather than a marriage.

A girl, possibly called Catherine, was baptised in March 1716, and the deaths are recorded of Margaret Parry in 1706 and Hugh David in 1760.

I have found two wills or bonds online for Coed Sadwrn. One is an abstract of a will only, from 1803, with the date of probate being 1811. At that point the house was lived in by Robert Hughes, farmer. Other family members mentioned include son Rowland Robert (could he be related to Rowland Roberts, 35, of the 1841 census?); grandson Elias Robert; granddaughter Elizabeth Lewis, daughter of John Lewis, by Jane Roberts; other children of the deceased Jane Roberts; a niece and servant, Jane Roberts; son William Robert; and son John Robert.

The second is a bond from 1827-8, belonging to William Roberts on the death of his father John Roberts. The only possessions listed are one old cow, one old mare, one old clock, and a plough, worth a total of £17 6s 3d.

The western cell, either an outbuilding or perhaps an outbuilding later converted into part of the house, has the remains of a door still in the doorway. Unusually, the top of the wall is made of a lot of long, thin stones.

 

The doorway in the northern wall, with failing doorframe.

 

The dip end of the sheep run is here, on the other side of the little door from the centre cell. There is a large blocked up window above the dip.

The south west corner of the place shows a lot of damage, but it doesn't look as if there were ever a fireplace in this cell.

The western wall still has some render on the inside.

Outside the western end of the barn, some of the rubble from the collapsed south west corner can be seen on the ground.

 

 

 At the back of this outbuilding is a low door to inside, more or less opposite the front door. In some barns doors were placed opposite one another to help blow away chaff during threshing.

Fences have been constructed at the back to make something of a pen, perhaps for holding the sheep after they've been through the dip. The newer house can be seen to the right.

 

 

A wider view of this western end of the house.

The front door into the cell from the inside. I don't think the door is awfully old.

 

 

The view towards the little connecting door, with the dip in front of it.

 

 

This is a very narrow, small door, although the ground level has probably risen a little.

 

 

The front, north eastern, corner of the cell.

There's still a reasonable amount of render on this part of the wall.

Just outside the back of the outbuildings I found a couple of bits of pottery. The midden could have been near these buildings.

 

The east end of the buildings, with that little window low in the wall. The difference between the end cell and the house cell is stark.

 

A broken roof ridge tile lies on the ground. It sounds as if this kind of roll top ridge tile may date from the 1840s.

I walked a little way east of the house towards where the well is marked on the old map, but I couldn't see any sign of it. There is a man-made channel carrying a stream near here, and it seems likely any natural water flow has been changed by the second leat above the house.

Both leats must have changed things a lot in this area, and since the reservoir was being built between 1908-1911, with Robert Williams living in the house in 1909, it must have been an interesting place from which to observe the changes. The dam at Coedty and the Aluminium Works below would have heralded the start of a new era about to be exploded into something unimaginable by the First World War.