Llwyn Onn is a very ruined but sheltered little place in a quiet valley by the Afon Dulyn, the river that runs from the dark, mysterious Llyn (Lake) Dulyn down to the Afon Conwy in the main valley below. Although the house is at 230 metres above sea level, when this place was inhabited the slopes would have been a little more lively. There are still two inhabited houses, Rowlyn Ucha and Rowlyn Isa, nearby on the other side of the river, but in the past there were a handful more houses also lived in on these high slopes.
The house is roughly built of stone from the hillside, showing very little facing or dressing of the stones, which suggests to me that this is the original house in the parish records which dates back to at least 1743. It's last shown as inhabited in the census in 1861.
Llwyn refers to trees - a grove or woods. Onn refers to the ash tree in particular.
Llwyn Onn is at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 7518 6809, next to a public footpath.
Llwyn Onn is little more than a tumble of mossy stones under the trees near the Afon Dulyn. According to the census, the house has been uninhabited at least since the 1871 survey, and wasn't mentioned in 1851, although it was occupied in 1841 and 1861.
A rough enclosure wall leads around the front of the building.
Although the house is on the slope down to the river, it sits on a small, flat step of land, with this further flat step below making a clear little field that stretches in front of the house. Perhaps in the past this was used for growing small amounts of food for the household.
The entrance through the enclosure wall into the yard by the house.
Looking north, the slope above the house is quite steep.
The house itself is extremely ruined, with the walls surviving between about two and five feet high. There don't appear to be any stand-alone outbuildings near the property.
The interior of this room, what seems to be the main cell, is nothing but a tumble of mossy stone.
In the south corner of the western wall there seems to be a small window.
Looking north west, this end of the house is also full of rubble. If there were a fireplace there's no sign of one any more. It looks as if the house roof was of slate at one point, though, which would have required some way of letting out smoke, rather than having it simply filter through the thatch.
The parish records for Llanbedr y Cennin, the closest village and church, show the house being inhabited from 1743 by Rowland Williams and his family. At one point Rowland is identified as a butcher, and for at least two years running he was also a church warden for Llanbedr y Cennin, countersigning the baptism, marriage, and burial entries at the end of each year.
Rowland was married to Elizabeth Jones in Caerhun church on November 17th 1740. On February 6th 1743 their first child, Mary, was baptised in the church at Llanbedr y Cennin. They went on to have at least four more children, William, October 1744, Dorothy, March 1747, John, June 1749, and William, May 1753. Their first son, William, was buried in May 1747, and mother Elizabeth Jones was buried in April 1759.
Rowland must have married again soon after, although there isn't an account of this either in Caerhun or Llanbedr parish records. Nevertheless, by June 1763 another son, Robert, is being baptised, and his wife is called Jane. Owen follows in June 1766, and daughter Jane is baptised in November 1770, but buried just over two years later in December 1772. His wife Jane Roberts is herself buried in March 1776.
Rowland marries yet again, because in October 1777 another daughter called Jane, by new wife Margaret, is baptised. I haven't yet found a death record for Rowland or his wife Margaret. After this flurry of births and deaths, records are rather scant, but there is an entry for the burial of Robert Parry of Llwyn Onn on November 3rd, 1833, aged 72.
Outside the back of the house, the south-western window can be seen to be very small. In early houses the windows would not have been glazed, but simply blocked with shutters as needed.
From the outside, the northern end of this western wall is just a scatter of stone.
The western side of the house has a small yard against it, and this cosy campfire has been built recently against the enclosure wall.
There are quite a few slates lying on the ground near the walls, so the building must have had a slate roof at one point. This slate measures almost fourteen inches by six and a quarter inches.
It seems likely that while Rowland Williams was living in the house the place would have been thatched with locally sourced plant materials, perhaps bracken or gorse, but by the time of the first census available, in 1841, it might have been slated.
There's no evidence of the occupation of the inhabitants between Rowland Williams, a butcher, and the 1841 census, where John Roberts is an agricultural labourer. The land named 'Llwynon' in the 1846 tithe maps is being used, along with three other parcels of land, by Owen Roberts of nearby Onen Ebryd. In 1841 John Roberts, born out of the county, is 25, and living with wife Mary, 30, and children Elizabeth, 5, John, 3, and Alice, 1, who were all born in the county.
In 1851 the place isn't mentioned, but in 1861 it seems to have come up a little in the world, being home to a farmer of 22 acres, Thomas Williams, 43, who was born in Llanllechid. His wife, Ellin, is 48, and they have four children; Thomas, 13, Catherine, 10, Margaret, 8, and Anne, 5. All were born in Llanllechid except for Anne, who was born in Llanbedr, so it's possible that they moved to Llwyn Onn between the births of Margaret and Anne. There is also one 'visitor' in the house, Griffith Williams, 3, who was born in Llanbedr. From 1871 on, though, the house is listed as uninhabited, and then not listed at all.
A rather larger slate has been used by the campfire, measuring eighteen inches by about nine and a half inches.
There is a clear join between the southern cell and the northern cell, and the northern cell wall appears to have a wall of smaller stones built up against it.
The northern cell is also quite ruined but doesn't seem to have as much stone in it as the southern. I think the doorway is blocked up in the east wall.
The south wall of the northern cell, separating the two sections of the house. I think this was probably an outbuilding and the southern cell was the house.
Some of the bracken covered enclosure walls near the building.
Either this is a blocked up window in the northern cell, or it's the blocked up door.
A final look at the ruined southern cell. It's hard to see a door into the place but I think it must have been in this eastern wall, perhaps in the centre of this photograph.
These are either large fallen stones by the house, or the base of a wall.
Standing inside the enclosure east of the house, looking through the entrance.
A rather thick piece of slate in the rubble, about an inch thick.
At the south end of the house there's a small gap between the house and the enclosure wall. Perhaps this was used as a pen.
A closer look at this southern wall. The house looks as if it were built on a primary layer of rather larger stones, as is often seen in these cottages.
Looking back up at the enclosure wall from below the house.
Leaving the house, we crossed the Afon Dulyn to follow the footpath up the steep slope towards Rowlyn Isa. The water was quite low today but sometimes this river can be very full. Nevertheless, this must have been a peaceful place to live on fine summer days.
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