Welsh Journals

of Laugharne who had acquired lands in west Wales. The herald Fellows in his Visitation of 1530 described the arms of "Thomas Pekocke of Pem- brokeshier" which he saw in the church of Grey Friars in Carmarthen, as quarterly, 1 and 4, gules on a fesse argent three roses gules between three peacocks or; 2 and 3, gules, on a chevron argent three escallops sable. Ellen Peacock brought the Peacock property in Tenby and Laugharne to her husband. Dwnn's description of the arms though quaintly worded, is technically accurate: "Ar: 3 ffawn (paun) proper yn kastellu" (argent three peacocks displayed proper). Jenkyn White and his heiress wife had two sons, Thomas and James. The latter married Elen daughter of Thomas Laugharne of St Brides by Joan Crabhall his wife, by whom he had daughters only. The first marriage of Jenkyn's elder son, Thomas, illustrates the in- termarriage that had been going on between the settler families of south Pembrokeshire and the older native stocks of the north. He married Joan daughter of Howel ap Jenkin ap Robert, a landowner of Nanhyfer, senior representative of the widespread family of Gwynfardd Dyfed, whose territorial possessions, together with ability to acquire official ap- pointments, enabled them to dominate north Pembrokeshire for many centuries. Joan died on 20 September 1451, and afterwards Thomas married Isabella Butler but had no issue by her. He died on 8 May 1482, and he and his two wives were buried in St Mary's church, Tenby, where a splendid altar tomb was placed over their remains. This tomb, described and illustrated on several occasions, has survived in a fair state of preservation! Even if devoid of inscription it would have been easy to identify those it commemorates from Dwnn's pedigree and heraldic insignia that decorate it. The effigy of Thomas White, attired in the dress of the period, is shown with his head resting on a peacock (part of his maternal arms), and his feet resting on a stag (a stag's head being part of his paternal arms). On the western panel is a shield of White (a chevron between three stags' head caboshed) impaling a bend between six covered cups (for Isabella Butler). In the next panel, the arms of White impaling a chevron between three true-love knots, and in base a lion rampant facing sinister (for his first wife Joan of Nanhyfer). The next compartment contains two shields, a chevron between three peacocks in their pride (Peacock) and a chevron between three stags' heads caboshed (White). In the sides are ef- figies of Thomas, his two wives, six sons and four daughters. All the im- paled coats show White on the sinister side, whereas the correct arrangement is that the husband's arms should be on the dexter; such errors by craftsmen are by no means unknown. The inscription of the tomb states that Thomas White, formerly mer- chant and mayor of the town, died on 8 May 1482; and his wife Joan Howell, died on 21 September 1451, while the date of the death of the second wife, Isabella cannot now be deciphered. A further coat-of-arms recorded by Fellows in 1530 raises some in- 1 Laws and Edwards, Church Book of St Mary the Virgin. Tenby, 1907. pp 71-76. illustr: Laws. Little England Beyond Wales. 1888, p 233: Norris Etchings of Tenby. 1812. pp 39-42. illustr: Harries, A Manual for the Study of Monumental Brasses: Arch Camb. 1912, pp 6-19. sketch. The earliest description is that made by George Owen of Henllys in 1598. contained in BM Egerton MS 2586. ff 382-3.