Welsh Journals

some relief. Respectfully and earnestly entreating your Lordships attention to my case, I have the honor to subscribe myself To the right honorable Lord Viscount Sidmouth &c &c &c Appendix. After I came into possession I employd 8 Men to raise Stone for the purpose of building Houses upon the Estate. And on the 13th of December 1819 they com- menced raising Stone and continued at that work until the 17th of February 1820, when they were taken from the Quarry to cultivate the Land. Some of them erected Fence3, others pared the Ground, and in the Month of April I had about 50 Persons employed, some erecting Fences, some paring the Land, some raising the Clods and some burning the same, as the weather permitted. On or about the 20th of April, I employed carpenters to prepare Timber for a House, and on the 1st of May I employed some Masons to erect a House on a Place called Green Meadow in the Parish of Llanrhystid. And on the 25th of May some Persons yet unknown to me took down the greater part of the Building which was about nine feet high, and on the 27th of May some Persons took it down to the Foundation-besides set fire to a quantity of Timber. I went to A. T. J. Gwynne Esqr. one of His Majestys Justices of the Peace acting in and for these parts, and informed him that some Tools had been deposited in a Cottage near to the said Building so taken down as aforesaid, and that the Laborers to whom they belonged had cleaned them. But on Monday the 29th of May when they went for their Tools, they found they had been used in some lime, and also had been used in some earth similar to the earth that formed the Fences, which had been taken down and that the Man belonging to the Cottage had been asked, who took the Tools out of his Cottage, but he would not say, pretending that he was in Bed, and that he heard some person take the Tools away, and bring them back again, but he did not know who the Person was who entered his Cottage at that time of the Night, or early in the Morning, neither did he enquire. Mr. Gwynne informed me that he did not see that it would be to my advantage to examine into the Affair as in the event of my not making any discovery, I should be in a worse predicament than if I should let it rest unexamined. I accordingly took his advice and nothing further was done concerning it. On the same 29th of May as I was returning from viewing the destruction of my Property, I was assaulted by Stones thrown from behind me. I looked from whence they appeared to come and immediately 2 Boys about 15 years old set off a running, which induced me to suppose that they were guilty of the Offence. I seized one, and was taking him before a Magistrate, when I recollected he was not at home, and I consequently let him go but before that I ascertained from the Boy, that he was the Son of a Farmer residing on his own Farm in the Neighborhood, adjoining my Estate, and upon further enquiry, I ascertained that he had sanctioned the obtaining of the Act of Parliament for inclosing the said waste Lands but when he ascertained that the Commissioners intended to dispose of part to defray expenses, he then endeavored to prevent the further execution of the Act of Parliament. I also obtained a knowledge of the other Boy, whose Father is only a Tenant to one of the Freeholders he however tried to prevent me from taking possession of the Turbary Ground which belongs to the Land I purchased. Mr Evans, the Father of the Boy whom I seized went to The Revd. Mr. Evans, one of His Majestys Justices of the Peace acting in and for these parts, and preferred a Complaint against me for the false imprisonment of his Son. I was accordingly your Lordships obed, & hble servt, Augustus Brackenbury.