Welsh Journals

LLOYD OF GILFACHWEN, CILGWYN AND COEDMORE (This essay is mainly based on the Cilgwyn Documents in National Library of Wales, and the Coedmore documents placed at my disposal by Mrs. Ella Lloyd and Mr. David Lloyd of Coedmore, to whom I am grateful for many kindnesses). For many centuries southern Cardiganshire, particularly the Tivyside, was dominated by the powerful and influential Lloyds, with seats at Castell Hywel, Llanllyr, Noyadd Trefawr, Dolwlph, Moelifor, Ffos Esgob, Llanfechan, Alltyrodyn, Ffosybleiddied, Lampeter, Maesy- felyn, Wern Newydd, and several more with overspills in neighbouring counties. All traced to a common ancestor, the chieftain Cadifor ap Dinawal who distinguished himself under The Lord Rhys at the capture of Cardigan Castle about I 164, and whose descendants bore as heraldic ensigns a sable shield bearing three silver scaling ladders, an embrued spear-head, and a silver castle on a red background, to commemorate the hardihood of their ancestor. Although bearing the same surname and owning estates in the Tivyside the Lloyds of Gilfachwen, Cilgwyn, and Coedmore, derive from an entirely different ancestor, namely Elystan Glodrudd whose coat-of-arms, a red lion rampant on a golden shield, was borne, or should be, by his descendants. Nevertheless many have confused them with the "ladder Lloyds", if I may so term them, and the confusion has been the worse confounded by the Lloyds of Coedmore themselves, who, for some reason unknown to us today, abandoned their ancestral arms in favour of those of Cadifor from whom they were not patri- lineally descended. THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD The ancestor of the family under review, Elystan Glodrudd, was ruler of a territory once known as Rhwng Gwy ag Hafren (Twixt Wye and Severn), afterwards represented by the county of Radnor in mid- Wales. Elystan "of the shining fame", who lived in the eleventh century, is described in genealogical manuscripts as "Founder of the Vth Royal Tribe of Wales". That he was a king, that'his immediate descendants enjoyed similar status, is borne out by entries in the early historical chronicles of Wales, and in state papers preserved in the Public Record Office. The family retained its royal franchises for several generations until they were eroded and finally absorbed by the Norman lords marcher and the Crown. The last of the line to hold any shreds of regality was Cadwallon ap Maelgwn who died in 1234.