Welsh Journals

THE PLANNING OF ABERAERON-SOME NEW EVIDENCE Much has been written about the port and town of Aberaeron,l how the Rev. Alban Thomas Jones Gwynne and his second wife, Susanna Maria, inherited the estate from their cousin of Monachty and how the squarson created, or re-created, the harbour by private Act of Parlia- ment in 1807. The way in which the town developed according to a prescribed plan has had largely to be surmised because of the lack of surviving documents. The story has been further obscured by an inevitable confusion between the Rev Alban Thomas Jones Gwynne of Tyglyn (died 1819) and his son of the same name who came to be known generally as Colonel Gwynne of Monachty (died 1861). The younger Alban lived at Monachty from about 1805, but did not come fully into the estate until his step-mother Susanna Maria died in 1830. It is clear that much of the development of the town took place during his lifetime. The planning of Aberaeron has been much admired and there was a long established tradition that John Nash had had a hand in it. One story told that Nash was a family friend of the Gwynnes and sketched a plan for them when staying at Monachty. There is nothing intrinsi- cally fantastic about this tale. The Gwynnes had a habit of "going to the top" for advice-for education to Sir Walter Scott, for enginee- ring to John Rennie. However, it has been pointed out that most of the houses date from after Nash's death. A glance at a list of leases of houses put up for sale by the family in 1883 reveals that most of them seem to have dated from about 1835, which indicates a surge of building activity during the early years of Colonel Gwynne's ownership. The names Waterloo Street and Wellington Street have been adduced as evidence of the plan dating from about 1815, but Wellington's premiership (1828-30, again in 1834) may equally well have been commemorated and Waterloo Street named in his honour, while names like Regent Street and Drury Lane were doubtless borrowed from London. Other names suggest late William IV and early Victoria as the period of construction-Princess Street, Queen Street, Albert Street, Victoria Street. The Rev. Alban Gwynne granted various leases, but the real impetus clearly came later. Due to the loss of most of the Monachty papers, all evidence about the planning of Aberaeron seemed to have been des- troyed until one was left wondering whether Colonel Gwynne (like some other country gentlemen of his time) did not turn amateur archi- tect himself. Indeed the Carmarthen Journal in its obituary for his daughter, Mrs. Jane Maddy, did speak of him "laying out streets at Aberayron."2 There is now, however, some fresh evidence, since from