Welsh Journals

Since most of Radnorshire's parishes had a farm called Cwm, it is difficult to know which Cwm farm is meant here, but it was very probably Cwm in Bettws Disserth. Evidently the Captain could lay his hands on money quite easily. Penry Price was to be in the service of the Captain for many years, and master and servant in time became very attached to each other. Price's home was The Bailey in Llanyre parish. June 2nd. With Mrs J. to Brecon. Mem: met Mrs Thomas Thomas of Llanbradach at Capel Uchaf. July 24th. Miss Evans at Ye Wells. August 5th. Driving a level at Bwlch Brondinam in search of coal. Morgan returned to Oswestry. The Captain and his wife, 'Mrs J' as he usually named her in his diary, returned to their home in the Struett (sic), Brecon for the first time since early January. Going home they took the mountain road beyond Builth and at Capel Uchaf (Upper Chapel) met Mrs Thomas Thomas of Llanbradach. This might have been the second wife of Thomas Thomas of Llanbradach near Cardiff, whose first wife was Anna Maria, the elder daughter of Thomas of Pencerrig, who brought him the Pencerrig estate. The second wife was Bridget, a daughter of Llanelwedd Hall. Miss Evans was Elizabeth (Betsy), the older of the two Llwynbarried daughters, where she was still living, a delicate young woman of 23 and unmarried. She may have been at Ye Wells for health reasons, but in the summer months it was a social centre for a surprisingly wide area, although accommodation was limited to the Pump House, the Rock House and the Llanerch Inn, modest enough in size. When these three were full, visitors took lodgings at the local farms-Trefonnen, Llandrindod Hall, Caebach House, Rhydllyndu, etc. Trying to find coal at Bwlch Brondinam in Nantmel parish seems today a fond hope, but Brondinam farm was on the east edge of Baxter's Bank, which was of a volcanic origin and had been blackened by intense heat. Murchison had not then visited Radnorshire on his geological surveys, so that any black rocks raised hope in the local breast! September 6th. Mr John Price of Bath dined here. 22nd. Wrote an epitaph for old Mrs Price's monument by desire of her son. 23rd. Crummer and wife called. John Price was the only son of the late Mr J. and Mrs A. Price, who placed their son in the lucrative position of Post Master of Bath, then in its heyday as a health and pleasure centre. He had grown up in Nantmel and was, of course, on terms of close friendship with the Llwynbarried family. The epitaph was to be placed in Rhayader church. Mr James Crummer, former estate agent for the Right Hon. Thomas Harley of Berrington, had in 1811 married Esther, only sister of James Davies, esq. of Kington, with whom he had founded the Kington and Radnorshire Bank in 1808. Mr Crummer, of Irish birth, had built Howey Hall, near Llandrindod Wells, and he and his wife used it mainly as a summer residence. October 14th. With Mrs J to ye election at Presteigne. In October the Joneses had returned from Brecon to Llwynbarried and from there they rode to the Shire Hall in the county town, where the Captain proposed Walter Wilkins, esq. of Maesllwch for the County seat in Parliament, for which he had been the M.P. since 1796. Thomas Price,