Welsh Journals

market day or for carrying on a trade, whilst the petty constables present many townspeople for keeping a dunghill on the street an unsavoury practice very prevalent in Llanidloes at the turn of the century. However on October 26th 1808, Mr. Thos Marsh was presented for inclosing a garden on the Upper Green, the Revd John Davies for a nursery adjoining the Vicarage, and Mr. David Davies and Mr. Cleaton for parts of gardens in the Nant, whilst on October 27th 1814, John Brown, Edwd Jones and David Jones were presented for erecting stables or barns on Pen-y-Graig adjoining the Short Bridge.8 Some of these presentments, with others for 1811, 1813 and 1816 for which there are no court records, were quoted as evidence in the case put before the enclosure commissioners on September 7th 1822 on behalf of Sir Edward Pryce Lloyd of Pengwern, Flintshire, owner of the Berthlwyd estate and afterwards Lord Mostyn, whose agent unsuccessfully contended that should the enclosure commissioners be of the opinion that the borough was not a manor, it was nevertheless Sir Edward's property and he was entitled to the common or waste lands. So the common rights in Llanidloes were extinguished on May 20th 1826, the allotment process having been delayed by the dispute regarding the borough's status, and the award was signed and sealed on February 21st 1828. Enclosure had come at an opportune time for the expansion of the town, providing more land for housing, 10 whilst the commissioners laid out both public and private carriage roads, wells and watering places. These, together with the allotments to the lord of the manor of Arwystli, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, representing one-fourteenth part of the waste in satisfaction of his right and interest in its soil, and to the freeholders are shown on Fig. 2, and in Tables 1 and 2 for the two townships respectively. In Cilmachallt allotments 1 to 5 in the Nant totalled 1.47 acres, 6 to 36 on the Lower Green 20.24 acres, and 45 to 66 on the Upper Green 6.13 acres. In Glynhafren Iscoed allotments 1 to 19 and 25 to 35 on the Upper Green amounted to 13.87 acres, and 20 to 23 at Pen-y-Graig and 24 in the Town of Llanidloes to only 0.73 acres. The list of beneficiaries contains the names of some well-known burgesses of the time, as well as Sir Edward Pryce Lloyd whose claim to a separate lordship of Llanidloes had been rejected by the enclosure commis- sioners. Both he and Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, however, are noted in the tables for Cilmachallt at the end of the award allocating its costs and expenses as being charged in respect "U.C.N.W. Bangor. Mostyn Collection, 6232 and 6233. ''The enclosure commissioners after perambulating the boundaries of Glynhafren Iscoed and Cilmachallt originally described them as being bounded in certain parts by the manor of Llanidloes, whereupon the agent of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn. lord of the manor of Arwystli. filed an objection on September 29th 1819 to the express reference to a manor of Llanidloes, contending that there was no such manor and that the borough of Llanidloes was comprised and had heretofore immemorially been deemed parcel of the manor of Arwystli. At a meeting called on December 6th 1822 by the commissioners to hear evidence in support of the objection, the agent said he depended on an opinion that Sir Edward had to prove that he had a manor. Sir Edward however failed to find a document of a grant to the manor of Llanidloes, but produced evidence of several encroachments of the waste having been presented in recent years at the borough court, and of tolls being collected for the markets and horse fairs (U.C.N.W. Bangor. Mostyn Collection, 4069). The diary of one of the enclosure commissioners, John Mathews, records a meeting with Richard Griffithes, the appointed clerk, at Welshpool on May 25th and 26th 1824 to examine the deeds and documents relating to the borough, when it was decided to seek Counsel's opinion, and another meeting with his two fellow commissioners and the clerk on July 6th to peruse the grant of Arwystli manor (U.C.N.W. Bangor, Amlwch Papers, 16). The commis- sioners informed Sir Edward's agent on July 7th 1824 of their determination that the commons and waste were part and parcel of the manor of Arwystli. and he replied on July 29th expressing Sir Edward's dissatisfaction with their decision. Counsel's opinion was to be sought on September 23rd 1824 as to whether or not their decision should be contested in the courts (Mostyn Collection. 4069). The commissioners and the surveyor. William Jones, completed the awards for Cilmachallt and Glynhafren Iscoed townships between the end of November 1825 and the end of April 1826. '"As described in a near contemporary account of the town by David Davies in "An Essay on Llanidloes 1861", Mont. 61, (1969-70) 106.