What We Can Reconstruct / What Is Still Missing

What we can reconstruct

  1. CORROBORATED Cedwyn and Cydfin are two spellings used for the same brook and wooded dell on the Ely between Leckwith and Llandough (Baring-Gould & Fisher 1908; OS 2nd edition 1898–1908; Bute sale 1902).

  2. DOCUMENTED A farm called Cydwin in the manor of Llandough was let for 1,000 years from 20 June 1547 by Sir George Herbert of Swansea to Edmund Vaughan of Llandough, and the lease was assigned to Thomas Mathews of Llandaf in 1739/40 for £1066 13s. 4d. (NLW Lockwood L 11).

  3. DOCUMENTED The Bute archive holds leases of “Cydfin Farm or Ty Mawr Farm (107 a.)” in Llandough from 1552 to 1824 (NLW Bute D 219).

  4. DOCUMENTED In 1806–07 Mark Wood of Llandaf Court exchanged “Ty Mawr Farm otherwise Ked Fen Farm” (126 a.) with the Marquess of Bute (NLW Lockwood D 1/104; Bute D205/6–7).

  5. DOCUMENTED In 1824 Bute’s surveyor called the farm “Cedfin or Ty Mawr Farm” (Glamorgan Archives DB/E/1).

  6. INFERENCE Cydwin, Cydfin, Ked Fen, Red Fen and Cedfin are one farm, Tŷ Mawr, and “Red Fen” is a misreading of “Ked Fen”.

  7. INFERENCE The farm passed Herbert (lessor) → Vaughan (lessee, 1547–1740) → Mathews (1740) → Wood (c. 1798) → Bute (1807), with its title deeds.

  8. LEGEND A giant, Cedwyn Gawr, lived at Ynys Cedwyn on the Tawe in Arthur’s time and was not killed by him (Peniarth MS 118, c. 1600). The legend belongs to Ynyscedwyn, not to Llandough.

  9. DOCUMENTED A saint, Cedwyn, son of Gwgon Gwron, is patron of Llangedwyn; a lost church of his, Lann Cetguinn, stood in Ystrad Yw (Book of Llandaf). His pedigree is in pre-Iolo manuscripts as well as in Iolo’s.

Still missing (SOURCE PENDING)

Item

Where to look

Cost

Exact wording of the 1547 lease as recited, the spelling of the farm’s name, the field names, rent and covenants

NLW, Lockwood estate records L 11 (reading room)

free to read in person; copies paid (not ordered)

The parties and wording of the earliest Bute lease of Cydfin / Tŷ Mawr, 1552

NLW, Bute Estate Records D219/1 (and D219/4–5, 8)

free to read in person

The full text of the 1806 agreement and the 1807 exchange, to settle “Ked Fen” against “Red Fen”

NLW Lockwood D 1/104; NLW Bute D205/6–7

free to read in person

How the Mathews estate passed to Mark Wood (articles of 30 April 1798)

NLW Lockwood L 41–43 and the D series

free to read in person

The field names on the 1824 plan 19

Glamorgan Archives DB/E/1 (archive image)

free to view

A “1392 Llandough boundary record” naming Cwm-Cedwyn. No such record was found; the nearest early boundary naming the name is “cum cetguinn” in the Book of Llandaf, which Baring-Gould and Fisher place at Wonastow, Monmouthshire.

Llandough manor courts (Glamorgan Archives DB/M/1–9); Tewkesbury Abbey material

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The spellings “Ken fin” and “Cedwin” in Bute records

NLW Bute D 219 items; Bute rentals (NLW Bute R series)

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Any field or place at Llandough named after Cedwyn other than the dell and brook

Llandough tithe apportionment field names; OS object name book OS 35/2503 (The National Archives)

free at Kew; copies paid

Expert opinion on Cedwyn against cydffin

Archif Melville Richards (Bangor University); Welsh Place-Name Society

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Any arms of a Cedwyn family or estate

none found; see the proposed reconstruction by the crest work, labelled as such

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No original deed has been ordered or paid for. Every item above is a free reading-room visit or a catalogue check.