Three Towns Forum
The Local => Genealogy & Research => Topic started by: sweekes on April 02, 2016, 06:55:05 pm
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If anyone has any historical information or old photos of wyddfyd cottages great orme I would be very interested. I live here now and would like to build up a picture of its past. The cottages were built in 1753 according to our deeds as miners dwellings.
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You might be able to find something about the road on the Conwy Archives in Lloyd Street Llandudno. It's open to the public Mon to Thurs.
You'll find the staff there very helpful and informative and they may have some info for you.
In a book by Ivor Wynne Jones he mentions " Wyddfyd Road beside a rock shelf with the hybrid name of Tan Y Stage where Twm O'r Nant is said to have performed one of his famous interludes in 1761. Along the road higher up are the remains of stone pens where a sheep fair used to be held annually on the 22nd September until the people lost their common land"
This refers to the Enclosure Act whereby Mostyn Estates were legally allowed to steal the land from the people of Llandudno and surrounding areas.
Now the Great Orme Exploration Society has a great website and it shows you photos of the mines and their locations. If my memory is correct there is a house in Wyddfyd Road called Tyn (or tan) Y Fron and I've seen a map of the mine that goes from the Pier area to Tyn Y Fron. I think that the mine was called the Ty Gwyn Mine. That website is well worth a look at.
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You might be able to find something about the road on the Conwy Archives in Lloyd Street Llandudno. It's open to the public Mon to Thurs.
You'll find the staff there very helpful and informative and they may have some info for you.
In a book by Ivor Wynne Jones he mentions " Wyddfyd Road beside a rock shelf with the hybrid name of Tan Y Stage where Twm O'r Nant is said to have performed one of his famous interludes in 1761. Along the road higher up are the remains of stone pens where a sheep fair used to be held annually on the 22nd September until the people lost their common land"
This refers to the Enclosure Act whereby Mostyn Estates were legally allowed to steal the land from the people of Llandudno and surrounding areas.
Now the Great Orme Exploration Society has a great website and it shows you photos of the mines and their locations. If my memory is correct there is a house in Wyddfyd Road called Tyn (or tan) Y Fron and I've seen a map of the mine that goes from the Pier area to Tyn Y Fron. I think that the mine was called the Ty Gwyn Mine. That website is well worth a look at.
I was born there 67 years ago left when I was 2 years old. There been a lot of pictures of that area of the Great Orme page on Great Orme facebook page.
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If anyone has any historical information or old photos of wyddfyd cottages great orme I would be very interested. I live here now and would like to build up a picture of its past. The cottages were built in 1753 according to our deeds as miners dwellings.
I don't know if your connected or not, but there is a quiz team called the Wyddfyd's, who all live up the Orme and take part in the general knowledge quiz on a Wednesday evening, in the Kings Head. Z**
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Marcus who lives in the large house on the left by the Ski Centre was a regular quizzer when I used to go pub quizzing, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a member of that quiz team
Wyddfyd Cottage the small detached cottage by the ski lodge is I believe the oldest house in Llandudno.
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Marcus who lives in the large house on the left by the Ski Centre was a regular quizzer when I used to go pub quizzing, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a member of that quiz team
Wyddfyd Cottage the small detached cottage by the ski lodge is I believe the oldest house in Llandudno.
Sorry Hugo, Mr E most certainly isn't a member of that team, or any other, but as you've mentioned Wyddfyd Cottage, the first owners of my place were brothers Benjamin and William Williams. On the 5th of August 1884, William is recorded as being a Farmer and Builder of Wyddfyd Farm Llandudno. They took out a Mortgage together for £1200 to buy what was then called The Olives. Unusually for Llandudno this property is Freehold. The partnership lasted until 8th November 1889 when Benjamin sold out his share in the property to William for £350. Interestingly William could not or choose not to write as on all the documents I have, he only ever made his mark.
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Thanks Blongb, that's interesting to know. I had a look at Chris Draper's book "Llandudno before the hotels" last night and it mentioned Wyddfyd and the Williams family.
At pg 180 is a record of "Year rent of Gloddaeth Estate belonging to Sir Thomas Mostyn". At No 23 is listed Tenement Whyfud (incorrectly spelt) and under tenant is listed Roger Williams. For the entry under yearly rents the figure due looks like £ 0 The record doesn't show the year but I expect it to be in the early 1800's
Chris Draper also mentions this about Wyddfyd. "Wyddfyd had, in the medieval period, been a very important farm that gave its name to one of the Great Orme's three townships but 19th century Wyddfyd Farmhouse was no more than a small single storey cottage with its landholding reduced to 28 acres. The ancestors of John Williams had occupied the farm for many generations and the family played a prominent part in the community. John's wife Elizabeth had a beautiful singing voice and the couple's son Benjamin became a hugely influential musician in the Chapels. Besides running the farm John Williams owned the shop in Old Road run by his son and daughter, Dafydd and Jane"
The shop in Old Road was near the Kings Head and was called Siop TY Newydd and sold drapery and groceries
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Wyddfyd cottages are the 3 cottages on the left hand side of the road which i believe were known as wyddfyd terrace in earller times. They were at some time 5 cottages and then converted into 3. we live in no 1. i think they may have been numbered 1,3,5,7and 9 originally.
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I believe we have the same place Wyddfyd cottages, Going by the head stone on my g-grandfather and g-grandmothers grave stone which has Wyddfyd Terrace . They just lived there a short time from 1891 to 1896 as they both died 3 month apart. Hugh and Kate Roberts
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Wyddfyd cottages are the 3 cottages on the left hand side of the road which i believe were known as wyddfyd terrace in earller times. They were at some time 5 cottages and then converted into 3. we live in no 1. i think they may have been numbered 1,3,5,7and 9 originally.
There was a number six as it says so on my birth certificate.
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Yes looking on the 1891 census Robert Roberts was living in number 3 but there was 4 houses with the number 3, he lived there till 1900 when he died, my grandmother was living with him at the time
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I think that these cottages must have been Wyddfyd Cottages Jeff, they are at the top of Wyddfyd Road and on the left hand side as you go up the road.
There is a terrace of other cottages lower down on the right hand side
By the way have you had any luck tracing Robert Roberts born about 1892?
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Hi Hugo yes they are the cottages they have changed a lot ,the one on the right used to be wydfydd cafe now it's owned by Marcus walker I think .
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It looks a very picturesque place-----Hi Hugo no luck as yet with Robert W Roberts pinning all my hopes on the 1921 census , any idea went it will be released
All the best Jeff
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Hi Hugo yes they are the cottages they have changed a lot ,the one on the right used to be wydfydd cafe now it's owned by Marcus walker I think .
His surname is Elliott but that's the guy. I remember some years ago when the place had a short life as a Thai Restaurant, it closed before I was able to have a meal there unfortunately
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It looks a very picturesque place-----Hi Hugo no luck as yet with Robert W Roberts pinning all my hopes on the 1921 census , any idea went it will be released
All the best Jeff
It is in a nice spot Jeff especially in the Summer as there are some good walks nearby. It's a shame about not finding Robert W Roberts, the death records in the UK after 1969 also list the person's date of birth but I've had numerous checks and can't match any up to your Robert
I know that you didn't reckon much to the DNA heritage thing that I had done but there was a TV programme here in the UK recently where babies had been abandoned. left in car parks etc with no details about themselves whatsoever. In one example they not only found the babies mother but they found the babies father too and all done by DNA links. That's going to be the future of family research
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I walked past No 3 Wyddfyd Cottage last week and here's a photo I took at the time. No 3 is on the right of the photo