If you drive along the A55 between Conway and Bangor you may glimpse through the trees a mysterious house with a tall tower, standing on a mound. This is Pen-y-bryn, supposed to have once been the palace of Llywelyn Fawr. We may peep into its historic interior thanks to surviving probate records, now available as digitised images online.
Pen-y-bryn
In the 17th-18th centuries Pen-y-bryn was occupied by the Thomas family. The inventory of the deceased John Thomas, dated 1705, takes us through rooms which still exist to this day:
The parlour chamber
The middle tower chamber
The porch chamber
The hall chamber
The room above the cellar (to which modern visitors descend, in true Famous Five fashion, through a trap-door in the floor!)
In addition to the furniture of those rooms John Thomas owned £59 3s 6d in gold and silver, numerous livestock, foodstuffs, pans, pewter, linen, a remnant of red cloth, cart wheels, implements of husbandry, books, silver plate and many other items.
Just one document has given us access to an ancient house of Wales and has permitted us to inspect its owner’s personal possessions. Wills and inventories may reveal other fascinating facts: locations of buildings long gone, occupations of parish inhabitants, their religion and relationships, including a massive family row in Cardiff in 1680 (more about that later, subject to demand!). In short, probate records are brilliant sources for genealogists, for legal, religious and local historians, or just for the incurably nosey…..!
Hilary Peters