Fonds GB 0210 BRONWYDD - Bronwydd Estate Records

The Owen family, lords of Cemais, descended from Martin de Tours, a Norman who conquered the cantref of Cemais c.1094 and founder of the marcher baronry of Cemais. By the 1870s, the barony of Cemais was the last surviving Lord Marcher title to exercise any authority, that of appointing the mayors of Newport, Pembrokeshire.

The estate descended to William Owen (d. 1574) of Henllys, the first of the family to adopt a surname, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George Herbert of Swansea. Their son, the antiquarian George Owen (1552-1613) of Henllys, lord of Cemais, married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of William Phillipps of Picton. George Owen was succeeded by his son, Alban Owen, who married Joan, daughter of William Bradshaw of St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire. Alban was succeeded by his son, David Owen of Henllys, who married Anne, daughter of Robert Corbet of Ynysymaengwyn, Merionethshire, and left a son, William Owen (d. 1721), whose issue terminated in a son William (dsp) and a daughter and heir Anne.

Anne Owen married Thomas Lloyd of Penpedwast in Pembrokeshire, who became lord of Cemais in right of his wife, and was succeeded by their son William Lloyd of Henllys and Penpedwast. William's daughter and heir, Anne, married Thomas Lloyd of Bronwydd, who became lord of Cemais in right of his wife. The family abandoned Henllys as a residence in the 18th century, after which it was occupied by tenants.

The Rev. Thomas Lloyd, son of David ap Rhys ap Howel ap Rhys of Crynfryn, and rector of Llangynllo and vicar of Penbryn, was the first of the Lloyd family to live at Bronwydd, in the parish of Llangynllo, Cardiganshire, having bought the estate from his father-in-law, George Bryne of Pant Dafydd in the parish of Llanfair Treflygen, the father of his wife, Sage. In 1614, the Rev. Thomas Lloyd's estate comprised the capital messuage of Bronwydd and 31 other properties in the parishes of Llangynllo, Nancwnlle, Llangeitho, Caron, Betws Bledrws, Llangybi, Llanfair Clydogau, Llandysul, Llanfair Orllwyn and Llanddewibrefi. Rhys Lloyd (d. 1646), sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1632, succeeded to most of his father's estates, and was succeeded by his son Thomas Lloyd (d. 1663), who, in 1642, married Magdalen, daughter of William Robinson of Gwersyllt, Denbighshire. They were succeeded by their eldest son Thomas Lloyd- 'patriotic Thomas Lloyd of Bronwydd'-as Carlisle described him. Thomas Lloyd was succeeded by his son, also named Thomas Lloyd (1679-c.1737), who sold Bronwydd to his uncle, John Lloyd of Cilrhiwe.

Thomas Lloyd (1703-1775), a barrister and sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1733, succeeded to Bronwydd in 1730, and through his marriage with Anne Lloyd acquired the Henllys and Penpedwast estates, and Monkton Hadley in Essex. In 1750 he bought a moiety of the barony of Cemais from John Laugharne of Llanrheithan, and henceforth called himself the Marcher Lord of Cemais.

Thomas was succeeded by his son, Thomas Lloyd (1736-1807), a captain in the 11th Regiment of Foot, and colonel of the Fishguard & Newport Volunteers in 1797. He in turn was succeeded by his son Thomas Lloyd (1788-1845) who was succeeded by his son Thomas Davies Lloyd (1820-1877) who was created a baronet in 1863.

According to the 1873 return of owners of land, Sir Thomas Davies Lloyd of Bronwydd owned an estimated 7,913 acres of land in Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire, with an estimated rental of £5,361. By 1881, the estate had grown to 7,964 acres, with a rental of £6,597.

Sir Marteine Owen Lloyd (1851-1933), 2nd baronet, was sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1881 and a captain in the Pembrokeshire Yeoman Cavalry. His only son, Marteine Kemes Arundel Lloyd (1890-1916), a captain in the Grenadier Guards Special Reserves, was killed in France during the First World War. The male line failed and the baronetcy became extinct with the 2nd baronet's death in 1933. He left four daughters, Nesta Constance Muriel (1879-1943), Peverel de Lormet (1887-1953, dsp), Joan Henllys (1897-1973) and Elizabeth Joan (b. 1926).

Nesta, wife of Frederick Edward Withington of Bicester, succeeded to the lordship of Cemais in 1933. In 1937 the Bronwydd estate of 2,072 acres was advertised for sale by auction in 98 lots. The mansion was bought by a contractor who stripped it of its doors, windows and fittings and left it to decay. By 1983 the house was a complete ruin, the roof and floors having fallen in.

Nesta left an only daughter, Morfa Audley Withington (1920-1958, dsp), who succeeded her mother in 1943, married Captain Peter Winser in 1956, and died without issue in 1958. Peverel, wife (m. 1914) of Roger Edward John Lloyd of Plas Tregayan, Anglesey, had already died without issue in 1953. Morfa was succeeded by her aunt Joan, wife (m. 1921) of Philip Saxon Gregson Ellis of Plas Clough, co. Denb. When Joan died in 1973 she was succeeded by her elder daughter Hyacinthe, wife (m. 1943) of John Stanley Hawkesworth. Their son, John Philip Cemaes Hawkesworth (b. 1947), was succeded by his son Alexander.