Lewes family, of Llanllyr.

Family

Lewes family, of Llanllyr.

Llanllyr in the parish of Llanfihangel Ystrad, Cardiganshire, was originally a convent for Cistercian nuns, and a cell of the Cistercian abbey of Strata Florida. After dissolution the convent was leased in 1537 by the Crown for 21 years to Gruffydd ap Henry ap Ieuan of Glyn Aeron. Siwan, Gruffydd's daughter and coheir, married Hugh Llewelyn Lloyd, the third son of Llewelyn Lloyd of Castell Howell. The Llanllyr estate remained in the Lloyd family until the death of William Lloyd in 1688.

William Lloyd had mortgaged the estate for £800 to William Sumner of Great Pelicott, Buckinghamshire, and when he died, Sumner foreclosed, and installed his son, Henry Sumner and a bailiff at Llanllyr. Bridget Lloyd, William Lloyd's widow, claiming dowry, came back with a crowd of friends stormed the house and proceeded to pull it down until Sumner fled in terror. In 1696 the house was described as decayed and in the hands of Sumner's tenant. In 1720 Henry Sumner sold Llanllyr to John Lewes (1680-1742), a Carmarthen merchant, the eldest son of David Lewes, the second son of Rev. John Lewes (1616-63) of Llysnewydd. On the death of his cousin, John Lewes inherited the ancestral estate of Llysnewydd in the parish of Llangeler, Carmarthenshire. John's third son, John Lewes (1793-1860), a captain of the 23rd Light Dragoons, was given Llanllyr on his marriage to Mary Anne (1802-42), daughter of John Vaughan Lloyd of Brynog, and went to live there. His son, John Lewes (1829-1900), married in 1858 with Mary Jane, daughter of Rev. C. Griffith of Llwyndrwys, and used her money to buy his father's interest in Llanllyr. Llanllyr house was demolished and rebuilt under Colonel John Lewes. He was succeeded by his son John Lewes (1860-1931), who married in 1890 with Louisa Hext from Cornwall.