Llwynderw House by Carol Powell MA

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I first set foot in the grounds of Llwynderw House when, as a nine year old, I was sent to deliver some slippers to my Grandmother, who was a patient there, as the building was then being used as a Convalescent Home. The long tree-lined drive up which I walked seemed endless and I little thought that I would from 1968, live within yards of the outbuildings near the field, which I could see that day from the terrace of the House.

What follows are the stories of those who lived in Llwynderw through almost a hundred and forty years.

Henry Knight, born 1755 was the son of George Knight and Elizabeth née Squire and married Ann Edwards in 1779. They went on to have six children Mary, Ann, Henry, Jane, George and Elizabeth. It was two of these, Henry Junior and Jane who were to play significant parts in the history of Llwynderw. Henry Senior became an importer of timber, a Magistrate, a JP, a Member of and eventually, Commandant of the Royal Glamorgan Militia and by 1825, Vice Lieutenant of Glamorgan.

He or his eldest son, Henry may have built Llwynderw around 1830, when it opened via a long drive on to the new Swansea to Oystermouth turnpike road, which had been inaugurated in 1826, alongside the tracks of Mumbles Railway, destined to be closed for some 30 years. Henry junior had married Sarah Lewis, daughter of John and Jane née Owen of Haverfordwest in 1816, but they had no children and Sarah died on 16 January 1826. Henry had been living at Limehouse the, Norway Wharf, London, but by early 1850 was living at Llwynderw. He was appointed as one of the Overseers of Swansea in April 1848. and was involved with the British and Foreign Bible Society and delighted in entertaining the poor children of Queen's Street British Girls School in the grounds of Llwynderw in July 1851.

The 1851 census recorded that Henry Knight, described as a ‘landed proprietor,’ aged 66, a widower, was in residence at Llwyndura [sic] together with two house servants — Rachel Walters, 26 and Catherine Evans aged 29. By 1861, it was just Henry and a housemaid, Elizabeth Jones.

Back on 11^th September 1813, Henry Senior's daughter, Jane (sister to Henry) had married Robert Eaton, a rich Quaker merchant and Banker. He was the son of Elizabeth and Thomas, a former Jamaican slave owner, who is reputed to have freed his slaves and returned to Swansea where he built Bryn y Môr House. Robert had many interests including being on the committees of the Swansea – Oystermouth Canal Navigation group; the Swansea Society for the Education of children of the Poor; the Swansea Dispensary; the Swansea Infirmary; one of the promoters of the Mumbles Infant School (British School in Dunns Lane) and was Clerk at the meeting of the famous Mumbles Railway inaugural meeting at the Bush Hotel in June 1804.

In May 1840, Henry Senior had passed away at his daughter's house, Bryn-y-Môr aged 85, as did his daughter, Jane aged only 55 and his son-in-law, Robert Eaton. Henry's death was announced in the Cambrian and in The British Friend vol 21-22, p75, as 'On 10 February 1863, at his residence Llwynderw, near Swansea, Glamorgan in his 80^th year. Interment took place at the Friends' Burial Ground, Swansea on the 17^th February.'

Samuel, the second son of Roger Staples Horman-Fisher, was educated at Westminster, a student of the Middle Temple. He was called to the Bar on 20^th January 1846, becoming a Barrister. When he came to Swansea, he soon established himself as Chairman of the Glamorganshire Banking Company (later to be the Capital and Counties Company) in Temple Street. He was a Magistrate and active in his Chairmanship of the British School in Mumbles. He was interested in politics and in November 1861, stood for candidacy in the Lower Ward at Swansea unsuccessfully and again in June 1864, again without success.

In November 1870, he became a Member of the Swansea School Board and that year was involved with the raising of funds for 'building a school residence at Penmaen.' In 1875, when the Oystermouth Local Board, which met at the old schoolrooms in Dunns Lane, came into being, Samuel was one of its first Councillors. In 1881, he was among the 'Magistrates and Gentlemen' to be appointed to the Fishery Conservators of Carmarthen Bay.

His wife, Jane was involved with the Ystradgynlais Church and Schools Bazaar in 1869, she was a stall holder at the Swansea Hospital bazaar in April 1878 and a Patron of the Oystermouth bazaar in 1881.

One of Samuel and Jane's daughters, Margaret Jane married William Fry a solicitor of 'Glascodine and Fry', Temple Street, Swansea in October 1877, and also took up residence at Llwynderw. They had two daughters, Mary in August 1878 and Elsie in March 1880. He was involved with the Ragged School and the Swansea Hospital fund raising.

The 1881 census recorded that Samuel and Jane were at home at Llwynderw as was Margaret Fry, (curiously recorded as a widow) and her two infant daughters Mary and Elsie. Margaret Fry was a supporter of the Blind Institution and in April 1878 was also involved with the Swansea Hospital Bazaar together with her mother.

Both William and Margaret suffered from poor health and had a home on Tenerife to escape the worst of the winter weather. According to the Cambrian, William died at 'Ellerslie', Falmouth in June 1893 from Tuberculosis aged only 44, although other reports say he passed away in Tenerife. Margaret who was later diagnosed with multiple schlerosis, moved away to a purpose-built house in the village of Churt near Farnham, which she named 'Derwen'. Her daughter, Elsie inherited that house and died in the 1950s.

Llwynderw had therefore been in the ownership of the same family for many years, albeit down the female line.

The large collection of anti­quarian relics and historic papers collected by his father, were kept at Llwynderw, until bequeathed by another member of the family, Mr. Richard Francis to the Royal Institution.

By 1899, another new owner was Benjamin Evans, the proprietor of prestigious Ben's Store in Swansea. Born in Llansadwrn, Carmarthenshire, he came to Swansea and opened a business in numbers 2 and 3 Temple Street. He learnt his trade 'in the best houses of London and Paris.' In just a few years, he gradually bought up the surrounding properties and in 1893-4, rebuilt at a cost of £30,000, Wales's first department store, which became known as the 'Harrods Of Wales'. In 1895, he floated the business on the Stock Exchange and 'went off to London,' but by 1899, he was back in Swansea, living at Llwynderw, now aged 61, although by 1906, he had moved to Llandovery. He was a JP and a supporter of Swansea Hospital and in March 1900, The London Gazette announced that he had become High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire. Sadly, the famous Ben's store was destined to be destroyed by bombs in the Second World War.

The 1901 census shows that the Head of the household at Llwynderw was now John Ivor Evans (or mabe his son), aged 38 and his wife, Fanny, aged 31 who were in residence together with his two sisters, Florence, a hospital nurse and Daisy, plus Annie Davies their servant.

By 1906, the Kelly's directory notes that Harold Massey-Thomas, a tinplate manufacturer, had made it his home. He had been born on 2 January 1867, the son of Richard Thomas, the tinplate manufacturer, the founder of Richard Thomas & Co, which later merged with Baldwin's Ltd. He married Margaret Louise Robinson on 4 October 1898, but was divorced in 1917. He had lived at Moor Hall in The Mayals and leased 'Beresford' in the Uplands in 1900, prior to moving to Llwynderw. By 1940, he had moved to Bonita Springs in Florida and died in 1949.

Henry was born in 1878, the son of Thomas, a steel worker and Emma and was brought up a Welsh-speaker. He married Leah Norah Thomas, known as Lily, a teacher and daughter of a Baptist minister in 1906 and they went on to have two children, Dudley and Pattie known as 'Toots'. They were prominent members of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.

They gave their earlier house 'Frondeg', to the people of Cymamman, where it became the Amman Valley Cottage Hospital. He had started work in the Melyn Tin Works in Neath, and aged 14, was struck by a train while walking home along the track, losing his left arm. With help, he was enabled to study shorthand and typing and for a while worked as an office boy at the Cambrian Daily Leader. He was a brilliant mathematician and worked his way up in the Tinplate works from office clerk, via assistant cashier, then under-manager, until aged only 23, he was Assistant to the Manager. In time, he became Director of several works, which became known as the 'Folland Group' and was well known as a good employer. Eventually the group was amalgamated with Richard Thomas and Co.

His interests were wide - the second President of Swansea University and Chairman of the South Wales district of the Federation of British Industry. He was made High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1925 and was on the executive committee for the National Eisteddfod in 1926. In his later years, he spent his winters in Egypt at the Mena Hotel Pyramids, from where one year, he returned with an Arabian horse and 'an Arab to ride it'. He died of heart failure in Egypt in March 1926 and was interred in Oystermouth cemetery. Following his death, the horse was taken to visit the cemetery each evening. In his will, he left £10,000 to Swansea Hospital and £1,000 to the Swansea and West Wales Institution for the Blind.

Edward Solomon, who lived at Lilliput cottage nearby, recalled the annual teas given for the pensioners by Mr. and Mrs Folland in the grounds of Llwynderw House. 'In those days, the steam train stopped outside our cottage and I can still see the people alighting all dressed up in their best clothes and walking up Lilliput Lane and along the main road to the entrance of the long wooded drive to the House. There, they would have a grand day returning later to pick up the train at Lilliput Halt'. Lily was involved in the Swansea Girls' Sunshine Club, became a JP, stood as a Liberal Candidate for Gower in 1923 and in 1939, was awarded a CBE for public services in South Wales.

By this time, the property, which had been added to over the years, comprised four floors, which included two staircases, one for the family and the other for the servants, plus a hallway, ballroom, living room, drawing room, dining room, breakfast room, billiards room, garden room, conservatory and kitchen on the ground floor. Upstairs in the east wing were three bedrooms and in the main part, six more and latterly, bathrooms. The attic had two rooms and the cellar, three.

In 1969, the property was sold by the Secretary of State for Social Services to Ronald Edmonds for housing, although it then lay unoccupied for many years, only attended by two caretakers. Then in July 1980, the remains of the by-now much-vandalised house were put on the market and knocked down in 1989. The area was eventually redeveloped for sheltered housing at Oaklands Court, plus, in 2003 luxury houses at Sherborne Court and the gardens and woods down towards the sea, for Llwynderw Close and Drive, Heneage Drive and Folland Court.

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