Photos of the family farms and graves
The farms on the map are all Williams farms. The two missing from the map are Waunffort, just opposite Blaencwm and fronting the main road to Llansteffan, and Pentowyn, at the tip of the estuary near Llansteffan.
Mount Pleasant and Blaencwm were cottages.
The acreage shown for each farm comes from the 1910 survey, Duties on Land Values. Most land holdings in Carmarthenshire from the 1870s to the 1920s were under fifty acres.
There were also a good many other family farms dotted around the Llansteffan peninsula, lived in by various cousins and in-laws of the Williamses. I've listed many of these on p209 of Dylan Remembered 1914-34 (2003).
Pen-y-coed, 2011, the "founding" farm. Dylan's maternal great-great grandparents, John and Anna Williams, were here from the 1820s, followed by their children and grandchildren to at least 1911 but probably to 1918. Then sometime after Evan and Sarah Davies came in; their daughter, Mary Ann, married into Llwyngwyn in 1929. (128 acres)
Pencelli Isaf, 1993. Dylan's great-grandfather, Thomas Williams, a son of Pen-y-coed, and his wife Anne of Maesgwyn, farmed here before moving to Waunfwlchan. Dylan's grandmother, Anna/Hannah, was born here in 1840, as was Evan Williams, later of Tirbach and Llwyngwyn, Thomas and Anne's second son. (36 acres).
Pentowyn, c.2010. A Williams farm from at least 1871, when Eliza Williams, sister of Dylan’s grt-grandmother, Anne Williams of Waunfwlchan farm, married Benjamin Davies of Pentowyn. It remained a Williams-related farm until 1959, including a stint there in the early 1900s by Jim and Annie Jones before they moved to Fernhill.
Waunfwlchan, 2011 (far right). Thomas and Anne Williams, Dylan’s grt-grandparents, farmed here from 1841 to at least 1891. Dylan's mother, Florence, and her siblings holidayed here in their childhood. (120 acres)
Tirbach, 2011 (red car). Farmed by Evan Williams, son of Waunfwlchan, and his wife, Anne, from about 1872 to 1886, when they moved to Llwyngwyn. Evan was Florence's uncle. It was then occupied from 1886 by Evan's brother, John who was still there in 1891. When Annie married Jim Jones in 1893, they lived here before moving to Pentowyn and then Fernhill. (59 acres)
Maesgwyn, 2011 (white barn). Farmed from the mid-1890s by Evan and Anne's daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Thomas Evans. Still farmed today by the Williamses. (132 acres)
Llwyngwyn, 2011 (4x4vehicle). Farmed from about 1886 by Evan and Anne Williams, with their six children, first cousins of Florence. Dylan came here just before his final visit to America in 1953. Still farmed today by the Williamses. (190 acres)
Pencelli Uchaf, 2011 (pylon in background). Farmed by another of Florence's Llwyngwyn first cousins, Annie Williams, and her husband, William Evans, from their marriage in 1910 until their deaths in 1951. William's parents had farmed it before them. (93 acres)
Fernhill, 2011 (white mansion). Farmed by Annie and Jim Jones from about 1906 to about 1929. Followed by Tom Williams and his wife, Doris nee Lewis of Meini farm, who was Florence's second cousin. They were here until about 1972. (15 acres)
Mount Pleasant, 1973, and as it was when Anne, Jim and Idris Jones moved here c1929 from Fernhill. This is where Annie and Jim died. Idris sold the cottage to Bethan Davies, whose son Peter lives here today.
Waunffort, 2011, (below). Daniel Williams, half-brother of Thomas Williams of Waunfwlchan, farmed here from at least 1870 to his death in 1898. His grandson, Robert Williams also lived here. He married Anne Gwyn (nee Williams) in 1895, who was Florence's half-sister. The farm fronts the main road from Llangain to Llansteffan, and is the start of the "family lane" that continues past Blaencwm, Llwyngwyn, Waunfwlchan and Mount Pleasant. (31 acres)
Mount Pleasant
Pentrewyman, 2021, where Dylan played, rode, ate and sometimes slept. Farmed from at least 1871 by Jim Jones' parents and then, from about 1906, by Jim's siblings, including Rachel ("Auntie Rach"), who had been born on the farm in 1875 and lived there for most of her life. From about 1919, it was farmed by Rachel and her son, Albert. They left about 1929. They were followed by Florence's cousins, William and Margaret Jones, who left in 1953. (110 acres)
Blaencwm, 2011, (above). In Dylan's day, Blaencwm was a pair of cottages, just opposite Waunffort. Lived in from c1929 onwards by Dylan's aunts Theodosia and Polly, as well as his uncle Bob, on their retirement from Swansea.
Dylan's parents lived here for much of the 1940s.
Capel Newydd, Llanybri.
The five helmet-topped graves of the Waunfwlchan Williamses, probably the most imposing in the graveyard. They include Dylan's grandparents, George Williams ("Not gone from memory, not gone from love/But gone to our Father's home above.") and his wife Hannah, who has a simpler inscription ("At rest"). Those on the left are the close relations from Pentowyn, Mwche and Plas Isaf Llanybri, the Harries and Phillips families.
The three Llwyngwyn and Maesgwyn graves, side by side in death as in life, not an inch between them. The grave behind with the red pillar contains more Pentowyn relatives. Beside it to the left, is the grave of Williams relations from Pen-y-coed/Pantyrhuad. To its right, are more distant cousins, the Francis family from Down farm.
The grave of Annie and Jim Jones, Fernhill, with the single inscription
Henffych ddydd cawn eto gwrdd
Hail the day (when) we'll meet again
The Dylan plaque at the front seems incongruous, given that so many of the graves here are those of his relatives.