Overview
Maesmawr Farm is one of the first farms you encounter on the way in to Glascoed travelling from New Inn, off Glascoed Lane.
In common with most Glascoed properties in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was a tenanted farm on the Duke of Beaufort Estates. We first see it in “A List of Tenants Renting from The Duke of Beaufort Estates Surveyed by John Aram, Volume 10” dated 1763-1765”.
At this time the tenant was Charles William Jenkins who farmed around 146 acres. Elizabeth Phillips also rented around 5 acres of the farmland: this may well be what was referred to in the 1841 census as “Little Mase Mawr”. I wonder whether “Little Mase Mawr” is actually Cwm Soar?
Charles William Jenkins’ wife, Elizabeth was buried at Goytre parish church on 23rd February 1777. I don’t have any further records at the moment that refer to Charles.
Maesmawr farm can be seen towards the bottom left hand corner of this map. The map was surveyed shortly before the Reservoir flooded most of the mile or so to the South of the farm. The map was out of date shortly after as it was published in 1964, since the Reservoir’s construction had started in 1961 and the Reservoir opened officially in May 1965.
Facts and Figures
Year of Construction
Unsure – certainly pre 1763.
First Recorded Residents and year
Charles William Jenkins, 1763.
Residents at time of the 1851 census
Richard and Maria Arnold and family.
Location
Here you see the present day location of Maesmawr, courtesy of Google maps.
It is one of the first farm lanes that you encounter (on your right-hand side) as you enter Glascoed from New Inn, along Glascoed Lane. As you can see it borders Llandegfedd Reservoir.
The postal code is NP4 0TX.
Residents
Charles Wm. and Elizabeth Jenkins, 1763
I am grateful that John Aram, in his survey of the Duke of Beaufort’s Estates between 1763 and 1765, thought to record that a Charles William Jenkins was the tenant at Maesmawr. It was a large farm, by Glascoed standards at 146 acres. Most Glascoed residents did not have their property recorded on this survey.
The only other thing that I have been able to establish about the Jenkins family is that Charles was married to Elizabeth. Her death was recorded in the Goytre Parish Church burial registers as such, stating that on 23rd February 1777, Elizabeth Jenkins, the wife of Charles Wm Jenkins, farmer, Glascoed, was buried.
I’d like to find out more about this family – perhaps one day?!
Francis Morgan
The Land Tax records of 1806 do not show names of houses.
I believe that it is likely that Francis Morgan was probably the tenant of Maesmawr at this time, since the owner of Maesmawr in 1823 was the Duke of Beaufort and the valuation of the property was £12, exactly the same details as the 1806 records show for Francis Morgan’s property.
Matthew Vaughan
Matthew Vaughan appears to have been the resident at Maesmawr, according to the 1823, 1824, 1829 and 1831 land tax assessment records.
Edward Lewis
Edward Lewis was the first named resident at “Mase Mawr” at the time of the 1841 census. He was a 50 year old farmer. Jane Lewis aged 10 was next listed, followed by John Arnold, aged 15 an “agricultural labourer” and “Mary Ann” a 20 year old farm servant. Edward was also on the Electoral Register compiled in 1841.
Richard and Maria Arnold
John Arnold, the labourer on the 1841 census’ parents, William and Maria Arnold had taken over the farm at some point between 6th June 1841 and 30th November 1843 (when the new Register of Electors became effective). The Arnolds came across from Llanishen, Monmouthshire.
Richard’s wife Maria, was born Maria Jones at Llanishen on 26th Feb 1797 and was the daughter of William Jones and Ann Powell (of Tregeiriog House, Llangovan). Richard Arnold was born at Llandenny in 1796.
Richard and Ann had nine children to my knowledge, born between 1821 (Maria) and 1841 (Robert). All of their children were born in Llanishen or Llandenny. Ann, Richard, Thomas, James and Robert were at Maesmawr on the 1851 census.
Richard (Senior) farmed at Maesmawr until 1871, I believe and appear to have carried on living with their son, Robert, until their deaths: Maria died aged 75 on 3rd December 1872 and Richard on 5th February 1874, aged 77 or 78. Richard and Maria were buried at Penyclawdd.
Their son, Robert Arnold took over the as the tenant around 1871, as we see from the Register of Electors records.
On the 1879 Register of Electors, there’s a change: William Arnold (Robert’s brother) was on the Register as living at Maesmawr, although his qualifying property was actually land at Upper House, Glascoed.
Another of Richard and Maria’s sons lived at Glascoed for most of his life: Richard Arnold (born c. 1830/31 at Llandenny) married Elizabeth Williams of Beech Farm, a month after her first child, Mary Ann Arnold was born at Beech Farm. After a brief period in Bryngwyn, near Raglan, after their marriage (9th April 1857), Richard and Elizabeth moved back to Glascoed – initially at Beech Cottage/ Castle Corrin and later at Upper Twyn, till their deaths in 1916.
The Gwatkin family
William and Eliza Gwatkin moved to Maesmawr somewhere between 1879 and census night 3rd April 1881.
William was born in Walterstone, Herefordshire around 1820. It was a brief foray to Herefordshire for his parents, James and Elizabeth, since they moved back to Wales when he was little to settle at Goytre. William and Eliza had farmed at Church Farm, Lower Goytre, before moving to Maesmawr in their 60s.
There appear to be close links between the Maesmawr farm families and the Williams family of Beech Farm, since their only daughter (they had at least 8 sons), Anne married the 48 year old bachelor farmer at Beech Farm, Philip Williams. Anne’s first husband had died young at the age of 36, leaving Anne to bring up 5 children alone for the six years prior to her marriage to Philip.
Eliza died in 1893 and William in 1897 both at Glascoed (I assume Maesmawr) and were buried at Monkswood parish church.
Edmund Gwatkin, William and Maria’s son carried on farming at Maesmawr after the death of his parents, having married Bessie Lloyd (born c 1868 in Llantarnam) in 1898. They had at least one daughter, Kathleen. Edmund gave up farming by 1911, since on the census of that year, he was now a milk vendor, living at 103, The Highway in New Inn, with Bessie and Kathleen.
Sidney and Annie Morgan
Sidney and Annie were newly-weds in 1911, who were now living at Maesmawr. It’s possible that the farm had been empty for a period, since it’s not mentioned in the 1909 Register of Electors.
Sidney was a 29-year-old Farmer, from Monknash in Glamorgan and Annie was aged 26, from Llantwit Major, Glamorgan, just a few miles from Monknash.
Henry Elsted was with them as their Waggoner. He was from Sherborne in Dorset.
Francis and Minnie Connabeer
Francis George and Minnie Florence Connabeer were the residents at the time of the 1921 census and also appeared on the 1922 Register of Electors.
Francis was from North Bovey in Devon and was a 41 year old farmer. Minnie was the same age and hailed from Abergavenny. The ages of their children seem to point to an arrival in Glascoed before 1916, since their three children were all born in the hamlet. The eldest was Francis S. Connabeer (aged 5 years and 10 months), George E. was 3 years and 5 months old and Frances M. was 2 years and 2 months old. Since the census took place on 19th June 1921, we can safely conclude that Francis (Junior) was born in Glascoed in the summer of 1915.
Francis and Minnie employed a Waggoner, who lived on the farm. He too was from the West of England, from Keynsham in Somerset and was named George Taylor. George was a 58 year old widower.
Bessie Badham
I love this name! Bessie was the only person who was eligible to vote, living at Maesmawr who appeared on the 1929 Register of Electors.
Since Bessie Badham is a reasonably uncommon name, I decided to look her up on the 1921 census for Monmouthshire. I found a Bessie Badham, aged 27 years and 5 months who was married to an older farmer, William A. Badham aged 50 years and 6 months. They were both born at Garway, Herefordshire. They had three children Benjamin (aged 4), Mary (aged 2) and Unice (Eunice?) aged 1. Benjamin was born in Wendover, Buckinghamshire and Mary and Unice at Monkswood. Bessie and William were living at Cefn Mawr farm, Monkswood.
I then found that a death was registered in the name of a William A. Badham, in the Pontypool registration district in the April to June Quarter of 1928. This William was aged 58. I can therefore conclude that it is LIKELY that William and Bessie had come to live at Maesmawr together at some point between the summer of 1921 and William’s death in the middle of 1928.
I may be wrong, although this seems to be a reasonable conclusion.
Benjamin and Alice Morgan
The 1939 National Register introduces us to Benjamin and Alice Morgan. Benjamin W. Morgan was the Head of the Household and a farmer. He had been born on 22nd October 1902 and was married to Alice Morgan, who had been born on 12th February 1909. Alice is listed as an unpaid domestic.
The Davis family
Maesmawr is, at the time of writing in 2024, the home of the Award Winning Poultry producers, Usk Vale Poultry, run by the Davis family.
Their website “Usk Valley Poultry” is worth exploring – whether you are looking to source high quality Turkey or are are just interested in finding out more about a Glascoed family that has made a success of farming and their business.
Records
Glascoed tenants list 1763-65
• Charles William Jenkins.
Land Tax Assessments
• 1806 – Francis Morgan.
• 1823, 1824, 1829, 1831 – Matthew Vaughan.
Registers of Electors
• 1840-41 – Edward Lewis.
• 1843-44 through to 1871 – Richard Arnold.
• 1872-78 – Robert Arnold.
• 1879 – William Arnold.
• 1889 – William Gwatkin.
• 1922 – Francis and Minnie Connabeer.
• 1929 – Bessie Badham.
Censuses
• 1841 – Edward Lewis.
• 1851 – 1871 – Richard and Maria Arnold.
• 1881, 1891 – William and Maria Gwatkin.
• 1901 – Edmund and Bessie Gwatkin.
• 1911 – Sidney and Annie Morgan.
• 1921 – Francis and Minnie Connabeer.
• 1939 National Register – Benjamin and Alice Morgan.