Clement-Jones family - Person Sheet
Clement-Jones family - Person Sheet
Notes for Richard JONES
Richard Jones the father of Edward Jones. See also entry for his wife Mary. He is immediately above Edward Jones in the 1720 List of freeholders for Derwen Quarter Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd Parish where they both were canvassed as supporters of Sir Robert Myddleton for the anticipated Denbigh County Election which took place in 1722. 47. 46This is a very similar pattern to the 1741 Freeholders list where Henry Jones (his grandson) appears immediately below Edward his father and Richard’s son.
He is probably the Richard Jones of of Derwen who was buried in Llanfair DC on 20th July 1722 and therefore the late Richard Jones mentioned in a bond of 1728 entered into by his Administrators, Mary Lloyd and his son Edward Jones, shortly before Mary’s death.80
He is on the 1700 Freeholders list 81and that of “Gentlemen Freeholders” for 1688 82 , the latter explicitly for “Derwen Quarter”. His house, presumably in Pentre Cae Heilyn does not feature in Edward Lhuyd’s Parochalia 8however as one of the “houses of note” of Llanfair or indeed the “other houses” of Llanfair.
He is also referred to in the 1705 “Names of Freeholders of the several hundreds in Denbighshire with a valuation of their estates83” under Llanfair DC Parish Derwen Township as having property worth £12 making him middle ranking among the ordinary freeholders in the parish (the major landowners had valuations above £100).
He is also probably one of the two Richard Jones freeholders in Ruthin Lordship who signed the 1696 Oaths of Attestation (of Loyalty to William the Third). 84
His marriage could be entered in the Llanarmon yn Yal marriage register of 1678 although Mary is described as Marian Lloyd in the transcript.
He does not however appear in the “list of those freeholders who came with Richard Myddleton Esq to vote with him for the Knight of the Shire for the County of Denbigh to sit in the next approaching parliament to meet at Oxford” of 1680/81 which may mean that he voted for Sir John Trevor of Brynkinallt. At this contested Denbigh Shire Election in ther midst of what has become known as the Exclusion Crisis (the attempt to pass an act of parliament to exclude James King Charles II’s brother from the throne) Trevor as the Court Party candidate was the victor and was subsequently elected Speaker but later impeached. (See his entry).
Electioneering was a colourful and often controversial activity during this period and the Denbigh election of 1681 proved to be particularly dramatic. The seat had long been in the control of the Myddelton family. By the time of the 1681 election Sir Thomas Myddelton had stepped out of the arena in favour of his younger brother Richard. Myddelton was educated for the Church, but travelled abroad after two of his elder brothers had died, returning shortly before the general election of 1681. Although he had not yet inherited the estate, he stood for the county seat.
However, when the election writ was issued, Richard ‘was not a resident in the county’, but was still travelling abroad. Trevor seized on this as a procedural impropriety and claimed that the non-residence immediately disqualified Myddelton. Trevor did indeed have a legal case based upon an Act of 1413 (1 Hen. V, c. 1) wherein it was stated that if ‘the knights of the shires which from henceforth shall be chosen in every shire, be not resident within the [shire] where they shall be chosen, the day of the date of the writ of the summons of parliament’ their elections would be declared invalid. This restriction had been reinforced by legislation in 1429,1432 and 1444-45.19
The statute had fallen into disuse long before the sixteenth century, but was not actually repealed until 1774. Election practice and custom could not justify Trevor’s action, but the letter of the law was on his side. Trevor’s legal skill coupled with ruthless determination allowed him to ‘convince’ the sheriff of the merit of his case and he was subsequently returned for the seat without a poll.
As so often in Trevor’s career, success was followed by challenge and confrontation.The Myddeltons refused to accept the decision in the undoubtedly correct belief that the election had been engineered by Trevor’s control over the sheriff. Tension reached such a pitch that there was even some talk of a duel between Trevor and Myddelton.
In reality, Trevor’s achievement was somewhat academic as the parliament was only in existence for a week from 21 to 28 March. He gained no practical advantage from the seat and the election dispute was left unresolved. The Oxford Parliament was dissolved before a decision could be reached.
In September Myddleton unsuccessfully applied for his opponent’s removal from the commission of the peace; but in 1685, at the instance of the Duke of Beaufort (Henry Somerset), he agreed to support Trevor in the boroughs, while he was himself returned for the county at the cost of £63 13s.6d. He held the seat for the rest of his life, attending the House assiduously as long as his health permitted.
Richard’s father could be Rees, Reese or Rice Jones as shown in the hearth tax records for Derwen Llanerch for 1662 1666 and 167185 but it is not possible to be sure at this stage. It could be that Richard came from outside the parish or township and Mary Lloyd received the Pentre Cae Heilyn house from her father or Richard bought the house.
Richard was essentially, even though described as a gentleman freeholder, a yeoman which means that the Pentre Cae Heilyn property-at the Southern end of the Vale of Clwyd-was probably farmed by him with the assistance of a number of farm labourers. Although now used for pasture the land at that time in the area was farmed for wheat and the farm would have been a distinct entity with hedged fields after enclosures in the area in the 17th century. There were a great many water driven corn mills in the county, including an important town mill (Castle Mill, Mill street) in nearby Ruthin, dating back to medieval times, owned by the Lordship of Ruthin, which is still a feature of the town.
According to George Borrow’s informant they spoke the best Welsh in the Vale of Clwyd the “Welsh of the Bible”86
Here is an extract from the The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust Historic Landscapes site which describes the area: (The Vale of Clwyd ORNAMENTAL AND PICTURESQUE LANDSCAPES)
“Aesthetic appreciation of the landscape of the The Vale of Clwyd has a long tradition stretching back to at least the late 16th century, the earliest descriptions, such as in the following verse by Michael Drayton, contrasting the lushness and fertility of the valley, its meadows and cornfields with the 'hills whose hoarie heads seeme in the clouds to dwell'.
The North-wind (calme become) forgets his Ire to wreake,
And the delicious Vale thus mildly doth bespeake;
Deere Cluyd, th'aboundant sweets, that from thy bosome flowe,
When with my active wings into the ayre I throwe,
Those Hills whose hoarie heads seeme in the clouds to dwell,
Of aged become young, enamor'd with the smell
Of th'odiferous flowers in thy most precious lap:
Within whose velvit leaves, when I my self enwrap,
Thy suffocate with sents; that (from my native kind)
I seeme some slowe perfume, and not the swiftest wind.
With joy, my Dyffren Cluyd, I see the bravely spred,
Survaying every part, from foote up to thy head;
Thy full and youthfull breasts, which in their meadowy pride,
Are brancht with rivery veines, Meander-like that glide.
I further note in thee, more excellent than these
(Were there a thing that more the amorous eye might please)
Thy plumpe and swelling wombe, whose mellowy gleabe doth beare
The yellow ripened sheafe, that bendeth with the eare.
Michael Drayton, The Poly-Olbion, 1598-1622
The proportion of unenclosed common land and probably also woodland were much greater than the present day, but by this it is probable that a considerable amount of enclosure, land improvement and drainage had taken place, as evident in the accounts of improvement works carried out in the former medieval park at Bathafarn between the 1550s and 1590s. Similar aspects of the landscape are again evident from Edward Lhuyd in Camden's Britannia, published in 1722.
‘We are now come to the heart of the County, where nature, having remov'd the Mountains on all hands (to shew us what she could do in a rugged Country) hath spread out a most pleasant Vale; extended from south to north seventeen miles and about five in breadth. It lies open only to the Ocean, and to the clearing North-wind; being elsewhere guarded with high mountains, which (towards the east especially) are like battlements or turrets; for by admirable contrivance of nature, the tops of these mountains seem to resemble the turrets of walls. Among them, the highest is call'd Moel Enlhi [Foel Fenlli]: at the top whereof I observ'd a military fence or rampire, and a very clear Spring. This Vale is exceeding healthy, fruitful, and pleasant: the complexion of the Inhabitants is bright and cheerful; their heads of a sound constitution; their sight is very lively, and even their old age vigorous and lasting. The green Meadows, the Corn-fields, and the numerous Villages and Churches in this Vale, afford us the most pleasant prospect imaginable. The river Clwyd, from the very fountain-head runs through the midst of it, receiving on each side a great number of rivulets. And from hence it has been formerly call'd Ystrad Klwyd, i.e. the Vale of Cluid.'
Edward Lhuyd, Camden's Britannia, 1722
The 18th and early 19th centuries were very much the age of the topographical writer. Again, in Daniel Defoe's Tour published a few year's later, the emphasis is upon the contrast between the tamed and fertile farmland in the vale and the rugged and inhospitable hills which enclose it.
‘We have but little remarkable in the road from Conway to Hollywell, but crags and rocks all along the [north shore], till we come to Denbeigh town. This is the country town, and is a large populous place, which carries something in its countenance of its neighbourhood to England, but that which was most surprising, after such a tiresome and fatiguing journey, over the unhospitable mountains of Merioneth, and Carnarvonshire, was, that descending now from the hills, we came into a most pleasant, fruitful, populous, and delicious vale, full of villages and towns, the fields shining with corn, just ready for the reapers, the meadows green and flowery, and a fine river, with a mild and gentle river running through it; nor is it a small or casual intermission, but we had a prospect of the country open before us, for above 20 miles in length, and from 5 to 7 miles in breadth, all smiling with the same kind of complexion, which made us think our selves in England again, all on a sudden.’
Daniel Defoe, A Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain, 1725
Towards the end of the 18th century, Thomas Pennant provides a similar description of the vale from the north-west of Llanrhaeadr
‘on an eminence to the north-west of the church, called Cader Gwladus . . . is an extremely beautiful view of the vale between Denbigh and Ruthin, and the whole breadth chequered with wood, meadows, and corn-fields; and almost the whole range of the eastern limits soaring far above it.’
Pennant, A Tour in Wales, 1793
The publication of a number of works such as Gilpin's Essays on the Picturesque in 1792 were to have a considerable impact on the aesthetic value of landscape at this time. Wordsworth, staying with friends at Llangynhafal on several occasions in the 1790s, describes it as lying in the 'most delicious of all Vales, the Vale of Clwyd'.
For Sir Richard Colt Hoare, the antiquarian, at the beginning of the 19th century, the contrast was again between the richness of the vale with the surrounding countryside: 'after passing over another dreary common the beautiful Vale of Clwyd bursts unexpectedly on the eye.’
His main concerns were literally the picturesque or drawable view. Thus, Denbigh could be considered 'a rich picturesque scene, worthy [of] the pencil of Poussin', but the Vale of Clwyd itself proved to be less satisfactory in this respect.
‘With regard to its picturesque beauty I was rather disappointed. Its mountainous boundaries to the east are well formed and finely broken, but the Vale is in general too wide to furnish good subjects for the pencil. The views however which its different parts present are truly pleasing and the views from its heights are very grand.’
Colt Hoare, 6 June 1801
Present-day appreciation of the landscape value of The Vale of Clwyd has a long tradition, one of its essential qualities still being the juxtaposition of the natural and artificial landscapes - the contrast between the 'meadows green and flowery' of the vale and the 'crags and rocks' of the surrounding hills.”
The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Llanfair D.C. BY E. POWELL 1914 published in the the Denbighshire Free Press from April to July 1914 (transcribed by TCJ and republished by him on Lulu) gives a very valuable insight into life in Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd and the Vale of Clwyd in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
He is probably the Richard Jones of of Derwen who was buried in Llanfair DC on 20th July 1722 and therefore the late Richard Jones mentioned in a bond of 1728 entered into by his Administrators, Mary Lloyd and his son Edward Jones, shortly before Mary’s death.80
He is on the 1700 Freeholders list 81and that of “Gentlemen Freeholders” for 1688 82 , the latter explicitly for “Derwen Quarter”. His house, presumably in Pentre Cae Heilyn does not feature in Edward Lhuyd’s Parochalia 8however as one of the “houses of note” of Llanfair or indeed the “other houses” of Llanfair.
He is also referred to in the 1705 “Names of Freeholders of the several hundreds in Denbighshire with a valuation of their estates83” under Llanfair DC Parish Derwen Township as having property worth £12 making him middle ranking among the ordinary freeholders in the parish (the major landowners had valuations above £100).
He is also probably one of the two Richard Jones freeholders in Ruthin Lordship who signed the 1696 Oaths of Attestation (of Loyalty to William the Third). 84
His marriage could be entered in the Llanarmon yn Yal marriage register of 1678 although Mary is described as Marian Lloyd in the transcript.
He does not however appear in the “list of those freeholders who came with Richard Myddleton Esq to vote with him for the Knight of the Shire for the County of Denbigh to sit in the next approaching parliament to meet at Oxford” of 1680/81 which may mean that he voted for Sir John Trevor of Brynkinallt. At this contested Denbigh Shire Election in ther midst of what has become known as the Exclusion Crisis (the attempt to pass an act of parliament to exclude James King Charles II’s brother from the throne) Trevor as the Court Party candidate was the victor and was subsequently elected Speaker but later impeached. (See his entry).
Electioneering was a colourful and often controversial activity during this period and the Denbigh election of 1681 proved to be particularly dramatic. The seat had long been in the control of the Myddelton family. By the time of the 1681 election Sir Thomas Myddelton had stepped out of the arena in favour of his younger brother Richard. Myddelton was educated for the Church, but travelled abroad after two of his elder brothers had died, returning shortly before the general election of 1681. Although he had not yet inherited the estate, he stood for the county seat.
However, when the election writ was issued, Richard ‘was not a resident in the county’, but was still travelling abroad. Trevor seized on this as a procedural impropriety and claimed that the non-residence immediately disqualified Myddelton. Trevor did indeed have a legal case based upon an Act of 1413 (1 Hen. V, c. 1) wherein it was stated that if ‘the knights of the shires which from henceforth shall be chosen in every shire, be not resident within the [shire] where they shall be chosen, the day of the date of the writ of the summons of parliament’ their elections would be declared invalid. This restriction had been reinforced by legislation in 1429,1432 and 1444-45.19
The statute had fallen into disuse long before the sixteenth century, but was not actually repealed until 1774. Election practice and custom could not justify Trevor’s action, but the letter of the law was on his side. Trevor’s legal skill coupled with ruthless determination allowed him to ‘convince’ the sheriff of the merit of his case and he was subsequently returned for the seat without a poll.
As so often in Trevor’s career, success was followed by challenge and confrontation.The Myddeltons refused to accept the decision in the undoubtedly correct belief that the election had been engineered by Trevor’s control over the sheriff. Tension reached such a pitch that there was even some talk of a duel between Trevor and Myddelton.
In reality, Trevor’s achievement was somewhat academic as the parliament was only in existence for a week from 21 to 28 March. He gained no practical advantage from the seat and the election dispute was left unresolved. The Oxford Parliament was dissolved before a decision could be reached.
In September Myddleton unsuccessfully applied for his opponent’s removal from the commission of the peace; but in 1685, at the instance of the Duke of Beaufort (Henry Somerset), he agreed to support Trevor in the boroughs, while he was himself returned for the county at the cost of £63 13s.6d. He held the seat for the rest of his life, attending the House assiduously as long as his health permitted.
Richard’s father could be Rees, Reese or Rice Jones as shown in the hearth tax records for Derwen Llanerch for 1662 1666 and 167185 but it is not possible to be sure at this stage. It could be that Richard came from outside the parish or township and Mary Lloyd received the Pentre Cae Heilyn house from her father or Richard bought the house.
Richard was essentially, even though described as a gentleman freeholder, a yeoman which means that the Pentre Cae Heilyn property-at the Southern end of the Vale of Clwyd-was probably farmed by him with the assistance of a number of farm labourers. Although now used for pasture the land at that time in the area was farmed for wheat and the farm would have been a distinct entity with hedged fields after enclosures in the area in the 17th century. There were a great many water driven corn mills in the county, including an important town mill (Castle Mill, Mill street) in nearby Ruthin, dating back to medieval times, owned by the Lordship of Ruthin, which is still a feature of the town.
According to George Borrow’s informant they spoke the best Welsh in the Vale of Clwyd the “Welsh of the Bible”86
Here is an extract from the The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust Historic Landscapes site which describes the area: (The Vale of Clwyd ORNAMENTAL AND PICTURESQUE LANDSCAPES)
“Aesthetic appreciation of the landscape of the The Vale of Clwyd has a long tradition stretching back to at least the late 16th century, the earliest descriptions, such as in the following verse by Michael Drayton, contrasting the lushness and fertility of the valley, its meadows and cornfields with the 'hills whose hoarie heads seeme in the clouds to dwell'.
The North-wind (calme become) forgets his Ire to wreake,
And the delicious Vale thus mildly doth bespeake;
Deere Cluyd, th'aboundant sweets, that from thy bosome flowe,
When with my active wings into the ayre I throwe,
Those Hills whose hoarie heads seeme in the clouds to dwell,
Of aged become young, enamor'd with the smell
Of th'odiferous flowers in thy most precious lap:
Within whose velvit leaves, when I my self enwrap,
Thy suffocate with sents; that (from my native kind)
I seeme some slowe perfume, and not the swiftest wind.
With joy, my Dyffren Cluyd, I see the bravely spred,
Survaying every part, from foote up to thy head;
Thy full and youthfull breasts, which in their meadowy pride,
Are brancht with rivery veines, Meander-like that glide.
I further note in thee, more excellent than these
(Were there a thing that more the amorous eye might please)
Thy plumpe and swelling wombe, whose mellowy gleabe doth beare
The yellow ripened sheafe, that bendeth with the eare.
Michael Drayton, The Poly-Olbion, 1598-1622
The proportion of unenclosed common land and probably also woodland were much greater than the present day, but by this it is probable that a considerable amount of enclosure, land improvement and drainage had taken place, as evident in the accounts of improvement works carried out in the former medieval park at Bathafarn between the 1550s and 1590s. Similar aspects of the landscape are again evident from Edward Lhuyd in Camden's Britannia, published in 1722.
‘We are now come to the heart of the County, where nature, having remov'd the Mountains on all hands (to shew us what she could do in a rugged Country) hath spread out a most pleasant Vale; extended from south to north seventeen miles and about five in breadth. It lies open only to the Ocean, and to the clearing North-wind; being elsewhere guarded with high mountains, which (towards the east especially) are like battlements or turrets; for by admirable contrivance of nature, the tops of these mountains seem to resemble the turrets of walls. Among them, the highest is call'd Moel Enlhi [Foel Fenlli]: at the top whereof I observ'd a military fence or rampire, and a very clear Spring. This Vale is exceeding healthy, fruitful, and pleasant: the complexion of the Inhabitants is bright and cheerful; their heads of a sound constitution; their sight is very lively, and even their old age vigorous and lasting. The green Meadows, the Corn-fields, and the numerous Villages and Churches in this Vale, afford us the most pleasant prospect imaginable. The river Clwyd, from the very fountain-head runs through the midst of it, receiving on each side a great number of rivulets. And from hence it has been formerly call'd Ystrad Klwyd, i.e. the Vale of Cluid.'
Edward Lhuyd, Camden's Britannia, 1722
The 18th and early 19th centuries were very much the age of the topographical writer. Again, in Daniel Defoe's Tour published a few year's later, the emphasis is upon the contrast between the tamed and fertile farmland in the vale and the rugged and inhospitable hills which enclose it.
‘We have but little remarkable in the road from Conway to Hollywell, but crags and rocks all along the [north shore], till we come to Denbeigh town. This is the country town, and is a large populous place, which carries something in its countenance of its neighbourhood to England, but that which was most surprising, after such a tiresome and fatiguing journey, over the unhospitable mountains of Merioneth, and Carnarvonshire, was, that descending now from the hills, we came into a most pleasant, fruitful, populous, and delicious vale, full of villages and towns, the fields shining with corn, just ready for the reapers, the meadows green and flowery, and a fine river, with a mild and gentle river running through it; nor is it a small or casual intermission, but we had a prospect of the country open before us, for above 20 miles in length, and from 5 to 7 miles in breadth, all smiling with the same kind of complexion, which made us think our selves in England again, all on a sudden.’
Daniel Defoe, A Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain, 1725
Towards the end of the 18th century, Thomas Pennant provides a similar description of the vale from the north-west of Llanrhaeadr
‘on an eminence to the north-west of the church, called Cader Gwladus . . . is an extremely beautiful view of the vale between Denbigh and Ruthin, and the whole breadth chequered with wood, meadows, and corn-fields; and almost the whole range of the eastern limits soaring far above it.’
Pennant, A Tour in Wales, 1793
The publication of a number of works such as Gilpin's Essays on the Picturesque in 1792 were to have a considerable impact on the aesthetic value of landscape at this time. Wordsworth, staying with friends at Llangynhafal on several occasions in the 1790s, describes it as lying in the 'most delicious of all Vales, the Vale of Clwyd'.
For Sir Richard Colt Hoare, the antiquarian, at the beginning of the 19th century, the contrast was again between the richness of the vale with the surrounding countryside: 'after passing over another dreary common the beautiful Vale of Clwyd bursts unexpectedly on the eye.’
His main concerns were literally the picturesque or drawable view. Thus, Denbigh could be considered 'a rich picturesque scene, worthy [of] the pencil of Poussin', but the Vale of Clwyd itself proved to be less satisfactory in this respect.
‘With regard to its picturesque beauty I was rather disappointed. Its mountainous boundaries to the east are well formed and finely broken, but the Vale is in general too wide to furnish good subjects for the pencil. The views however which its different parts present are truly pleasing and the views from its heights are very grand.’
Colt Hoare, 6 June 1801
Present-day appreciation of the landscape value of The Vale of Clwyd has a long tradition, one of its essential qualities still being the juxtaposition of the natural and artificial landscapes - the contrast between the 'meadows green and flowery' of the vale and the 'crags and rocks' of the surrounding hills.”
The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Llanfair D.C. BY E. POWELL 1914 published in the the Denbighshire Free Press from April to July 1914 (transcribed by TCJ and republished by him on Lulu) gives a very valuable insight into life in Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd and the Vale of Clwyd in the 18th and 19th Centuries.