1. William Lloyd, born on 19 August 1794 at Job's Well, succeeded to Laques in 1840, and died unmarried on 31 July 1854, aged 60. Following his death, a detailed particular was made of the Laques estate, a precis of which is given in Appendix A below.
2. Elizabeth ('Bess') Lloyd, born on 20 February 1791 at Job's Well, died at Laques on 14 May 1870. Her will dated 1 November 1869, was proved in London on 23 June following.
3. Anne Lloyd, born on 12 August 1795 at The Parade Carmarthen, died on 23 April 1831.
4. John Lloyd, born on 21 July 1796 at Laques, died on 31 August following.

All were buried in the vault in Llanstephan church, where a side-chapel opening from the north side of the chancel is called "the Laques chapel" and on its floor are tombstones of several members of the family. According to J T Evans, (Church Plate), it was also known as "Capel y Llwydiaid".

After the death of Elizabeth Lloyd in 1870, the family ceased to be associated with Laques, although a descendant through the female line stayed occasionally at the old mansion. Remembered as a particularly hospitable squire, Captain Lloyd of Laques and Glangwili 'with his usual liberality at this season' (records the Carmarthen Journal in January 1878), distributed 40 tons of coal amongst the poor people of the neighbourhood.

From the available evidence we note that the Lloyds of Laques were not involved in stirring and tumultuous events, content to pass quiet and orderly lives devoted to the conduct of their own and local affairs, charitable and humane, the Roger de Coverleys of their age. Their inheritance has passed to others, meagre memorials of their sojourn alone remain, preserved in monuments that inevitably will succumb to the erasing hand of Time, and in uncertain folk-memory now largely replaced by contemporary fashions affording fewer opportunities for reflection and contemplation of the past which can only be the product of more leisurely days. It remains for the patient antiquary to burrow among genealogical rolls, faded folios, family archives, and legal documents, often widely scattered, always incomplete, so that the most we can recover are fleeting glimpses of our forebears, as when the sun struggling through dark clouds, shines for a while on a distant field.

William and Jane Lloyd had the following children:

1. Daniel Lloyd, baptised in 1736, see later.
2. John Lloyd, baptised in August 1742, entered the Church and became vicar of Holywell, Flintshire. He married an heiress, Miss Oatbridge of Oaksey, Wiltshire, but had no issue.
3. Jane, baptised in April 1734 and died on 7 June following.
4. Sarah, baptised on 8 July 1735, married Gwynne Davies of Cwm, Llangynog, by whom she had two sons. She died in October 1758, at the early age of 23.

Daniel Lloyd succeeded to Laques. He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1753, was admitted to Lincolns Inn in 1754 and became a barrister-at-law in 1759. He was a Justice of the Peace for Carmarthenshire, and in 1762 appointed a Justice for Cardiganshire in right of his ownership of the Dolau Gwyrddon estate, and six years later served as High Sheriff of that county. In March 1760 he married Katherine daughter of Francis Meares of Corston near Pembroke, by Katherine daughter and eventual heiress of Griffith Elliott of Earewere in Amroth, Through this marriage some of the Elliott possessions in Narberth and Amroth came to the Lloyd family. By the post-nuptial settlement, £1000 per annum was assured to Katherine should she survive her husband, and power to raise £1000 as portions for the younger children.

Daniel Lloyd died on 5 January 1795, and by will made on 8 December of the previous year, bequeathed as follows:

To his brother the Revd John Lloyd of Holywell, and to his son-in-law Thomas Lewis, esquire, of Llandilo, he left all his realty in Narberth parish of the yearly value of £108, and the properties in Amroth parish called Comrath or Cwmrath, the field called Carthouse Park, a moiety of Little Killanow, tenements called Green Plain, Poor Shipping and commons, with all collieries thereon, together with the colliery that testator had reserved under lands he had sold to James Howells, gentleman, to be held in trust, to raise £3,300.
To his younger sons Daniel, Henry, Griffith, a shilling each out of the £1000 that testator could raise on lands in Llanstephan parish. To his daughters, Sarah (eldest) £1,000, Catherine Lewis (to whom he had already given £600 on her marriage) £200, Jane, Alice and Anne, £800 each.
To his son Daniel ('to whom I have already given several hundreds') £100; and to testator's youngest son Griffith, ('to whom I have already given £400 to begin the trade of a merchant') £400. Also to the same trustees, all testator's stock (except two chaise horses, and all his crop on Laques, and on the tenement called Lords Park, and on two fields called Gilvach y Park newydd, all in Llanstephan parish), on trust, to pay any bond or bonds amounting to £600, due from testator to his eldest son William.
To his son Henry, property called Garne and Garne Mill, Gorse otherwise called Skibwr Vach, in Llanddarog parish, lands and three tenements called Rylands or Reynold's Hill in Amroth parish, and a tenement called Blake Vingionce.
To his son Daniel, the tenement and fields called Park y pystill in Llangyndeyrn parish, and three fields at East Lake, Amroth. He confirms that he released all his property in Lampeter Pont Stephen, Cardiganshire, to his eldest son and heir on his marriage. He left the rest and residue of his personalty to his dear wife Katherine whom he appointed executrix.
The seal to the will showed the Lloyd crest, a large bird preying on a smaller one.

The will was proved on 17 July 1797, and the widow's will dated 19 July 1810 was proved in London on 2 January 1813.

Daniel and Katherine Lloyd had a large family:

1. William Lloyd, eldest son and heir, see later.
2. Francis Lloyd, matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford on 26 March 1779, aged 17, BA 1782, MA 1785; died unmarried.
3. John Lloyd, died in 1768, aged 7 years.
4. Sarah Lloyd, baptised in May 1764, lived in Llanstephan village where she died on 3 December 1811, having made her will on 12 November.
5. Daniel Lloyd, baptised 5 December 1765, became a solicitor, and is said to have been one of the Six Clerks in Chancery. He died on 13 November 1839 at the King's Arms, Carmarthen, aged 76.
6. Henry Lloyd, baptised on 28 March 1767, entered the Royal Navy and rose to the rank of Commander. He lived at various places — Robert's Rest, Ferryside, 1809, Court Henry 1829, and Picton Terrace, Carmarthen, from 1835 till his death in 1841. He married a widow, Sarah Rasbotham of Pentre Parr near Llandeilo, the prenuptial settlement dated 28 January 1809. Their three children baptised in Llangathen church, were (a) Henry, entered the Royal Navy and became a mate on HMS Recruit: the vessel foundered on a passage to Bermuda with all hands on 7 May 1832; he was aged 27 and unwed. (b) John, born about 1811, married one Sarah Phillips, and lived at various places — Hamburg 1835, Newcastle upon Tyne 1839, and finally at Park Glas. He had no children, and was buried at Llanstephan on 31 March 1866, aged 55, the last in the male line of Lloyd of Laques. (c) Georgina, born about 1812 married on 20 September 1843, Dr William Lloyd, MD, of Lampeter (son of Revd Thomas Lloyd of Gilfachwen isaf) who died on 2 April 1855; she survived him and was living at Ivy Cottage, Carmarthen, in 1883, then aged 71; their two sons died unmarried, Henry on 15 February 1894, aged 50. and John, MRCS, LRCP, on 4 February 1886.
7. Katherine Lloyd, baptised on 11 March 1768, married Thomas Lewis, solicitor, of Llandilo, later of Stradey. He died on 10 March 1839, and Katherine on 21 May 1840, both aged 72. They had issue, and their great-great grandson, Mr D. C. Mansel Lewis, JP, of Stradey Castle, was High Sheriff in 1965, Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire 1973-4, and is now Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed. He is the senior representative of the Lloyds of Laques.
8. Jane Lloyd, baptised on 26 June 1769, married Jeremiah Price of Glangwili, Llanllawddog, son of Jeremiah Price, excise officer, of Carmarthen, by Jane ultimate sole heiress of her father John Lloyd of Glangwili. From them descended Mr Llewelin Pryse Lloyd, formerly of Glangwili, later of St Clears, who died on 5 January 1980.
9. Alice Lloyd, born on 18 November 1770, lived for some time with her sister Mrs Anne Hughes at Chichester, and died at Llanstephan village on 22 June 1870, in the 100th year of her age. She was the last of the family to bear the name Lloyd of Laques.
10. Anne Lloyd, married John Conway Hughes of Chichester. They were living in London in 1808, and had three sons and two daughters.
11. Griffith Lloyd, baptised on 6 February 1773, was drowned in the river Cywyn near St. Clears on 13 June 1804.
12. Harriet, died an infant in 1774.

William Lloyd, eldest son and heir of Daniel, was baptised in March 1761, and in due course succeeded to Laques. He married at St. Peter's, Carmarthen, on 21 February 1792 Maria Eleanora only child of John and Grace Colborne of King's Swinford, Staffordshire, descended through a female line from the Lewes's of Abernantbychan, Cardiganshire. The pre-and post-nuptial settlements were executed on 27 January 1792 and 17 March 1823. By the former the Dolau Gwyrddon estate was settled to the use of the bride and bridegroom, for lives, with remainder to trustees to raise £1000 portions for younger children; and the farms called Clawddowen and Tyrbach alias Pant Llacca in Llanfynydd parish, and a field called Flaxfield in the borough of Carmarthen, being the bride's property, were settled to similar uses. The deed of 1823 settled Laques, Cwmlivery, Terbach, and Waynfort, in Llanstephan, on William and Maria Eleanora, for lives, with remainder to their son and heir William Lloyd the younger, and his issue.

William and his wife lived for some time at Job's Well near Carmarthen. He took part in county affairs, as a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant, and in 1807 served the office of High Sheriff. In 1825 he sold the Cardiganshire estate of Dolau Gwyrddon (then comprising 333 acres let at £239 per annum) for £7,250. In 1834 he had trouble with the ebullient Baron de Rutzen, lord of the manor of Narberth, who disputed William's rights to picage and stallage dues in Narberth market inherited from his Elliot forebears.

Maria Eleanora died suddenly, from water on the chest, on 8 September 1829 in her 67th year, and William on 19 September 1840, aged 80. By will dated 15 May 1835, and proved in PCC on 27 March 1841, he stipulated that should his heirs succeed to Laques through female descent, they were to take the surname of Lloyd

On 13 and 15 September 1616, Griffith Thomas Richards of Carmarthen, tanner, sold a fourth part of the messuage called "the Lakes alias Tythen y Laackes", formerly tenanted by Griffith John Ievan, "now deceased", and a messuage at Llanwyber, to Rice (Rees) Lloyd of Llanstephan, gentleman (B.R.A. deeds, Carm. Rec. Office). This marks the beginning of the tenure of the Lloyds at Laques.

Lloyds of Laques
The Lloyds derived from one of the most distinguished families in Cardiganshire, whose founding ancestor, the uchelwr Cadifor ap Dinawal of Castell Hywel had secured a place in Welsh history as one of the leaders, under The Lord Rhys, of a force which stormed Cardigan castle in 1165, an exploit commemorated in the coat-of-arms of his descendants, and which brought him the hand of princess of Dynevor dowered with extensive possessions. His descendants, most of whom adopted the surname Lloyd, spread in a vast network throughout south Cardiganshire, where they are still represented today. From one of these, Ievan Llwyd Fychan, whose estates lay around the inlet of Cwm Tydy near New Quay, the Lloyds of Plas Llanstephan and Laques derive their lineage. It was the wedding ring that led to the coming of Ievan Llwyd Fychan to Carmarthenshire, when he married Elen, heiress of Madog Foel of Pwll Dyfach, a hillside hall in the parish of Abernant, as we are informed by Lewys Dwnn, "a'r Ievan Vachan yma a gavas Pw1l dyfach gynta o'r gwaed hwnw".

Ievan's great-great grandson, Morris Lloyd (a younger son) marched to Bosworth with Henry Tudor, who, after his coronation, appointed him an Esquire of the Body. In 1509 he was appointed Seneschal of the Lordship of Llanstephan, an office held later by his son and heir Jenkin Lloyd, Groom of the Chamber to Henry VIII in 1520, and, in 1541, the first High Sheriff of the newly formed Carmarthenshire. The Llanstephan appointment seemed to have became hereditary, for Jenkin Lloyd's son, Thomas Lloyd (High Sheriff in 1579) also followed as Seneschal. This Thomas Lloyd was succeeded by his son Rees, and Rees by his son Rees Lloyd the younger, and it was to the last-named that Laques was sold in 1616. By his wife Elinor, daughter of John Lloyd of Blaenhiroth, Rees Lloyd the younger had ten children, among them a younger son, Daniel, who inherited Laques when his father died at the beginning of 1623. The main line had lived at Plas Llanstephan since the reign of the first Tudor monarch and was destined to remain there until the eighteenth century, to be outlived by the cadet house of Laques, which lasted until the latter part of the nineteenth.

After Ievan Llwyd Fychan's marriage to the heiress of Pwll Dyfach, he discontinued his paternal coat-of-arms, and adopted the heraldic insignia of his wife's family, thereafter borne by descendants and found on their deeds and documents, and monuments in Llanstephan church, blazoned as gules, on a bend argent a lion rampant sable, between three trefoils or; and the crest, on a wreath argent and or, a mound vert and thereon a merlin preying on a hapless bird.

Daniel Lloyd's birth date is not known, but he is described in a document as being under 24 years of age in 1622, so that he was a young man when he inherited Laques. He married Sarah the second daughter of a Cardiganshire landowner David Evans of Llechwedd Deri, High Sheriff of his county in 1641, son of Ievan Coch of Dolau Gwyrddon near Lampeter, a descendant of the Castell Hywel family. Of Daniel's career little is known. He died in 1665, apparently intestate, and on 16 October of that year administration of his goods was granted to the widow Sarah. The inventory, confined almost exclusively to his farming pursuits, included household stuff (valued at £6), two yoke of oxen (£6), seven cows (£8), fifty sheep (£4), five horses and mares (£7), eight pigs (1s 4d), and corn of all sorts (£8) — Ian unusually modest list of possessions comparing unfavourably with those of gentlemen - farmers of that period. Mrs. Sarah Lloyd was still living in 1670, when she was assessed at 5 hearths in the taxation list for that year. Daniel and Sarah Lloyd had an only son, William, who succeeded to the estate.

William Lloyd was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated BA, and proceeded MA. He took Holy Orders, and became Rector of Llansadurnen and Vicar of Laugharne. He married Susannah daughter of a John Davies, of whose antecedents nothing is known. He was probably responsible for improving the house at Laques in 1703, as his initials and those of his wife appear on a plaque on an outer wall.

It seems not unlikely that Laques was let during the vicar's period, to his uncle Rees Evans of Talybont, in the neighbouring parish of Llandeilo Abercywyn, who had married Anne daughter of Francis and Janet Lloyd of Plas Llanstephan. In her will made in 1690 Mrs Janet Lloyd of the Plas appointed Rees Evans, therein described as 'of Laques' to be one of her executors, which probably means that he held the land there for it is known that he continued to live at Talybont till his death in 1697. The Revd William Lloyd died on 24 January 1706, aged 49, and his widow survived him until March 1718. They had an only child, named after his father, William, who succeeded to Laques.

Like his father, William Lloyd received a good education, studied at the Inner Temple, became a barrister-at-law, and was a Justice of the Peace in 1723. He was thrice married, but had issue by his third wife only. The first, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Morgan Davies; the second, Anne, born in 1691, was daughter and coheiress of Reynold Jenkins of Carrog and Blaenpant, Cardiganshire, she died in March 1718-19. The third was Jane daughter of John Davies of Dolau Gwyrddon near Lampeter, widow of David Lloyd of Glyn y March, Llansawel, High Sheriff in 1721, the prenuptial settlement made on 29 March 1733 describes her as Jane Lloyd of Dole, [Gwyrddon] widow. William also owned Dole Gwyrddon, probably in right of his third wife, but is should be noticed that his mother's family had once owned it.

William Lloyd, the barrister, died at Laques on 10 May 1747. His will has not been found, but the inventory of his goods, preserved among probate records in the National Library, shows that he farmed on a considerable scale, not only at Laques but at two others of his properties. As it is likely to be of value to historians engaged on economic and social studies I feel justified in including it here in toto:

At Laques
Wearing apparel, horse, and furniture, valued at £14. 18 cows and a bull, £49.10.0. 53 sheep, £11.8.6. 61 sheep, £21.7.0. 11 yearling beasts, £11.11.0. 2 sows and 7 young pigs, £3.15.0. 2 pairs of wheels with long-bodies and tumbrells, £5. 2 horse carts, £3.10.0. Ploughs and other implements of husbandry, £2.1.0. 11 teals of wheat, £6.12.0. 5 teals of barley, £1.15.0. 300 strikes of oats, £11.5.0. Old pewter, copper, and brass, £8.17.11. Earthenware, 5s. Spits and other irons in the kitchen, £1. 3 tables and 3 chairs, 6s. 2 iron pots and an iron kettle. Lumber in the out-kitchen, 15s. 3 cheese presses and other things in the dairy, 19s. A malt mill and some lumber in the 'killroom', 15s. 2 beds and ye furniture of ye old parlour, £5.10.0. A press bed and furniture of ye Little Hall, £1.10.0. A bed and furniture in ye girls' room, 15s. Furniture of ye room over ye old Parlour, £3. The Study of Books (£15). Furniture of ye Hall, £1.15,0. Furniture of ye little Parlour, 15s. A clock and case, 10s. A quantity of wool, £1.10.0. 2 bedsteads in the Large Garrett, £1.5.0. 2 beds and furniture in ye Boys' Garrett, £1.1.0. 2 beds and furniture in ye forestreet Room, £5. A bed and furniture in ye Best Room, £9. Furniture of ye Clock Room, 15s. 7 old guns, £2.12.6. Plate, weight 368½ ozs at 5s, £17.2.6. Wheat, barley, and oats in ground, £17.8.6. Tallow weight 50 lbs, 12s 6d. A gold watch with its appurtenances, £10. Ready money in the house, £29.6.0. arrears of rents and other debts due, £309.12.3. Total, £589.17.8.

At Maes Gwynn
9 cows and a bull, £20.4.0. 51 sheep, £10.4.0. 12 lambs, £1.2.0. A cart and other implements of husbandry, £2. 4 oxen, £15.10.0. 3 horses and a mare, £4.5.0. 20 teals of oats, £3.15.0. 28 teals of barley and 3 teals of wheat, £10.9.0. 25 strikes of oats and 16 strikes of barley, £2.6.9. Total, £69.15.9.

At Wainfoil
2 old oxen, £8.10.0. 2 young oxen, £7. A fat cow, £3.15.0. Old hay, £7.7.6. 70 strikes of oats at 9d per, and 10 teals of barley at 9s per, £7.2.6. Total, £33.15.10.

At the Lords Land
71 lambs, £11.10.9. 15 three-years old wethers, £8.5.0. 77 sheep, £21.3.6. 2 oxen, £8.5.0. 2 bull-taggs, £5.5.0. 4 steers, £13.15.0. 9 calves, £3.3.0. A cow and calf, £2.12.6. 6 two-years old cattle, £11.5.0. 2 two-years old heifers, £2.15.0. A mare called Phillis, £4.4.0. An old bay horse, £1.15.0. An old horse called Shanko, £1.15.0. An old mare called Cherry, £.2.2.0. A filly called Miss, £4.2.6. An old grey mare and colt, £3. A mare and colt called Katty Vaur, £2.17.6. A grey three-years old colt, £2.10.0. A black three-years old colt, £3.10.0. A sorrell two-years old colt, £3.17.6. A sorrell three-years old colt, £5.5.0. A bay filly called Patch, £2.12.0. A bay filly called young Cherry, £.3.3.0. A horse called Jolly, £4. A horse called Robin, £3.5.0. A mare called Katty Vach, £2. A horse called Cardoe, £1.7.6. Total, £139.5.9.

At Dole Gwyrddon (Cardiganshire) A yoke of oxen, £6.10.0. 4 steers, £11. A heifer, £2.2.0. 2 horses, £5. Poultry, 6s. Corn in the house, £6. Hay in the hay-yard, £1. Household stuff, £8. Implements of husbandry, £4. Total, £43.18.0.

At Laques
Linen at Laques, £10. 4 gross of bottles there, £2.16.0. Wooden lumber of several kinds in ye storehouse, £2.10.0. A small old boat, £3. Total, £17.16.0.

Grand Total, £894.8.2. (sic).

Daniel Lloyd probably improved and enlarged the house, as indicated by certain architectural features which date from the period of his tenure. Its size may be judged from the number of hearths it contained, and the taxation list of 1670 shows Mrs. Sarah Lloyd, widow, of Laques, assessed at 5 hearths, the same figure as for Plas Llanstephan, so that it was then a fairly large house. The inventory of the goods of William Lloyd taken in 1747 names rooms then in the mansion — on the ground floor, Hall, the Little Hall, the Old Parlour, the Little Parlour, Study, Clock Room, Kitchen, Out-kitchen, Dairy, and 'Killroom'; on the first floor, bedrooms called Best Room, Forestreet Room, Girls' Room, and Room over the Old Parlour; with Large Garrett and Boys' Garrett, used as bedrooms.

I first visited Laques on 26 August 1960. The older part of the two-storeyed mansion is the western end, while the eastern block, either an adaptation of an earlier building or added anew, probably the latter, belongs to the eighteenth century (after 1747), and contained what became the principal rooms. The older part has three entrances — one at the rear of the building (north side), another on the south side leading to the kitchen and domestic offices, and the third on a projecting side, clearly the original main entrance, opens into a hall from which a splendid Jacobean staircase rises and is carried to the very top of the house. On the exterior wall, on either side of this former main entrance, are two oval stone plaques, each about a foot and a half in diameter, one displaying the initials and date 'W/LL/S.1703', for William and Susanna Lloyd: the other, decorated with a shield containing a bend, once depicting the Lloyd arms, gules on a bend between three trefoils argent, a lion passant sable. Over the years both plaques had been heavily whitewashed, but during cleaning operations in 1960 they were uncovered by the occupier, Mr. Lewis, who invited me to examine them and to see the house. The ground floor is on two levels, the principal section being the higher. During alterations in the eighteenth century, a new main entrance had been made at the east end, with a fine fanlight above the door, and then the older principal entrance became secondary. The rooms in this eastern section are sizable, with lofty ceilings, two of them decorated in part with fine plaster work. A carved wooden mantelpiece, probably of eighteenth century workmanship, adorns an upper room. Cellars and attics are extensive.

On rising ground, innneelintely ;shove the house, is a walled garden; on the slope below the house are sma11 lawns, and below those, orchards containing, with fruit trees, sone partirularly fine fig trees, heavily laden when I saw them in August 1960. Probably there had been at one time a terrace wa11 between the lawns and the house. The drive, lined with good beeches other timber, bifurcates near to the house, one sweep leading to the main entrance, the other, alongside the building, to reach what had been the original entrance.

Evidently it was beginning to be neglected in the first half of the nineteenth century, for Lewis (Topographical Dictionary of Wales, edn 1840) records that "Laques, the seat of the ancient family of Lloyd, the former proprietors of Llanstephan Place, is a substantial residence, now much neglected, in a very sequestered part of the parish". Nevertheless, it remained in sufficiently good condition for the family to continue living there up to 1870 when the last of the Lloyds died, after which it was let to farming tenants. Apart from some minor repairs necessary, it was in a perfectly habitable condition, when I saw it in 1960, but since then parts of the house have deteriorated sadly, and the dismantling of certain fixtures by thieves (arrested in due course, and suitably punished) led to further dilapidations. When I visited it in 1976, accompanied by Major H. J. Lloyd-Johnes, then Chairman of the Historic Buildings Council for Wales, we found the new proprietor, Mr Morris, in the process of restoring the house with skill and discrimination, and with regard for the surviving historical features that distinguish the fabric.

Reed of Laques An English family, the Reeds settled in the south-west of Carmarthenshire during the reign of Edward III, with principal residences at Green Castle (otherwise Casten Moel), Roches (otherwise Maccwells Walls), Pilroath, Laques, and Carmarthen town. They intermarried with Welsh freeholding families, and one at least, Nicholas Reed of Green Castle, patronised the bards and was eulogised by Lewis Glyn Cothi in an ode extolling his liberality and describing the delights offered by the elegant residence on the bluff above the Tywi. Green Castle continued in the family until the ultimate heiress, Maud Reed, in 1615 settled the property on her husband Henry Don Lee, and he, about ten years later, sold it to Humphrey Brown, a rich merchant of Bristol. Towards the end of Elizabeth's reign, Edward Reed of Carmarthen, in a letter to a kinsman, blazoned the family coat-of-arms as "a golde griffwn in green feld and 3 ffesont or merliwns, for there is men alyve that saw there a glas windo in the sayd housse of gren kastell and in the housse of Edwrt Reed in kaer merddin, but the buk of armes is lost and the window perished" (NLW Peniarth MS 136, fo 391). In the Golden Grove MS the arms of "Thomas Read hên, justice Caerfyrddin" are described as azure a griffon segreant or.

Another of their residences, near Laugharne, namely Roches, a castellated house, described as "the manor of Eglewiskimen and Roches" with 1,000 acres or thereabouts, was granted by Griffith Nicholas and Thomas Nicholas, by way of marriage settlement, to William Reed, his wife Joan (Wyrriott) and the heirs of their body in fee tail (PRO. Chanc. Proc. R9, no 30, undated). The family remained there until the end of the Tudor period, one of them, James Reed, being described in 1598 as Steward of the Earl of Essex "for the royal lordship".

From the early fifteenth century the family had been associated with the Llanstephan district. Five generations of a branch lived at Pilroath during the reign of the Tudors. At the beginning of the fifteenth century Thomas Rede held the castle of Llanstephan in his demesne as of fee from Henry, Prince of Wales. However, he was obliged to "release" it to Owain Glyndwr and other "Welsh rebels", whereby it forfeited to the Prince (West Wales Historical Records, xiii, 43). The next reference brings us to Laques, when, in 1492, Maurice Rede is described as of Llanstephan parish, and ten years later the Crown demised to him lands in Penreth Vachen, Holmore, Brodeley, a parcel called Le Hook of Mondegy and the pasturage in the Park. By his wife Elen Gravell he had an only son, Hugh Reed, described specifically as "of Lakes". Hugh married Janet daughter of Robert Don, by whom he had three sons, Owen, Thomas, and John. Owen and Thomas died young and unmarried, so that it was the youngest brother who inherited Laques. John Reed married Catherine John of Llanedy, and had three children, a son Morgan Reed who died unmarried, and two daughters, Elen and Janet, who, on their brother's death inherited the estate as co-heiresses.

Elen Reed married William Philip of Llandeilo (Abercywyn), but on being "divorced from him she sold her land". Janet Reed, whose share included the homestead of "Lakes", married John ab Evan David Gwilym Fychan, by whom she had an only son, Griffith

Laques and its Families

By Major Francis Jones, C.V.O., T.D., D.L., F.S.A.,
Wales Herald Extraordinary

Just over a mile due west from Llanstephan, the old mansion of Laques clings to an abrupt southerly slope above a wooded dingle, out of view yet within sound of the sea. Alongside, a busy little freshet, which gives name to the house, goes tinkling and laughing through the undergrowth to the reach the sea at a picturesque inlet near the holy well dedicated to St. Anthony.

The original name which this instance developed into the written form Laques, derives from the Old English word lac/lacu or lak, meaning a stream, and continues to be used in that sense in south-west Wales where several examples are still to be found (see B.G. Charles, Non-Celtic Place-Names in Wales, 1938). The local rendering of Laques to rhyme with 'lax', is an interesting phonetic survival of the Old English pronunciation. I shall use the spelling Laques throughout this essay unless quoting direct from original documents.

Before discussing the history of the families who lived here, I propose to place on record a few facts about the house itself which seems to have escaped the attention of bodies and societies concerned with vernacular architecture. Laques certainly deserves the attention of experts, whereas all I can offer are some random notices of an anateur antiquary in the hope that this somewhat remote out-of-the-way residence may attract in due course pens more facile than mine.

The House of Laques
The mansion stands on a grassy platform on a fairly steep slope, some two-hundred feet above sea-level. Less then half-a-mile to the southwest, close to the coast, is the farmhouse of Laques-fawr. Possibly at an earlier stage both were included as one property, but a part was "hived off" to become known as Laques-fawr to distinguish it from its parent. In later times Laques-fawr was owned by another family, in 1840 by Thomas Morris, who had let the farm consisting of 179 acres to one Peter Hughes. In that year Laques (mansion) was owned and occupied by William Lloyd, esquire, and the demesne consisted of the mansion and surrounds (3 acres), plantation (7 acres), Ffynnon Down cot and garden, Parc Laques, Cock and Bush, and Parc Spite, in all 175 acres.

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