Court Farm in Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, Wales, is an ancient and formerly imposing manor house which is now an overgrown ruin, but structurally sound, and capable of repair and restoration. It consists of three buildings: the farmhouse, a complex two-storey house of approximately 99 square metres; an adjacent barn; and a later cowshed.
Construction
The present farmhouse is 16th century, with an earlier medieval core, and may have been a tower house, a form more associated with Pembrokeshire. It is built from local sandstone quarried from a quarry located in its own land, known as Garreg Llwyd Quarry. Court Farm has a line of corbels on the south facing walls which are a particular feature of old Carmarthenshire buildings and, because of its size and visible location it was, together with the nearby St. Illtud's Church, Pembrey, used a navigational point on local shipping charts to help captains of vessels navigate the treacherous Burry Inlet.
Originally, there were seven square chimneys, two of which were unusually set diagonally in the chimney breast in the east wall. It appears that every room had a fireplace, yet the 1672 hearth tax lists the Court as only having two fireplaces, probably to avoid paying tax of two shillings. Similarly, many of the early windows were blocked up to avoid paying the half-yearly window tax of 3 shillings. One room retained its Jacobean panelling until Court Farm was abandoned in around 1948.
Court Farm has an interesting large barn, with a defensive military appearance, due its embattled parapet on the south elevation. It is not known if the barn had a defensive function of any kind, although it could be part of a more extensive curtain wall. The Pembrey area was "frontier land" in Medieval times, lying between the Norman occupied areas of the east, and the Welsh kingdom, north-west of Kidwelly, which continued to attack the Norman strongholds.
Ownership by the Le Botelers
Evidence suggests that the Le Boteler family were the first to occupy a manor on the site of the present Court Farm.Nicholson, J., A., Pembrey and Burry Port, published by Llanelli Borough Council
Maurice de Londres granted the Manor of Pembrey to Sir John Butler of Dunraven Castle in 1128.Roberts, E., & Pertwee, H., A., "St. Illtyd’s Church, Pembrey", published 1898 Maurice de Londres was the son of William de Londres, who was a knight to Robert Fitzhamon, a Norman baron from Gloucestershire.
Fitzhamon invaded Wales between 1091 and 1093, established himself as Lord of Glamorgan and built Cardiff Castle. The knights protecting his castle included William de Londres. As a reward for his services, Fitzhamon gave William the lordship of Ogmore. William went on to help Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, defend his lordship at Kidwelly from attacks by the adjacent Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth. On one of his expeditions to Kidwelly, the inhabitants of Glamorgan attacked Ogmore Castle. William’s butler, called Arnold, successfully repulsed the attack and was rewarded with the castle and manor of Dunraven. To mark his loyalty, Arnold called himself Arnold le Boteler; the Norman word for butler is Le Boteler, or Boteler. The family surname was later anglicized to Butler.
Maurice de Londres succeeded to the lordship of Ogmore, upon the death of his father, William, in 1126. In 1128, Maurice also became Lord of Kidwelly when Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, returned his lordship to The Crown, having found it too difficult to protect from the attacks of Deheubarth. The Crown then gave the lordship to Maurice. In the same year, Maurice granted the Manor of Pembrey to Arnold Butler’s son, Sir John Butler, whose male line of issue included seven generations, most of them named John Butler. The line became extinct when Arnold Butler, of Pembrey and Dunraven, died without issue. Arnold’s sister, Ann Butler, then inherited both estates.
The manor of Pembrey was held under military tenure under the Lordship of Kidwelly.Duchy of Lancaster Records, 43/12 The occupation of the Manor of Pembrey required each Butler occupant, in time of war, to provide five archers "according to ancient custom" to help the Lord of Kidwelly within the limits of the land under his control. The Butlers also had to order one knight to attend the "Court of Foreignry of Kidwelly", which was held every month. Each Butler heir also had an obligation to pay a sum of money to the Lord of Kidwelly of ten shillings, to give a day’s ploughing and to help with the hay for one day.Ashburnham Document Collection N 297, National Library of Wales
One of the woods that originally lay on the manorial land of Court Farm is known as Coed Marchog (Knight's Wood, in the English language), it lies on the eastern side of the Pembrey to Pinged Road, below Garreg Lwyd.
The Butler's coat of arms appears in Pembrey Church. Its heraldic device is azure, three cups covered, or (heraldry). The Butler coat of arms can be found in the south east window of the nave of St Illtud’s Church, Pembrey. A monument and altar-tomb of Sir John le Boteler, of circa 1250, can be found at St Brides Major church
In addition to the land surrounding Court Farm, the Butlers also controlled the vast area of flatlands known as Pembrey Burrows, or the Warren, and the greater part of Pinged Marsh, which is now part of Pembrey Country Park. The Butlers were granted rights to all wrecks found on the Cefn Sidan sands as far as Caldicot Point or Tywyn Point
The original caput of the Manor of Pembrey was probably the mound castle now called ‘the Twmpath’, which is located about a mile and a half to the north-east of Burry Port Station. This tumulus is in diameter, with a ditch of about wide and about deep surrounding it. The Twmpath has extensive views, but at some stage it became inconvenient and the caput of the Manor was relocated to the site of the present location of Court Farm.Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, National Monuments Record
Ownership by the Vaughans
Ann Butler was the last of the Pembrey Butlers. She married Sir Richard Vaughan of Bredwardine, in Herefordshire, the Court Farm and Dunraven estates then became part of the Vaughan family estates.
The Vaughans claimed to be direct descendants of the Welsh king Moreiddig Warwyn of Breconshire and north Carmarthenshire. The family has an unusual coat of arms: three boys' heads with snakes coupled around their necks. This is based on a family legend. When the pregnant mother of Moreiddig Warwyn (Warwyn means "fair neck" in Welsh) was resting in the garden, she was frightened by an adder. Moreiddig was born with a mark, resembling the bite of the adder, on his neck.
Sir Richard Vaughan was born in 1460 and was knighted at Tournai, in 1513. He became High sheriff of Herefordshire in 1530, and again in 1541. Sir Richard was succeeded by his son, Sir Walter Vaughan (1500–1584), who inherited the three estates of Pembrey, Dunraven and Bredwardine. Sir Walter was born at Dunraven Castle, where his parents had decided to live. After his marriage, he moved to Pembrey, and Court Farm was built as a wedding present for him by his father, in about 1530. The Vaughan part of the current building is the main L-shaped section, facing south and east. Sir Walter was High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1557 and also a Member of Parliament for Carmarthenshire. His son, Sir Thomas Vaughan, inherited the three estates and added to it the Fullerston Estate, in Wiltshire. Sir Thomas was High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1566 and 1570. Sir Thomas had a son, also called Sir Walter Vaughan, who inherited the estates but decided to live at Fullerston. He added Caldicot Farm to the estate holdings, in around 1607. During this period, Court Farm was occupied by Sir Walter’s nephew, Roland Vaughan, until the next Vaughan heir, Sir Charles Vaughan, was old enough to take possession. Charles was Sir Walter’s son by his first wife. He bought Porthaml Mansion, near Talgarth in Breconshire, and Court Farm was then occupied by his son, Sir George Vaughan.
Sir George Vaughan was a fervent Royalists and supported King Charles I against Oliver Cromwell, in the English Civil War. As a consequence, in 1648, Sir George Vaughan was imprisoned by Cromwell for a short time at Southwark and fined £2,609 for his "Delinquency". Cromwell is believed to have passed through the parish of Pembrey in 1648, on his way to Ireland and his soldiers may have visited Court Farm to charge and apprehend Sir George at that time. Sir George returned to Court Farm, but the huge fine meant that he had to sell the Dunraven estate, in 1648, and the Fullerston estate, in 1649.
Sir George died without issue and the remaining Pembrey and Porthaml estates passed to his younger brother, the Reverend Frederick Vaughan, who had been blind from infancy as a result of smallpox. Frederick Vaughan’s only son, Sir Walter Vaughan, married Alice Bond of Wiltshire, in 1653. They lived, in turn, on both estates and had two children, Bridget and Walter. The male line of the Vaughans of Pembrey ended when Sir Walter’s son died in his first year.
After the death of Sir Walter Vaughan, Alice Vaughan married William Ball in 1655. He was a lawyer of Gray's Inn and became High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1682 and died in 1701. They lived, in turn, at the Porthaml and Pembrey estates.
Many famous people are said to have been entertained at the Court, including the painters Van Dyke, Lely and Reynolds, who painted the Vaughan family. Some of these portraits can now be seen in Carmarthen museum.
Relationship with the Dalton family
Under the Vaughans, the Pembrey Estate was administered by agents comprising at least three generations of the "capable and loyal" Dalton family. It was probably during this period that a number of fireplaces were blocked up. One of Court Farm’s more impressive architectural features comprises seven tall chimneys, made up of five single stacks and two diagonal twin stacks. These reflect a house of substance with many hearths, but the 1672 Hearth Tax records the house as having only two fireplaces. As an economy measure, many of the original fireplaces were blocked-up in order to avoid paying Hearth Tax at the then substantial rate of two shillings per hearth.
The Dalton family appear to originate from Witney in Oxfordshire, and some of the family are buried at St. Illtud’s Church, Pembrey, where entries can be found in the Church’s burial register.
Relationship with the Ashburnhams
Bridget Vaughan married John Ashburnham, 1st Earl of Ashburnham, in 1677 at Henry VII's Chapel, in Westminster Abbey. She was 17 and he was 21 years old. Thereafter they lived at the family's ancestral mansion, Ashburnham Place, in Ashburnham, near Battle, Sussex and made only occasional visits to the other estates.
The Ashburnham family had been settled in Sussex for many generations, taking their name from a village called Ashburnham located about north-west of Hastings. Like the Vaughan family, the Ashburnham family were fervent Royalists. They suffered heavy fines and imprisonment by the Parliamentarians. After the Restoration, the family was given numerous crown leases to compensate for losses under the commonwealth, and the post of Groom of the Bedchamber.Jones, Francis, "Pembrey Court: An Old Carmarthenshire Manor House, A Tale of Continuity", The Carmarthenshire Antiquary
Lord John Ashburnham was married 10 years before he saw Court Farm. He noted in his diary, on Sunday, 3 July 1687, that:
"I saw Pembrey House (Court), which is an old stone house, large enough and kept in pretty good repaire. The land hereabouts is very good."Mee Arthur, Ed., "Carmarthenshire Miscellany", 1892