2n<i s. V. 121., aprii. 24. '68.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



329 



LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 84. 1868. 



PICTON CASTLE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 



This ancient mansion, which is located within 

 three railes of the town of Haverfordwest, is 

 worthy of an honourable place among the relics of 

 feudal grandeur which are scattered over the fair 

 face of England. Picton Castle is not remarkable 

 either for its great extent, or for its architectural 

 pretensions; but It was a fortified residence before 

 the reign of William Rufus ; and from that time 

 to the present day it has been tenanted by a line 

 of possessors, all of whom can trace their con- 

 nexion with the Norman ancestor to whom the 

 castle owes its name. 



William de Picton, a knight who came into 

 Pembrokeshire with Arnulph de Montgomery 

 (who built Pembroke Castle, and was afterwards 

 Earl of Pembroke), having dispossessed and per- 

 haps slain the original owner of the fortress, whose 

 name has been lost in that of his victor, and find- 

 ing that " his lines had fallen in pleasant places," 

 established himself in the new home which his 

 right hand had won for him, and transmitted the 

 same to his descendants. After the lapse of se- 

 veral generations the line of Picton was reduced 

 to two brothers. Sir William and Philip Picton. 

 Sir William had a daughter and heiress, Joan, 

 who married Sir John Wogan of Wiston, Knight, 

 and brought him Picton Castle as her dowry. 

 Philip Picton, the second brother, married Maud, 

 daughter of William Dyer of Newport, Pembroke- 

 shire ; and among his descendants may be reck- 

 oned the PIctons of Poyston in the same county, 

 the ancestors of the late gallant Sir Thomas Pic- 

 ton. Sir John Wogan was succeeded at Picton 

 Castle by his son Sir John Wogan, Knt., who 

 married Isabel, daughter of Sir John de Londres, 

 Knt. To him was son and heir Sir David Wo- 

 gan, Knt., who was Chief Justice of Ireland temp. 

 Edward I., and married Anne, daughter and 

 heiress of Sir William Plunkett, an Irish gentle- 

 man. Their son and heir, John Wogan, of Pic- 

 ton Castle, Esq., married Anne, daughter of James 

 Butler, Earl of Ormond, by whom he had two 

 daughters and co-heiresses, Katherine and Anne. 

 Katherine married Owen Dunn or Donn of Mud- 

 dlescomb, in the county of Carmarthen, Esq., and 

 had Picton Castle as her portion. Anne Wogan, 

 the other sister, became the wife of Sir Oliver 

 Eustace, an Irish gentleman. Henry Donn, after- 

 wards Knight, son of Owen Donn and Katherine 

 Wogan, married Margaret, daughter- of Sir Harry 

 Wogan, Knt., of Wiston in the county of Pem- 

 broke, and was killed, together with his brother-in- 

 law, Harry Wogan, the heir of Wiston, and others 

 of the Welsh gentry, at the battle of Banbury in 



1469. Sir Henry Donn left two daughters. Jen- 

 net and Jane ; and thus again Picton Castle 

 passed into the possession of another family. 

 Jennet married Trehaiarn Morgan, Esq., and 

 Jane espoused Thomas ap Philip, of Cilsant, In the 

 county of Carmarthen, Esq., and brought him 

 Picton Castle. Thomas ap Philip was descended 

 from the princely stock of Cadifor ap CoUwyn, 

 who was Lord of Dyved or Pembrokeshire, and 

 died A.D. 1089 In the second year of William Ru- 

 fus. On succeeding to the fair Inheritance in 

 " little England beyond Wales," Thomas ap Philip 

 assumed his patronymic as a surname, and trans- 

 mitted It to his descendants, who were exceedingly 

 numerous ; for, as I mentioned In a former article, 

 all the families In the counties of Pembroke, Car- 

 digan, and Carmarthen bearing the name of 

 Phillips, with one or two exceptions, trace their 

 descent from him. The spelling of the name has 

 varied during the lapse of years'; but Thomas 

 PhlUipps and his descendants as far as the second 

 baronet of the family spelt their names in the 

 same manner. At present the sole retainer, as 

 far as I am aware, of the ancient spelling, is the 

 eminent genealogist. Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., 

 of Middle Hill, Worcestershire. Thomas Phillipps 

 was knighted about the year 1512, and his great- 

 grandson. Sir John Phillipps, Knt., was created 

 a baronet In 1621. Sir John died March 27, 

 1629, and his son. Sir Richard Phillipps, the se- 

 cond baronet, garrisoned Picton Castle on behalf 

 of the king during the civil wars. It sustained a 

 long siege, and would not have surrendered when 

 it did, but for the following circumstance : In the 

 lower story of one of the bastions was the nursery, 

 having In It a small window, at which a maidser- 

 vant was standing with Sir Erasmus Philipps, then 

 an infant, in her arms, when a trooper of the par- 

 liamentary forces approached It on horseback with 

 a flag of truce and a letter ; to receive whieh the 

 girl opened the window, and while she stretched 

 forward, the soldier, lifting himself on his stirrups, 

 snatched the child from her arms, and rode with 

 him into the camp. A message was then for- 

 warded to the governor of the garrison. Informing 

 him that unless the castle was immediately sur- 

 rendered the child would be put to death. On this 

 the garrison yielded, and was allowed to march out 

 with the honours of war. It is said that the par- 

 liamentary general was so touched by the loyalty 

 of Sir Richard Phillipps, and the stratagem by 

 which he had been compelled to surrender, that 

 he gave orders that Picton Castle should not be 

 demolished, as was the fate of the other fortresses 

 of Pembrokeshire. Thus saved, the castle and its 

 domains passed from father to son until we come 

 to Sir Erasmus Philipps, the fifth baronet, who was 

 drowned at Bath In 174.3. He was succeeded in 

 the title and estates by his brother, John Philipps, 

 Esq., of Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire ; so that the 



