Essay on CaerphUly Castle. 195 



Postscript. — Since the former part of this essay went to press, the 

 author has received from a friend, far more competent than himself to 

 write upon these subjects, and to whom the county of Glamorgan has long 

 looked for its history, a letter, from whence the following passages are 

 extracted. 



Among Lord Bute's papers is the account of Thayron ap Jevan ap 

 Rawlyn, Bayliff of Kerfiliy, 16tli H. VI. "Unde 3*. Qd. quoi" solvit p ex- 

 pen's Oweyn ap Gwed et Jevan Llew^i ap Jevan Vaughn", ap Jevan V'anre 

 Felon ibnf in Co. de Kerfiliy exist" p iij. Septim" et postea suspens"." 

 This original document is confirmative of Leland's account, that pri- 

 soners were kept here in H. \'IIIth's time. 



The statement of the descent of the castle to its present owner is de- 

 fective. H. VII. certainly granted it to Jasper, Duke of Bedford, at wiiose 

 death in 1495 it escheated to the crown, in whose hands it remained, until 

 Edward W. granted it to the Earl of Pembroke, in the fourth year of his 

 reign. Caerphilly was never possessed by the W. Earl of Pembroke, who 

 was beheaded in 14G9, but by William, E. of P. the favourite of Edward 

 VT. wlio was the son of Sir Richard Herbert, of Ewyas, the natural son of 

 the Earl beheaded in 14 G9. 



During the reign of Edward III. large levies were not unfrequently re- 

 quired at tlie hands of the Lords Marchers of W'^ales ; and among the terri- 

 tories from which certain men are directed to be drawn, the name of Evvvas 

 Lacy very frequently occurs. Thus, in 1343, (16th Edward III.) a writ 

 was addressed to Gilbert Talbot, .Justiciary of South Wales; in 1346, a 

 similar one to the Earl of March, and B. de Burgcrsh ; in 1367, to other 

 persons, and in each of these cases, Ewyas Lacy is enumerated in conjunc- 

 tion with Builth and Crickhowel, and other places, all lying about Brecon, 

 or between it and Crickhowel, while the levies for " Morgan and Morgan- 

 non" are in all the above cases directed to be raised by a different baron ; 

 Ewyas Lacy, indeed, is in Herefordshire, not far from the border. The 

 name Gwyr Lacy does not once occur in the Foedera : it is evidently a mis- 

 nomer. 



Hugh le Despencer, Jun. does not appear to have acted as military 

 governor of Caerphilly, during its siege by the queen and prince, but 

 either to have resided in it supinely during that period, or to have left it 

 with the King: for in 1347, (20 E. II. Rege Captivo) a pardon is issued to 

 John de Felton, for holding out Kerfiliy against the queen and Prince Edward ; 

 and a similar pardon to all within the castle during the siege, excepting 

 only Hugh, the son of Hugh le Despencer the younger. Foidera 20 E. II. 



In an account of the possessions of Hugh le Despencer, and Eleanor his 

 wife, 14 Ed. II. (a copy of which appears in the Harleian MSS.), the 

 sum for the necessary repairs, &c. "de necessaria reparatione et custodia 

 Cast, de Kerfiliy," is estimated at ^643 per annum. 



The name of" Sengcnny" appears in a dateless deed, entitled " Protectio 



