MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 



THE remote ancestry of Pennant were of very 

 ancient Welsh descent, one branch tracing their line 

 from Tudor Trevor and the Great Madoc, while an- 

 other, according to the English heralds, descended 

 from Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, The 

 name was not, however, assumed till a much later 

 period, the first who received it being DAVID PEN- 

 NANT AP TUDOR, a fifteenth descendant. The de- 

 signation is truly Welsh, derived from PEN, a head, 

 and NANT, a dingle, in which situation the ancient 

 family mansion is situated. 



It is not necessary here to enter minutely into the 

 ancient history of this family. The immediate ances- 

 tors, respectable though perhaps not very rich, were 

 a lower branch of the Family of Hugh Pennant of 

 Bychton, whose youngest son married the heiress of 

 the property he farmed, and thus became possessed of 

 the lands and mansion of Downing or Eden Owain, 

 which were afterwards bequeathed to the father of our 

 naturalist, and became his birth-place, estate, and re- 

 sidence. Some others of his forefathers rose to consi- 



NOL. VII. A 



