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 I'eceived 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- 
von. VII. 
A 
