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Penllergare’s Past

The gentry estate of Penllergare has often been confused with the later village of Penllergaer. However, the community of Penllergaer did not start to develop until the latter part of the 19th century and was previously known as Cors Eynon.

Pre 1817 The amalgamation of four families

Although Penllergare is probably best known for its ownership by the Dillwyn Llewelyn family in the 19th and early 20^th century, the estate of Penllergare itself can be traced back to 1608 when it was referred to as Penllegeer whilst the correct spelling of Penllergare appears a little later in 1650 and in most documents since. For more than two hundred years the site was the home of the powerful Price family

Adjacent to the land owned by the Price family was the estate and mansion of Nydfwch which was owned by the Mathews family, who, like the Prices could trace their roots back to pre-Norman times. The two families inter-married on several occasions the last record of which was in 1750 and resulted in the amalgamation of the Nydfwch and Penllergare estates.

Further east in the Neath Valley at Ynysygerwn lived the Llewelyns, who, like the Prices and the Mathews families, were also regarded as dynastic local gentry. In 1787 Colonel John Llewelyn inherited the Penllergare estate from his cousin Gryffydd Price. John married Frances Goring but they had no children. However, John’s illegitimate daughter from an earlier liaison, Mary, had in 1807 married Lewis Weston Dillwyn whose father was the owner of the Cambrian Pottery in Swansea, and subsequently Colonel John Llewelyn bequeathed his entire estate to their eldest son John and so the next chapter of this unique story begins.

The Dillwyn Llewelyn Dynasty. 1817 - 1927

As a trustee for his son’s inheritance Lewis, with his wife and growing family lived at Penllergare for 14 years. In 1831 their son John Dillwyn (1810 – 1882) reached 21 years of age and according to the provisos of his grandfather’s will upon inheriting, he added the Llewelyn name to his own becoming John Dillwyn Llewelyn or JDL, as he is affectionately known today.

In 1833 JDL married Emma Thomasina Talbot, the youngest daughter of Thomas Mansel Talbot and Lady Mary Lucy (née Strangeways) of Margam and Penrice. Following the wedding, JDL’s parents Lewis and Mary moved from Penllergare to Sketty Hall and JDL and his new wife settled down at ‘the Big House’. Eventually John and Emma had seven children. John was a noted philanthropist, was actively involved in local affairs and a gifted amateur scientist. He became known for his fascination with astronomy, scientific experiments and pioneering photography. He had also inherited his father’s passion for the natural world, especially botany and arboriculture, and in redesigning his estate, developed this interest further through his father’s connections with many of the eminent horticulturists of the day. John (aided by Emma, who was herself a passionate plants-woman) went on to create one of the finest gardens in the country containing many rare and exotic species brought in from around the world including his renowned collections of rhododendrons and orchids, many of which he propagated himself at Penllergare. John also planted many noteworthy and unusual trees some of which can still be observed today.
Sir John Talbot Dillwyn Llewelyn

John Talbot (1836-1927) was the second child of JDL and Emma. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. In 1861 he married Caroline, daughter of former Lord Chancellor, Sir Michael Hicks Beach. The couple had seven children, of which only four survived childhood. Sir John took over the running of the Penllergare estate in 1879 and went on to become Mayor of Swansea and MP for Swansea for five years and was created a baronet in 1890. Like his father and grandfather, Sir John was keenly interested in horticulture and maintained and developed the estate’s celebrated gardens and plant collections.

Tragedy struck the family in 1893 when his eldest son and heir was killed in a shooting accident in the woods. Therefore, on Sir John’s death in 1927, the estate passed to his second son, Charles, who had previously married into the Venables family of Llysdinam, near Newbridge-on-Wye and made that his home. As a result, although still retaining ownership of the land, the family left Penllergare and so our story ends. Over the next 80 or so years the part of the estate known today as Valley Woods would gradually return to nature whilst other parts would be sold off for housing and other developments. In 1991 the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust voiced concern at the vulnerability and continued destruction of Penllergare and in 2000, a small group of passionate volunteers set up a charitable trust, resolving to save one of the foremost picturesque and romantic landscapes in Wales and it is here that the next chapter of the life of Penllergare begins.

Click here to find out more about the restoration of Penllergare

Penllergare’s Past

The Dillwyn Llewelyn Dynasty. 1817 - 1927

Sir John Talbot Dillwyn Llewelyn