Story of Penllergare

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 20th 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.