BULKELEYS of BARON HILL 
Read about the Bulkeley family and find out who worked there
during the census years     

In 817, Egbert, who ruled in Wessex from 802-839, invaded North Wales and Anglesey, and fought a great battle at Llanfaes in which he defeated the Welsh.

The field of battle lay between Llanfaes Village and the ancient tower of Tre'r Castell, which was once famous for its inexhaustible mead cellar.

Tre'r Castell was a fortified house, the residence, in the time of Edward I, of Sir Tudur ap Gronw ap Tudur Fychan of the royal house of North Wales. The farm of Tre'r Castell now lies near the shore.

After the battle of Llanfaes, Anglesey lay for a while under the heel of the Saxons, but was soon afterwards freed by Merfyn Frych, who, in the 9th century, was King of the Isle of Man.

Llanfaes Blacksmiths

The Smithy was built in 1811.

The 1841 census for Llanfaes shows Richard Thomas as the village blacksmith.

The Smithy appears on the 1847 title map and was part of the Henllys Estate.

The property is called The Smithy in 1851.

John Evans had taken over the role of blacksmith by 1860, and the property has reverted to being called part of Llanfaes Village according to the census.

John's birthplace seems to have a more accurate birthplace in 1871.

The 1881 census of Llanfaes does not show a blacksmith living there. John Evans and his wife had moved to live at Taldrwst in Llangoed, where he is recorded as being a farmer of 11 acres and a blacksmith.

David Hughes became the blacksmith around 1885/6. His home is called Ty Tawel, situated next to the vicarage.

1901 Ty Refail

Ty Refail and St Catherine's Church Copyright Eric Jones and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Donald McDonald. recorded as married, but his wife was not at home on census night, was aged 45 and worked as a coachman. His 14 year old son John was a Pony Boy - domestic. Both are recorded as born in Scotland.

The Polling List for Llanfaes in 1923, shows a "David and Jane Jones" living at Ty Refail, Llanfaes, and "Haley, George & Margaret Bentley & Ernest R", living at Ty Tawel, the former residence of a Llanfaes blacksmith.

The Smithy, Llanfaes Copyright Roger Gilbertson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The Smithy, Llanfaes (click here to visit the website)

The Smithy, as the name implies, is a tastefully converted former Smithy near Beaumaris that was built in 1811. It was converted to a high quality holiday home in around 1985, just before it was acquired by the current owners who have continued to improve and update the Grade 2 listed home to its beautifully appointed standard. The Smithy is situated in the quiet hamlet of Llanfaes that is about 1 mile from Beaumaris on the Island of Anglesey, North Wales.

LLANFAES ALMSHOUSES

Photo copyright and courtesy of Richard Thomas

They were established in 1613 by David Hughes,
of Woodrising, Norfolk.
This is the same David Hughes who established
the "Free Grammar school"  in Beaumaris in 1609

He gave a house which he had lately built at Beaumaris, for the use of a grammar school, and endowed it with all his lands in the county of Anglesey, for the payment of the master and usher, for the maintenance of the scholars, and for keeping the building in repair.
He directed his trustees to appropriate the surplus in placing one or two of the scholars in either of the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and in erecting an almshouse for eight persons, three to be chosen from the parish of Llantrisaint, where the founder was born, two from that of Ceidio, two from that of Llêchcynvarwydd, and one from the chapelry of Gwredog. 
The almshouse, consisting of eight rooms under one roof, is of quadrangular form, with an archway leading into the interior, and having a stone placed over it marked "D. H. 1613;" the building is situated in the parish of Llanvaes, about a mile from the town of Beaumaris.
The almsmen each receive an allowance of six shillings a week, five pounds of beef at Christmas, and six yards of frieze annually on St. Thomas's day; the whole provided out of the endowment assigned by David Hughes for a grammar school and almshouse.

Photo copyright and courtesy of Richard Thomas
Almshouses, front elevation

1841

No 1. William Pritchard 87, Independent means, Mary  Pritchard 75.

No 2. John Rowlands 45, agricultural labourer, Margaret Rowlands 66, John 16, William 14, Elizabeth 11, Ellen 6.

No 3. William Thomas 65, Independent means, Margaret Thomas 66,  Owen 15, shoemaker, Ellen 13.

No 5. John Ingrams 74, weaver, Jane Ingrams 62, Griffith 30 tailor, Margaret 35.

No 6. John Roberts 54, independent means, Mary Roberts 40, William 11, John 4.

No 7. Mary Williams 87, independent maens, Mary 40, Hugh 15 shoemaker, Mary 13.

No 8. Mary Jones 70, independent means.

No 9. Owen Roberts 65, army, Elizabeth Roberts 65

No 10. John Hughes 30, agricultutral labourer, Jane Hughes 35, Ann 9, John 7, Mary 5, Elizabeth 3, Ellenor 10 months.

No 11. William Morris 70, independet means, Elizabeth Morris 75, Jane 10.

No 12. John Owen 55, independent means, John Owen 25 shoemaker.

No 13. Richard Robinson 20, copper miner.

No 14. Hugh Roberts 50, independene means, Margaret Roberts 45, Elizabeth 22, Owen 19, shoemaker, Richard 16, agricultural labourer, John 12,  Ellen 9, Jane 6, Hugh 3.

No 15. William Lewis 60, independent meanm Margaret Lewis 70.

Photo copyright and courtesy of Richard Thomas
Almshouses Inner Courtyard

1851

No 1. William Lewis, 70, widower, annuitant, tanner, Lewis Owen 37, lodger, carter, Margaret 41, lodger's wife, their children, Elizabeth 11, William 9, Catherine 7, Margaret 5, Ellen 4, Henry 1.

No 2. Hugh Roberts 43, annuitant, labourer, Margaret 56 wife, children, Elizabeth 37, seemstress, Owen 29, shoemaker, John 27, llabourer, Hugh 13 at home.

No 3. Owen Jones 70, annuitant, labourer, Margaret 36, wife, Catherine 3, granddaughter.

No 4. William Morris 82, widower, annuitant, stone mason, Jane 29, granddaughter, house servant.

No 5. Owen Roberts 80, widower, Chelsea Pensioner, Mary Williams 56, widow, daughter.

No 6. John Hughes 46, labourer, Jane 46, wife, cook, children, Ann 18, at home, John 16, labourer, Mary 15, Elizabeth 13, Elinor 10, Catherine 6, Jane 3.

No 7. Mary Jones 76, widow, pauper.

No 8. Mary Hughes 50, widow, gardener, Catherine Williams 12, niece.

No 9.John Roberts 67, annuitant, shoemaker, Mary 57, wife, children, William 19, labourer, John 16, tailor.

No 10. John Lazerus, 23, annuitant, weaver, William Ishmael 49, son in law, tailor, Margaret Ishmael, 52, wife.

No 11. Watkin Jones 78, annuitant, labourer, Elizabeth 60 wife, Susan 29, daughter.

No 12. Richard Jones 66, annuitant labourer, Mary 51 wife, Edward 30, son, Owen Jones 9, slater lodger

Photo copyright and courtesy of Richard Thomas
Almshouses archway, entrance and Courtyard beyond

1861

No 1. Richard Jones 76, agricultural labourer, Mary 61, wife, lodger Owen Jones 19, joiner.

No 2. Hugh Roberts 72, agricultural labourer, Margaret 65, wife, children Owen 38, shoe maker, Jane 26, dressmaker, Hugh 22 shoe maker.

No 3. John Hughes 55, gardener, Jane 50, wife, children, John 25, widower, agricultural labourer, Catherine 15, Jane 13.

No 4. Richard Davies 42, carter, Jane 39, wife, Richard 20, son.

No 5. John Owen 73, pumper.

No 6. Uninhabited.

No 7. Robert Owen 52, agricultural labourer, Sarah 45, wife, children, Elizabeth 14, William 12, Joseph 10.

No 8. Robert Jones 85, pauper, shoe maker.

No 9. John Roberts 70, widower, shoemaker, children John 24, tailor, Ann 23, son's wife, Mary Jane 1 month.

No 10. William Hughes 72, agricultural labourer, Elizabeth 73, wife, Barry Hughes 40, daughter, Margaret Hughes 7, granddaughter.

No 11.Messiah Jones 50, agricultural labourer, Margaret 46, wife, Hugh 12, son. 

No 12. William Hughes 47, agricultural labourer, Jane 49, wife, children John 23 agricultural labourer, Thomas 17, agricultural labourer, Mary 9.

Photo copyright Eric Jones, reproduced here by licence
Llanfaes Almshouses

 1871

No1. Irene Hughes 56 widow of agricultural labourer.

No 2. Owen Hearns 58, agricultural labourer, Ellen 54, wife, children, Richard 24, Robert 22, Owen 19, all carters, William 14, Thomas 12, both farm servants.

No 3. Richard Davies 51, carter,  Jane 49 wife, Richard 29, son agricultural labourer.

No 4. John Thomas 72, agricultural labourer, Anne Jones 77, domestic servant.

No 5.  Hugh Roberts 84, formerly stone mason, Margaret 80, wife, children Owen 48, shoe maker, Jane 36 needle woman.

No 6. John Davies 73, agricultural labourer. 

No 7. Robert Owen 60, widower, labourer, Joseph 18, labourer, Mary Owen 30 daughter in law, grandchildren Robert 5, Sarah 3.

Photo copyright Nigel Williams. Reproduced here by licence
 Llanfaes Almshouses

1881

No 1. Robert Roberts 38, agricultural labourer, Rebecca 42, wife, children, Robert 15, John Henry 14, Hugh 13, Owen 11, David 10, Catherine 7, William 6, Mary 6 twins, Ann 2, Martha 2 weeks.

No 2. Jane Hughes widow of agricultural labourer,

No 3. Hugh Roberts 61, agricultural labourer, Catherine 69, wife, grandchildren, Catherine 15, David 4.

No 4. John Davies 80, widower, agricultural labourer.

No 5. Owen Eames 27, agricultural labourer, Ann 23, wife, children Ellen 3, Ann 6 months.

No 6. Uninhabited.

No 7. Uninhabited

No 8. Uninhabited. 

1891

No1. Elizabeth Hughes, 65, poultry dealer, Owen Hughes 29, nephew, labourer, Ellen Roose Griffith 27, niece, dressmaker, Theophilus Griffiths 25, nephew, labourer, Elizabeth Griffith 2, great niece.

No 2. Robert Roberts 47, labourer, Rebecca 52, wife, children, Henry 23, Owen 22, David 17, William 15, all labourers, Mary 15, Catherine 17, Anne Ellen 13, Martha 10.

No 3. Uninhabited

No 4. Jane Powell 44, widow, children, Jane 17, John 21 labourer, Ann 23, Ellen 8, Emma 4.

No 5. Catherine Roberts 79, widow, David 45 son, labourer, Mary 32, daughter in law.

No 6. Thomas Jones 31, carter, Mary 32, wife, children, Hugh 8, Ellin 5, Richard 4 months, Grace 3.

No 7. Jane Hughes 78, widow.

No 8. Uninhabited.

No 9. Uninhabited 

1901

No 1. Owen Hughes 36, farm labourer, Jane wife 27, children Fanny Elizabeth 5, Maggie 8 months.

No 2. John Hughes 46, quarryman, Elizabeth 43, William 6, John 3.

No 3. Mission Room - no service.

No 4. Jane Powell 54, widow , children John 30, William 23, both farm labourers, Emma 14.

No 5. William Hughes 51 farm labourer, Ellen 52, wife.

No 6. Griffith Evans 63, farm labourer, Mary 49, wife, children Evan 17, farm labourer, Mary 15.

No 7 Uninhabited

No 8 Uninhabited

No 9 Mary Jones 42, widow, children Ellen 15, domestic servant, Richard 10, Griffith 8, Sidney 6.

Photo copyright and courtesy of Richard Thomas

This plaque commemorates the re-roofing and refurbishing of the Almshouses by R. H. Williams-Bulkeley in 1937

KINGSBRIDGE CAMP, LLANFAES
Kingsbridge was named after the stone bridge that a nearby stream.

1891 - 5th April; Census shows John Meigh 49, born Fillongley, a Sergeant with the Royal Engineers, living at Camp Field Llanfaes. His wife Mary Ann Meigh was 39 and described as a retired laundress. She was born in Montreal, North America. John's stepson William Harin was 11, born Old Brompton, Kent and the couple had two sons, Albert John Meigh 3 also born Old Brompton and Alfred George Meigh 1, born Beaumaris. 

1901; Census shows William Joseph Bullen, 42, a Sergeant in the Royal Engineers living at Camp Field, Llanfaes. He was born in Chatham Kent. His wife Henrietta was 32, born in Woolwich. They had four children; William Alfred 9, born Cork, Ireland,  Reginald 7 and Hettie Ada 4 both born Chatham and Millicent 1 born locally in Beaumaris.

At nearby Henllys, resided the Hon. Colonel  Thomas Lewis Hampton Lewis, 66, R.A. R.E. Militia, born Llanfaes, with his wife Lettie Hampton Lewis, 51, born Llangwyllog and their 2 daughters Dorothy Lettice Hampton Lewis 20 born Llanfaes and Mary Gwendolen Hampton Lewis 25 born London. They employed eight domestic staff.

Thomas Lewis Hampton Lewis, born 1834, was educated at Sandhurst and  entered the Army in 1852. He served in the Crimean War, from 1854 to 1856, and was at Balaclava, Inkerman, Tchernaya and Sebastopol. In 1872 he married Lettice Martha, the second daughter of Henry Prichard of Trescawen, Anglesey. He died in 1912 having had issue, Mary Gwendolen Hampton, born 1875. Under the provisions of her father's will she resumed the surname Hampton alone.

1902: The camp site was chosen for a tented Summer Camp for the militia, which included infantry and the Royal Anglesey Royal Engineers. The latter were taught 'smithy work, carpentry, bridge building and musketry'.

1911; Kingsbridge Camp was used for training reservists as army engineers, all housed under canvas.

	Sallie Williams is pictured here in front of the Beaumaris Castle gates with a draft sending the soldiers out to France.

1914;Llanfaes; Outbreak of First World War, Kingsbridge Camp enlarged, permanent huts erected to accommodate 800 personnel instructed by the Royal Anglesey Engineers to build pontoon bridges, railways, stockades & wire entanglements & then drafted to France.

Soldiers with mule drawn wagons
Army lorry with thick wooden spokes, solid rubber tyres, lamps similar to those on horse drawn coaches. They had no doors or windscreens.

1914; Llanfaes;The Anglesey Volunteer Reserves were stationed at Kingsbridge camp, and guarded both the Britannia Bridge and the Menai Suspension Bridge as a precaution against the Irish troubles, which had threatened to flare up into civil war.

"Pulling Myself Together" by Arthur Haley  He mentions soldiers who were training at Kingsbridge Camp, Llanfaes, Anglesey 1917 "...I used to watch the men marching with little more than curiosity. Then one day in early September we knew that a large body of men were going to march past. They were being drafted to the front. It was evening and all the family were waiting to stand outside to wave goodbye. As soon as they left the camp we knew they were on their way. The strains of "Pack up your troubles in an old kit bag" played by the Regimental band came wafted on the breeze. As the leading column hove into view the song had changed "Keep the home fires burning While your hearts are yearning Though the boys are far away They dream of home There's a silver lining Through the dark clouds shining Turn the dark clouds inside out Till the boys come home..." How bravely they sang. How wildly we waved, right until the last man had disappeared round the bend in the road. In all the excitement I had seen mother trying vainly to smile. As we walked in the tears were coursing down her cheeks and I felt overawed by the contrasting silence that had fallen over all"

Group of WAACs, with Sallie Williams, top centre.
Sports day at Kingsbridge 1918.	I have made every effort to locate the owners of these Kingsbridge photos.  If you have any further information, please contact me

8709 Sapper Bernard W. Handley, A Depot Company, R. A. R. Engineers, Kingsbridge Camp, Beaumaris Anglesey. Christmas 1916. Bernard was the cartoonist who drew the following postcards featuring Officers based at Kingsbridge Camp
	Major T. Fanning Evans was from a well known Anglesey family, and had connections with Parys Mountain
	Colonel W.A. Yockney, according to cartoon artist Bernard W. Handley, was quite one of the best officers he had met. He has always a 'good morning' when coming to the drawing office for the sketch to be drawn. He has a terrible hate of the R.A. R. E. Band and is always off when he hears the drum beat. It was he who said at the opening of the YWCA, 'I'm afraid it's the leg on the other boot'.
Quite a good sort and of course potters about with the Colonel like a dog trotting with his master. Acts as a sort of general secretary for the Colonel and his chief duty seems to call out on General parade, 'All present, Sir''. He always walks about with his hands in his pockets and his pipe in his mouth. You would miss his pipe before his nose if either was missing.
Lieutenant H Reid was the officer in charge of Field Works. There is a poor cat in the small box by his feet.
Lieutenat R. W. B. Owens. Quite one of the most sporting officers of the R. A. R. E.. He was in a high position in the banking line and comes from Liverpool, living in Waterloo. He gets the wind up very quickly but after all is quite harmless and wouldn't do a cap a bad turn. He was very upset to find he generally stands with his toes turned in.
Lieutenat E. L. Roberts. A chief officer of the musketry business - the art of shooting Germans and generally guarding bridges with pieces of hot lead. He made an awful noise about his breeches but the Adjutant said that Bernard  W Handley hadn't drawn them half bad enough
	Lieutenant and Quarter Master A.E. Henderson. A very straightforward man who had always a pleasant word for everybody. He has most of the general supply of the camp to see to. Another point to note about Lieut Henderson is that he has rather a nice daughter.

1919; Early this year most of the troops were being demobbed or moved to other camps and German prisoners of war moved in. The North Wales Chronicle reported on June 20th that 'Fifty German prisoners of war are employed at the camp, filling trenches, etc. On Tuesday they marched through the streets of Beaumaris for exercise and their appearance created much interest'.  

1920;Llanfaes; Kingsbridge Camp was closed.

AUTUMN REGISTER, 1923
PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION
OF THE
COUNTY OF ANGLESEY
Polling District of Beaumaris (A)
Western Electoral Division
Parish of Llanfaes

This register contains the names in street order of all persons entitled to vote
as parliamentary and as local government electors.