Living and Working on a Remote Farm in Llandecwyn

I went to Llenyrch at 15 years old, having served before that for four years, after my mother's death when I was eleven years old. Llenyrch was a wonderful home. The salary - ten shillings a week for twenty years - 50p a week in today’s money,. Went from there for a while after getting married to live in Manod, but back again, both of us this time, to finish the twenty years. Healthy food, produced on the farm, which is Siot, finely ground Oatmeal bread, with buttermilk on it, Brwas, Two milk posset - boiled milk and pour it on a little buttermilk, Llymru, Porridge, Oats or Rice, White Sican, Cosyn Caws Cartref, Home-made honey. They kept bees. Also made Mead - if you drank a lot of that, you would be sure to be drunk, but they used it as a drug, and when they had a heavy cold, they would drink a cup, and go to bed and you would be sure to get better.

Margiad and Richard Evans lived there, spinster and batchelor . Excellent characters, a religious household, yet plenty of healthy humour - a rare thing today. There was Llenyrch Chapel nearby, a branch of the Gellilydan Presbyterian Chapel. It was not on land belonging to Llenyrch, but on the land of the next farm, which is Penbrynpwlldu. It was closed just before I went there. I heard a lot about it, from both of them, at nightfall in front of the peat fire, lit with rush candle. I didn't see a match for a while after going there, because they would put two or three black peats to be released in the ash hole the night before, and then lift them to the big grate in the morning, add more peat on them, and there would be a fire in no time.I made many rush candles by,peeling the rush ,but leaving one husk and putting them in hot grease in a large frying pan, before finally keeping them in a dedicated tray under the large chimney. Nearby was Llyn Llenyrch, where many would walk there to fish, and many fish were caught, - some used a boat. On the surface of the lake there were lilies,some white and others yellow. It was a beautiful sight, nature at its best.

We sat under the big chimney, and an old old oak beam formed the shelf above the grate, with plenty of space there. There was a small hook above the peat fire, which held the porridge pot that boiled slowly throughout the afternoon, and everyone in turn, gave it a stir with the porridge stick which was intended for that work. By now over thirty-five years have passed. Margiad Evans in order to get some education, went to a house called Ty'n Llan which is close to Llandecwyn Church, a long journey where she attended school three times a week. This, of course, she had to pay for. The teacher had lost one arm and taught arithmatic , she said. Doing sums, 'add up' and 'take away' she called it, and learning to read. We were taught one day to count more than ten. After ten the teacher said you must 'carry one'. "Well Sir" she said, "wouldn't it be better for me to 'carry two' in case 'one' is not enough?" In a lonely place like Llenyrch they had become used to buying a sack of sugar, a bag of rice, half a hundred weight of flour and a whole chest of tea, so the idea was a good one!

Richard Evans would be very strict about bed-time. He had been on two walking sticks for a good long while. When the old grandfather clock struck nine, he would say, "Well Margiad, we'll go to our beds while we can." Another time he said, "We will go again tonight to give our care to the Lord." After that , because of illness we did not always have the privilege or opportunity to have a good night's rest.

I remember well, about two special stones, a large round one for the men, and the other, smaller one for the women. They were bragging stones. Strong men would walk from Tanygrisiau, and others from afar, to the border of Llenyrch and Cancoed Uchaf to try to lift the big stone. I heard Richard Evans say that an uncle of mine was successful in lifting it off the ground, namely the late Howel Parry. He was a servant in Llenyrch for many years. His home was Cae'r Gof, which is today under Llyn Trawsfynydd. People used to talk of his strength.

My brother Gwynoro, Goronwy's twin, was also in Llenyrch for thirteen years. He died aged 38. I remember the first summer I went to Lenyrch - a hot summer, and large fields of hay wanted to be harvested in bunches ready to be brought to the hay loft. A row of us at it, with small rakes - no mention of the machines that work instead of men today. Three horses, a large open cart , and a drag cart were used. A very pleasant time. One afternoon, the hay was not dry enough to be carried for about two hours, so I said to Margiad Evans, I will go with a small tin to collect some blackberries. I walked and walked, but to no avail, getting none . I went back quite disappointed, and said to Margiad Evans, "What a poor farm, I got none. " And this is her witty answer. " Brambles, you see, only grow well in the fields of the lazy.” I never mentioned it again. What she had said was true. At that time they were cutting grass with scythes - close to the walls, therefore, there was no place for brambles to grow to get blackberries!

I remember going to Plas Ffarm Llandecwyn, they were related to the Llenyrch family. Two spinsters and two batchelors . Richard, Edward, Mary and Gwen Roberts. I was accompanied by one of the Llenyrch family to go there one afternoon after tea. Edward asked us to go to the yard to see the calves. They were fed skimmed milk. The cream was saved for churning to get butter. They calves were quite thin. Edward asked the brother, "What do you think of these calves?" No answer. He asked the second time, "What do you think of these calves?" And the brother said, afraid of angering him, "Well, they'll remain as calves for years for you Edward." It didn’t seem that they would grow much. Margiad Evans would always tell the servants - give the pigs and calves a dry bed, plenty of straw or fern, better less in their stomach and a dry place to lie on. The old lady talked about her mother, who was of a fair old age and had been suffering slight strokes and there was an old woman from the area, a small farm called Y Gegin, - it has been in ruins for many years, bringing one of the leeches that would be in a ditch, a small creature similar to a lizzard. There is an old saying, 'It sticks like a leach'. That was put on the old woman's neck for her to suck the unhealthy bad blood and when it had fulfilled it would let go, and the old woman would be better for a while, and the process was repeated as was necessary. I remember Richard Evans getting shingles on his back. He put a white canvas, on the wall by the hay barn as a sign to Mary Lewis, Caersaeson to come over.

She would soon come in her clogs through the Gorge. Then, me holding the rush candle for her to see, Richard Evans and his weight on the table, and lifting his flannel shirt and flannel waistcoat, then she would breathe on him three times, and spit twice, and this was repeated

many times. She did this for nine days at the same time every night at six o'clock, and after about nine days they began to get better. Her services were popular and she travelled miles to help people. Some of her family have eaten eagle meat they say. I don't know, because she didn't have children, that medicine came to an end.

Ceunant Llenyrch was a very good place for sticks. Several would come to ask permission to cut some. Margiad Evans asked me one day, "Do you know when to cut a stick?" "I don't know." I said, "If not in the spring." "No" she said. "When you see one cut it, or someone else will have taken it!"

We would go to Capel Brontecwyn every Sunday after lunch. Walked in clogs and changing into shoes before arriving at the chapel. An hour and a half's work walking one way, and that was the happiest period of my life. Hard, honest work, lifting heavy weights for example - putting the yoke on my shoulders to carry the milk after the milking - in the cowshed in the winter and out in the summer. There were eighteen dairy cows, and when the men were busy, we would milk nine while singing. Milking very often in a place called Fuches Dwll in Ceunant Geifr. A nice place, a stream as cold as the crystal, a narrow bridge to go over and a causeway of stones to cross to the other side. A high wall had been erected in the middle of the Herd, and a place to put the milk churns on it. A quiet place, the songs of the birds, the bleating of the sheep and the sound of the brook singing. I better explain why Fuches Dwll got another name, which was Ceunant Geifr. Well, Richard Evans told me that a herd of goats would come down from Cwm Moch, through the stream, and indeed I saw them myself. Margiad Evans would call to me, Nel, come to the hay barn quickly, the goats are coming, and I would go – somewhat fearing them, but they always went by in one neat and dignified line, not showing us any attention. Then they would go past Canycoeduchaf and down, and past Felinrhyd Fawr and on to Gelli Grin, up to the rocks - it was chasing time, or courtship if you like, and there were wild goats there also. Then some time later they would pass in the same dignified manner as before past Llenyrch and through Ceunant Geifr to Cwm Moch, but after they built the Power House, and the sound of men working and the machines and the sound of the water, they retreated for years.

We would go from Llenyrch with baskets of butter and eggs down the gorge to Pont Llenyrch and up to Gellilydan to a small shop called Llwynimpia. If the day was short, Margiad Evans would be uneasy about me because the gorge was a very dangerous place after dark and this is how she would say, "I'm glad to hear the sound of your feet coming back, I hope the you will die one day with your head on a pillow. Well, a cup now to wait for the sweat to go, then a proper meal. You know," she said, "a long meal makes a big meal, and a big meal does a lot of damage to the stomach."
The late Evan Roberts, Cae Iago would come to Llenyrch to buy fattened steers. They would boil a pot full of potatoes every day in the cross house, the back kitchen and make it into dough- like round balls, potatoes and flour and bran. The pigs would be fed on them and the chickens too.

Indian corn was very welcome also. An interesting day was the day of the bargaining with Evan Roberts. When he arrived at the house, Margiad Evans said, (remember she hadn't been from Llenyrch for years so everything that was happening on the farm was of great interest to her, and seeing people calling was a delight). "Risiart, go with Evan Roberts to see the livestock while Nel and I make tea and pancakes." That would be the welcome at that time. The best round table would be pulled out, and a table cloth of white starched flour bag, and also sugar cubes would be on the table. When they came back, Margiad would ask, should I put one cube or two of sugar in Evan Roberts' tea? If Richard Evans said, put one Margiad –that would mean a low price - but if he said, "put two" - a good price would have been received.

Respectability of the Sabbath was a talking point, at the top of the stairs there was an old, old fashioned large press cupboard, and in it was a riding outfit and a large black cape lined with red flannel and a high collar. These did not come out except on Sundays to go to Pont Llenyrch to meet the preacher, who had come on his preaching journey to Gellilydan. Richard Evans would take the horse to the bridge, then put the preacher on the horse's back, and put the cape over him so that he would not get cold, after walking and sweating. The outfit would then be back again in the old closet. But I can remember them being used too, when Margaid Evans died peacefully at the age of 87, and the last time, in seven months time when Richard Evans died at the age of 71. Their remains were buried in the Church Cemetery, Maentwrog. 'Losing Margiad Evans was like losing my second mother to me. Hardly a day goes by that I don't think about them, and still keep in touch with the Llenyrch family. Well, that's a few crumbs from the history of Llenyrch, Llandecwyn.

Rest in Peace.

The above was kindly received from Elwyn Williams, Blaenau Ffestiniog and we thank him very warmly for thinking that we would like to share the 'crumbs about the history of Llenyrch' with anyone who might be interested.