a family archive · 1667 to today
Newspaper photograph: police wait outside the farmhouse, April 1988Cover: “Police wait outside the farmhouse”, April 1988 (EV-0086)
TŶ MAWR

Williams / Buckler family

Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr) · Llandough-juxta-Penarth

133 posts from c. 650 to 2026, oldest first. Each is dated to the event, not to when it was posted. Images appear only on the post whose date they match; undated images are in Photos.

Before 1800

1800s

Williams / Buckler family
·

Stewart’s survey of the Bute estates, plan 19 “Cedfin or Ty Mawr Farm”: 139a 3r 8p, including 20a 2r 35p of wood; tenant read as John Gedrick; 10a 3r 39p of “late Thos. Williams” land added (Glamorgan Archives DB/E/1)

Source: EV-0211 / Master Timeline, 1824

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Williams / Buckler family
·

John Williams succeeds his father in the tenancy of the farm, per a 1904 press report: “He succeeded his father in the tenancy of the farm in 1855” (Cardiff Times, 16 Jul 1904, which calls him “of Llandough Farm”; that he is the Great House John Williams is an inference)

Source: Cardiff Times 1904 · EV-0224 / Master Timeline, 1855

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Williams / Buckler family

Llandough poor rate: John Williams rated for a farm, owner Lord Bute, c. 76a, gross £41 0s (same sequence in the rate of 20 Aug 187?, year unread); Lord Bute rated for woods in hand, 32a 3r 39p; Daniel Thomas & Son rated for a lime kiln and quarry

Source: EV-0212 / Master Timeline, October 1876

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Williams / Buckler family

Date reported for a lease to John Williams in Mary (Nancy) Williams’s account; no matching Llandough instrument has been identified. The checked DBDT/79/1 item is a 2 May 1877 lease for Pembroke Terrace, Cardiff; other similarly named Cardiff lease references remain catalogue leads, not verified Llandough evidence (SC-20; 1877 Agreement). A Bute Trustees counterpart lease of this date to John Williams, builder, of System Street, Roath, for a plot in Clyde Street, Roath, is photographed; it is not the farm (EV-0213; Excluded).

Source: SC-20 · 1877 Agreement · EV-0213 · Excluded / Master Timeline, 6 November 1877

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Williams / Buckler family

The 1881 census records John Williams, 53, “Farmer of 170[? or 120] ac.”, with his wife Mary and children at “Llandough Home Farm”, Llandough (RG11/5288 p.2). Per Sion Buckler, the census mixed up the Llandough farm with Great House Farm, so this is Great House Farm under another name

1881 census, Llandough, RG11/5288 p.2
1881 census, Llandough, RG11/5288 p.2 · image dated 3 April 1881 · EV-0224

Source: EV-0224 / Master Timeline, 3 April 1881

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1900s

Williams / Buckler family

Barry Dock News, p.3, “Court Leet at Llandough”: the court leet and court baron of the lordship of Bute passed “a vote of sympathy … with the family of the late Mr. John Williams, Great House, Llandough, for many years a juror of the court”. Fits Mary (Nancy) Williams’s statement that her grandfather died in 1908; jury service says nothing about ownership (EV-0243)

Source: EV-0243 / Master Timeline, 23 October 1908

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1910s

1920s

Williams / Buckler family
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Last quarry machinery leaves and final rent of about £4 is paid to Alfred Thomas; on our title case, the 1877 arrangement then takes effect and the full Parcel A passes to the Williams family (Mary (Nancy) Williams’s statement; receipt missing) [PENDING: EV-0016]

Source: EV-0016 · 1928 / Master Timeline, 1928

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1930s

1940s

Williams / Buckler family

National Farm Survey, Penarth parish bundle (TNA MAF 32/1220/39; catalogue entry, not seen). That Great House Farm’s form is in this bundle is an inference (Llandough was added to Penarth in 1902); the forms of this series generally record occupier, owner and water supply (EV-0241)

Source: EV-0241 / Master Timeline, 1941–43

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Williams / Buckler family

Start of the water cut-off to the farmhouse and grounds, inferred from Mrs Buckler’s 1958 statement that it had been cut off “for nearly 10 years by order of Western Ground Rents” (EV-0037, snippet only). Per Branwen Buckler (voice testimony), cattle drowned in the River Ely trying to reach water (testimony; no record found). Date conflict: SC-48.

Source: EV-0037 · testimony · SC-48 / Master Timeline, c. 1948–49

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1950s

Williams / Buckler family

While enforcing possession of Parcel B, WGR also seized, on our case (SOURCE PENDING), the Parcel-A forest north of the house and the south-east ground later registered as VG41 [PENDING: EV-0034]. Mary (Nancy) Williams retained the occupied farmhouse/buildings/garden group after fierce resistance; that group was not the full extent of Parcel A

Source: EV-0034 · enforcement / Master Timeline, 4 July 1955

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Williams / Buckler family

Days 20–24 of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government public local inquiry into objections to the Glamorgan County Council Development Plan (Area No. 2); verbatim record at TNA BD 28/177 (catalogue entry; not yet read). Related plan files 1957–63: BD 28/133, BD 28/198, HLG 119, MAF 112/1108 (EV-0239) (EV-0240)

Source: EV-0239 · EV-0240 / Master Timeline, 19 November – 11 December 1958

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Williams / Buckler family

Western Mail, p.7 (snippet only, EV-0037): “Mrs. Buckler claimed that the water was cut off from her house and grounds for nearly 10 years by order of Western Ground Rents.” She told the planning committee: “This is a Welsh case of Crichel Down.” The water date conflicts with a c.1988 cut-off (SC-48). The Press Archive also lists, unverified, a Western Mail report, “It’s a Crichel Down, says woman farmer”, said to record Mrs Buckler alleging that councils and Western Ground Rents had “walked in and taken” the family’s land. The original article and exact wording have not been recovered; if authenticated, this would evidence a contemporary allegation, not prove ownership or unlawful taking. The reported reference to “Cardiff Rural Council” must be reconciled with the administrative correction in SC-22. Press Archive — unverified references

Source: EV-0037 · SC-48 · SC-22 · Press Archive — unverified references / Master Timeline, 20 November 1958

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Williams / Buckler family
·

Mary (Nancy) Williams refuses a tenancy of the occupied farmhouse/buildings/garden group and asserts ownership; this was the area she could physically defend after the 1955 seizure, not the full Parcel-A extent Our case: a REJECTED permissive occupancy ploy.

Source: 1959 refusal / Master Timeline, 1959

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1960s

1970s

1980s

Williams / Buckler family

Ted Rowlands MP criticised in the House of Commons how the BP pension fund, as buyer of Western Ground Rents, was treating householders’ requests. The debate does not mention Great House Farm; it concerns the WGR–BP ownership chain.

Hansard, House of Commons, 22 May 1980
Hansard, House of Commons, 22 May 1980 · image dated 22 May 1980 · GHF-E090-N16

Source: EV-0057 · GHF-E090-N16, 22 May 1980

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Williams / Buckler family
·

Llandough Community Council: “no justification” for submitting a right of way from Great House Farm to the Swiss Cottages; no further action. Same minutes name Debenham Tewson as “the agents for BP Properties”; payments include “Debenham Tewson Licence Fee £5.50” (committee date pending)

Source: EV-0214 / Master Timeline, 1987

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Williams / Buckler family

Council minutes (meeting of 17 Dec 1987): a resident’s letter asks for VG41 to be “extended up to the farm wall”; the farm roadway called “an unofficial access route”; the council’s Penlan Road licence recorded as terminated by Debenham Tewson

Source: EV-0214 / Master Timeline, December 1987

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Williams / Buckler family

Eviction attempt fails: drive blocked by a tractor, doors axed, William holds the bailiffs off with a chainsaw; bailiffs withdraw after four hours

Newspaper photograph: “Police wait outside the farmhouse”
Newspaper photograph: “Police wait outside the farmhouse” · image dated c. April 1988 · EV-0086
“Chainsaw farmer vows to fight on”
“Chainsaw farmer vows to fight on” · image dated c. 30 April 1988 · GHF-E090-N07
South Wales Echo, 29 April 1988 (archive search extract)
South Wales Echo, 29 April 1988 (archive search extract) · image dated 29 April 1988 · GHF-E090-N15-01
South Wales Echo, 30 April 1988 (archive search extract)
South Wales Echo, 30 April 1988 (archive search extract) · image dated 30 April 1988 · GHF-E090-N15-02

Source: press / Master Timeline, 29 April 1988

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Williams / Buckler family

Interim High Court injunction that the farmhouse must not be touched; Cadw considers spot-listing

South Wales Echo, 2 December 1988 (archive search extract)
South Wales Echo, 2 December 1988 (archive search extract) · image dated 2 December 1988 · GHF-E090-N15-05
“History fight to save farm”, South Wales Echo, 3 December 1988
“History fight to save farm”, South Wales Echo, 3 December 1988 · image dated 3 December 1988 · GHF-E090-N08
South Wales Echo, 3 December 1988 (archive search extract)
South Wales Echo, 3 December 1988 (archive search extract) · image dated 3 December 1988 · GHF-E090-N15-06
“Billy’s unhappy family”, South Wales Echo, 3 December 1988, p.2
“Billy’s unhappy family”, South Wales Echo, 3 December 1988, p.2 · image dated 3 December 1988 · GHF-E090-N09

Source: press / Master Timeline, 2–3 December 1988

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1990s

2000s

Williams / Buckler family

Forest of Cardiff received £20,000 for land at Leckwith Road, Llandough in the year 1 Jul 2005 – 30 Jun 2006, the year of the 2 Dec 2005 transfer to Goldsworthy Homes. Which land was sold is not yet established.

Source: EV-0217, Year to 30 June 2006

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2010s

2020s

Williams / Buckler family

HMLR letter: WA231076 application received 30 Nov 1982 (Linklaters & Paines for BP Properties); WA240304 received 23 Feb 1983; titles amalgamated; “no evidence of a mistake in the register”

HM Land Registry letter, 23 March 2026, first page (email address removed)
HM Land Registry letter, 23 March 2026, first page (email address removed) · image dated 23 March 2026 · EV-0147

Source: EV-0147 · M16 / Master Timeline, 23 March 2026

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