Fonds GB 0210 NOYAWR - Noyadd Trefawr estate records

Noyadd Trefawr is in the parish of Llandygwyd, Cardiganshire. The first known occupant of Noyadd Trefawr was Rhys Dafydd Llwyd, who married Alson ferch Rhys ap Rhydderch. Their daughter and co-heir, Dyddgu, married Thomas ap Harri ap Philip of Blaen Cuch, descendant of Rhys Chwith, esquire of the body to Edward I. David Thomas Parry (fl. 1589-1621),Rhys's son, was the first of the family to take a surname. He was sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1605, 1617 and 1621. His eldest son David Parry predeceased his father, and he was succeeded by another David Parry (c. 1641-1664), the eldest son of his brother, John Parry (d. 1651) of Dolyfonddu, Montgomeryshire.

David Parry married Elizabeth, heiress of Thomas Parry of Plas Newydd in the parish of St Dogmaels. Her inheritance, and purchases, added to the estate, one of the largest in Cardiganshire, which now included Cilgerran, Fforest, the manor of St Dogmaels, lands in the parishes of Clydai, Ferwig and Llanfyrnach, and the tithes of Cennarth, Cilfowyr and Llangolman. David and Elizabeth were succeeded by their son David Parry (dsp. 1711), sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1685, who was succeeded by one of his four sisters, Anne, who had married her cousin Stephen Parry (c. 1675-1724, dsp.) of Rhydymendi, the grandson of John Parry of Dolyfonddu above. Stephen Parry was sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1720 and MP for the Cardigan Boroughs 1715-1724.

Stephen and Anne were succeeded by David Parry (d. 1753), the son of Stephen's sister Susan, the wife of William Parry of Nevern. David Parry married Frances (d. c. 1792), the daughter and heir of Kedgwin Webley (d. 1773) of Chancery Lane, London. The only change in the Noyadd estate from this point is a gradual dispersion of the estate as out-lying parts were sold to meet financial demands. David and Frances were succeeded by their only child and heir, another Frances (dsp. 1815), who had married in 1768 with Marmaduke Gwynne (d. 1784) of Garth, Breconshire. Frances Gwynne bequeathed the estate to her cousin, Rear-Admiral William Henry Webley (d. 1837), who added Parry to his surname.

The admiral was responsible for the substantial Georgian rebuilding of the existing Elizabethan mansion, and it was this which was largely responsible for driving the estate into debt, mainly to Thomas Davies of Bridge House, Cardigan. The admiral sold land and property, but by 1828 the estate had a rental of £2,000 and debts of £18,000. In 1837, William Henry Webley-Parry (1803-1853) inherited his father's estates and his debts. By 1839 the estate had shrunk to less than 1,000 acres all in the parish of Llandygwydd.

William Henry Webley-Parry was succeeded by his son David Kedgwin William Webley-Parry (1833-1870), who married in 1861 with Nina Catherine (d. 1917), the daughter of Count Demetrios de Palatine of Corfu. He was succeeded by his only surviving child, Nina Catherine Angharad (1858-1954), who married in 1891 with Edward John Pryse (1862-1918), son and eventual heir of Sir Pryse Pryse of Gogerddan, and who added Webley-Parry to his surname. Sir Edward John Webley-Parry-Pryse and Nina his wife died without issue.

The Lewes family of Gellidywyll has no link with family of Noyadd Fawr apart from that the fact that the estate and family records of both families became inextricably bound together.

James Lewes (d. c. 1599) of Abernantbychan in the parish of Penbryn, Cardiganshire, was the son of Lewes David ap Meredydd (fl. 1542-1564) of Penbryn. By his first marriage James had one son, also called James Lewes, the founder of the Lewes family of Gellidywyll in the parish of Cenarth, Carmarthenshire. Abernantbychan and most of his father's lands passed to the eldest son of the second marriage, Sir John Lewes (fl. 1601-1652). The Lewes family retained possession of the Gellidywyll estate until the family failed when Thomas Lewes and his brother John Lewes (1743-1795) died of West Indian fever within days of each other. Gellidywyll was inherited by a distant cousin, William Owen Brigstocke (1761-1831) of Blaen-pant in the parish of Llandygwydd, Cardiganshire, and was eventually sold by his grandson, William Owen Brigstocke, to Lord Cawdor.