Welsh Journals

glrrftralfljgia fymhnmib THIRD SERIES, No. XLIX.—JANUARY, 1867. THE LORDS OF AVAN, OF THE BLOOD OF JESTYN. The pedigrees of the Welsh families in Glamorgan, differing somewhat in detail, concur to recognise the lords of Avan, or Aberavan, as descendants in the male line from Caradoc, one of the sons of Jestyn, lord of Glamorgan, by Angharad,daughter of Elystan Glodrydd. This descent, moreover, differs from, and is superior to, every other Welsh pedigree in the county, in being capable of proof to within one generation of the founder, by original documentary evidence; and to the founder and his father, by the evidence of received historians. Caradoc, the eldest son of Jestyn, and his descendants for several generations, were the patrons of the munici¬ pal borough of Aberavan, and liberal benefactors to the adjacent Abbey of Margam, in which many of their bodies found a resting-place. In return for these favours and this confidence, the politic and grateful monks and burgesses preserved the names and actions of the donors, and have transmitted them to our times. The borough of Avan-Burgus was a part of the manor or lordship of Avan Wallia, sometimes called the " ser- jeantry" of Avan, originally granted, says Meyric, to Caradoc ap Jestyn ; no doubt out of his father's domains, and remarkable as having been held by grand ser- jeantry; this manor and Coyty being, in the opinion of 3rd ser., vol. xiii. 1