Clocaenog/Melin-y-Wig

[Rachel Bowen]

Hello again John Ashley,
This is what I found about Melin-Y-wig on the net.
community
   Organisation      Melinywig Community Centre
   Contact Name      Oswyn Williams
   Contact Address      Islwyn, Melinywig,
   Contact Town      Corwen
   Contact Post Code      LL21 9RE
   Contact Phone No.      01490 460 339
   E-Mail      
   Venue      
   Venue Address      
   Venue Town      Melinywig
   Venue Post Code      
   Facilities suitable for:      Wheelchair users / Prams, Guide Dogs Welcome, Disabled toilets available
   Explanation      Various organisations hold monthly meetings ; W.I meetings ; Chapel Society; also concerts, Bingo nights, Whist Drives etc Annual General Meeting in May. Available every day for hire.
   Meeting Day      
   Time      
   Input Date      22/11/2004
   Web Address      
         
   Pwnc      cymuned
   Cymdeithas      Canolfan Gymdeithasol Melinywig
   Enw'r Cysylltiad      Oswyn Williams
   Cyfeiriad y Cysylltiad      Islwyn, Melinywig,
   Tref y Cysylltiad      Corwen
   Côd Post y Cysylltiad      LL21 9RE
   Rhif Ffon y Cysylltiad      01490 460 339
   E-bost   

Oswyn used to be the headmaster of the primary school in the village until it closed and 'merged with the primary school in the next village, the name of his house is Isfryn and it is right next tothe chapel in Melin-Y-Wig.

He will be very helpful. Tell him Rachel Pook formerly of Ty Isaf gave you the info.
(I use my maiden name for all professional purposes.)
Sincerely, Rachel Bowen

[john ashley]

To Rachel - you are most kind and your help and advice is much appreciated - I shall certainly write to Mr williams as it sounds as if he is the man I am looking for to answer the queries of my American cousins and my own curiosity.This family tree research can be so frustrating but so rewarding!!   Many thanks again.      John Ashley.

[Rachel Bowen]

Glad to be of help,
I loved living in Melin-y-wig - it is a paradise, but job possibilities are limited - now with the internet  and e-mail it could be posible to live there and work at home, but it wasn't then.
Sincerely,
Rachel Bowen 

[iolanthe]

Hi Rachel

I've been reading the messages about Melin-y-wig with interest as I have just received a copy of a death certificate (1849) for my G G G Grandfather, Humphrey Davies.  In the 1841 census he is shown as a farmer from Ty Isaf, Gwyddelwern, which appears on the death certificate as Melin-y-wig, as found by the Registrar from Ruthin.   

After his death, his family was still farming at that address in 1851 with his wife Elizabeth in charge, 1861, 1871 and 1881, with his son John Davies, sister Mary Jones and her family in residence, 1891 and 1901 with Humphrey Davies' grandson Thomas Jones (Mary's son) looking after Ty Isaf.

Does this, in your experience, have any connection with your family history?  Have we found the correct Ty Isaf?  I'd be very pleased to hear your opinion!

Iolanthe

[iolanthe]

Hi Rachel, again

I've just come back from a visit to North Wales and we drove over the mountain from Gwyddelwern to Melin-y-Wig to look for Ty Isaf, which I didn't manage to find.  We must have taken the wrong road out as I can find it on a map!
I'm still trying to find something out about its history as my Davies ancestors farmed there in the 19th century.  I'd be grateful for any snippets of information to add to my family history.  When did your family live there? Are you related directly to the Davies family, or Thomas Jones?

Many thanks
Iolanthe

[polidor]

Hi all,

I've been reading these posts with interest also. Quite a few of my 'oldies' were born in Tai Teg, Melin y Wig. I understand that some family members are buried in Melin y Wig chapel cemetery.
 The following were all born there--- from 1868 onwards.
Mary Catherine Hughes
Edward Hughes
Elizabeth Ann Hughes
Henry Hughes, m to Dora Wynne, both buried there
Margaret Jane Hughes
Dorothy Eleanor Hughes
William Hughes
Alice Winifred Hughes

A number of the Wynne family were also born in Melin y Wig at Pentre, which i am assuming was the name of their home?
I've also come across a 'Davies' in the family connected with Melin y Wig somewhere but can't find him amongst my notes at the moment

I shall watch this space !!!!!  Poli

[Rachel Bowen]

To Iolanthe,
I don't look at this site very often, so haven't replied.

I am not related to either of the families mentioned. We bought the house from an English couple who had bought Ty Isaf from the widower of the sister of a neighbour/family, who much to the disgust of the rest of the family had 'sold it out of the family' which in their eyes he had no right to do.

We lived there for 5 years until 1984  when we moved to France to work.
The house was built in 1642, as a one story dwelling, probably a Ty Hir (Long House) and I think a house where if you had the chimney built with smoke coming out of it by sunrise, and threw stones toutwards from this chimney in E, W, N. S directions, you could claim this amount of land. The shape of the garden suggests this. The roof had been raised in the 19th century and one can see the line where the addition was made. The people we bought the house from had added an extension, unfortunately faced with slate crazy paving. We added a porch and toilet/utility room, but we used local stone and bought slate for the floors and windowsills from the quarries in Bethesda. We were assured that the slate would last 200 years, and I said that that wouldn't do as the slate we already had was already 400 years old. The slate floors in the original part of the house were about a metre by 75 cms and at least 2.5 cms thick. They were very lovely.
We also opened up the original Inglenook fireplace, having removed 3 subsequent grates, including a black-lead 19th cent one, which had 2 huge slate slabs on either side of the accompanying chimney, built inside the original one, which as the 'new' chimney didn't go very far up, had about 200 years worth of soot on them, which went all over the house, through the ceiling, through soaked blankets put up all round the origial farm 'kitchen' to prevent this happening. We found a bread oven and a tinder alcove, which we preserved.

We also found another newer bread oven behind a false wall in the tiny 'newer' kitchen, which we also preserved complete with its cast iron door.  We found old openings, and re-opened one out of this tiny kitchen to go out to the garden fitting a French Window.

Although we wanted to come to France, we would have liked to have been able to keep the house as well, but finances were not available for this.
 I have not been able to locate my photographs of the house, but will try to do so and either post them here, or if you provide me with your e-mail I'll send them directly.
You are not Janet Hazell, by any chance?

It is so long since I looked at this site, that I have forgotten the details.

Sincerely,
Rachel Bowen

[Rachel Bowen]

Hello Polidor,
Tai Teg, is a farm and a row of what used to be almost abandoned cottages. I am sure that if they haven't been renovated, they could be and would become 'fair' (teg) again.
Gwil Tai Teg ( I didn't know his surname) was the farmer and had a very high-pitched voice.
As I am sure you know, 'Tai' is the Welsh plural of 'Ty' = house, therefore 'tai' = houses.
 The chapel has a graveyard - but I never looked at the gravestones. 'Er cof am' means 'in loving memory of' if you ever go there to look.
Sincerely,
Rachel Bowen

[eric]

 I remember visiting my uncle ,aunt and cousins in Lodge Uchaf ,Melin y Wig.I wonder if the property is still there.I would love to receive some information concerning the property.   Ceri