RootsChat.Com

If I could add a little local information here, having lived in Llywel for some years, and thus I know the places mentioned in your posts.
The parish of Llywel consists of the hamlets of Llywel & Halfway and the village of Trecastle plus of course the many farms in the area. One of the interesting things is that there are only three or four surnames as all the original families are interrelated in some way.  Having so few surnames resulted in people being known by their farm or house names rather than their surnames - and this was still the case when I lived there in the 1990s.   We lived at Bear House so my husband was known as Mike the Bear. A friend whose house was next to the public loos was known as Cerys Toilet Cottage.  And one chap was called Dai Bungalow because he had nothing upstairs....

I did start writing a history of the house we lived in which was built, it is thought, in the 1500s.  I'll check through my notes & let you know if I find any mention of the people you're researching.

Kind regards
GS

I disagree that the previous manual attempt at translation made no sense.  If you were able to read Pitman shorthand, you would see that what the transcriber wrote coincided with the written shorthand outlines.  The fact that there are gaps means the writer chose to admit uncertainty rather than plough on & make things up - as has already been stated, shorthand writers do tend to devise their own outlines & shortforms, which is why trying to transcribe someone else's shorthand is fraught with difficulties.  In addition you informed us that the bard identified the shorthand as Teeline.  As we know this piece was written a very long time ago, and as Teeline wasn't devised until the 1960s,  there's no way that shorthand can be Teeline.

Looks like the church you're looking for is St Cynog's Church, Ystradgynlais as the Rev James Jones was Rector at the date of the burial.

http://www.ystradgynlais-history.co.uk/st-cynogs-vicars.html

This is a really interesting area where people were really mobile, moving from hill  to hill, valley to valley in search of work.  In those days the entire area you cite was so busy with mines and iron-works and families and individuals moved from place to place depending on their circumstances.  I see that Elizabeth was born in Llanelly Brecs, which I think is Llanelly Hill. That's a really strange place, high up, almost a plateau in the clouds.  Driving there you go up and up and then astonishingly an entire busy community - with lots of interesting industrial archaeology - appears before you.

What wonderful stories!  I love Erato's amazing link with history through the powder house.  And it's so interesting how many of us have ancestors from other countries whose roots were so quickly forgotten - or hidden.

My ancestor, Henry Siggiswick (Sidgwick) of Tudhoe, Co Durham, was sentenced to death for his part in the Northern Rebellion of 1569.  Fortunately for him Elizabeth 1 pardoned him but many were executed to set an example to  others.  Here is an extract from his Will:

"All my farnitorye I give my son George that is to saye a bowe and a shaiffe of arrows a steel cap a sword."