Tales of a pirate, a murder-mystery and aristocratic love affair uncovered in historic Anglesey house renovation

North Wales Live

17 hours ago

Tales of a pirate, a poisoning murder-mystery and an aristocratic love affair have been revealed during the restoration of a listed building on Anglesey.
They have come in a redevelopment of the Grade II Listed house Lleiniog Castle, historically known as Lleiniog, at the Lleiniog Barns development between Llangoed and Penmon.
The details are found in a report undertaken by Archaeology Wales Ltd, for Mark Dauncey, of the Amos Group Ltd, and are in an Anglesey County Council planning document. Get the best island stories from our Anglesey newsletter - sent every Friday
The 'archaeology building recording level 3/4 ' document is a condition attached to Listed Building Consent required ahead of redevelopment and part of a recent planning application over a variation of conditions.
The house is near the Norman motte and bailey castle Aberlleiniog Castell also known as Lleiniog Castle, near the shore.
The striking house has been part of the estates of Welsh Copper Mine owner the Right Honourable Lord Dinorben and the influential Anglesey Bulkeley family.
The report describes how the property was built by Thomas Cheadle in 1630. He had been a constable of Beaumaris, and Sheriff of North Wales.
The 17th century structure, which incorporates a three-unit, two storey Plas or manor house, was possibly built over an earlier 16th century building.
The Cheadle family had been "relative newcomers," to Anglesey, the report explains.
Thomas's father, Richard had arrived on the island in the late 16th century, apparently after having "driven a herd of pigs from the Bulkeley estates in Cheadle, Cheshire, to Beaumaris, where he stayed in service to the Bulkeleys".
"The Bulkeley family themselves originated in Cheshire, but by the 16th century were one of the most influential families in northwest Wales, owning land across all of Anglesey" the report said.
"Sir Richard Bulkeley III, was a friend of Queen Elizabeth and the family seat was at Baron Hill, to the west of Beaumaris".
Richard Cheadle, was also a Steward on the Baron Hill estate and later acted as a shipping agent for Sir Richard, in Beaumaris.
He was granted property in Anglesey by Sir Richard but was thought to have lived in Beaumaris.
His son Thomas Cheadle, born around 1599, was well educated, having attended Beaumaris grammar school.
The report says: "at the age of 12 or 13 he ran away to sea to become a pirate.
"When he returned four years later, he was employed by Bulkeley, who was probably influential in gaining him a royal pardon in 1624.
"It has been speculated that Bulkeley may have employed Thomas to utilise his piracy experience for his own smuggling activities...
"Whilst that may have been the case, Thomas was also involved in legitimate business for Bulkeley as an agent, and his signature is found as a witness on various documents in the 1610s and 1620s" the report notes.
In the early years of the Civil War, Thomas Cheadle, was now knighted, and accused of using the arsenal of Beaumaris castle to refortify Castell Lleiniog.
"While professing loyalty to the Royalist cause, according to William Williams, the report says, he was "simultaneously offering Castell Lleiniog for the use of the Parliamentary forces".
In 1646, the report goes on, "a group of Parliamentarians in Beaumaris under truce began to doubt their safety and removed to Castell Lleiniog, writing to Lord Bulkeley...
"The castle was besieged and taken by the Royalists and Cheadle
was imprisoned until Anglesey was taken by the Parliamentarians later in the same year.
"Cheadle's health began to fail, not aided by two subsequent imprisonments in
1648 and 1650, the latter for debt.
"He died in 1653. In his will, dated 21st August 1651, he left all his lands, tenements and hereditaments to his brother, Rowland Cheadle, and on his brother's death his nephew, also Rowland, and subsequent heirs.
In the late 17th century, historical documents indicate that the house formed part of the Bulkeley's Baron Hill estate.
The details describe how Sir Richard Bulkeley III, died in 1621, and his son, Sir Richard Bulkeley IV, inherited the estate.
However the report reveals:
"Thomas began conducting an affair with Sir Richard IV's wife, Lady Anne. When Sir Richard met an untimely end in 1631, Thomas and Anne were charged with his murder by poisoning.
"They were found not guilty and later married, resulting in a
feud with the Bulkeley heirs and Lady Anne disowning her children".
The report stated that "the Bulkeley family biographer, William Williams of Beaumaris, writing c. 1674, describes how after the marriage Thomas "lived very handsomely, bought neere £80 per annum lands in Penmon, Lleiniog, Llanvaes...
"[He] built good houses, as the Red house in Bewmares, the house adjoining the Church of Penmon, the house at Lleiniog, and the Castle at Lleiniog...''.
In the 18th century, Lleiniog appears to have remained part of the Baron Hill estate with a series of tenants listed in tax returns, throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
The report says it was later bought by a Hugh Hughes (1706-1774), "a small
squire" described as the the "wily secretary" and agent to an eminent Anglesey landowner, Dr. Edward Wynne of Bodewryd, Chancellor of the Diocese of Hereford.
Hughes was said to have died in 1773-4 and his will, dated 1772, shows that the ownership of Lleiniog passed to his wife Mary.
After her death, ownership passed to their eldest son, the Reverend Edward Hughes, said to have married into the Anglesey copper mining industry and who bought Kinmel, Denbighshire in 1786, as the family seat.
His son William became 1st Baron Dinorben in 1831, who took on ownership in 1833, with a number of tenants at Lleiniog listed over the years.
The report points to documents dated June 14, 1867 detailing the lease of the farm by the Baronets Dinorben of Llysdulais to Henry Brasier Mitchell, for an estimated 94 acres known as Lleiniog.
It's suggested under the tenure of Mitchell's, a wealthy couple, that the house may have become known as 'Lleiniog Castle,' and extended.
Mitchell's cousin William Preston was living at Lleiniog by 1891, "... an agent to the Baron Hill estates," the report said.
Preston lived at Lleiniog until at least 1904. By 1912, a Dr. Richard Williams MD is thought to have lived there.
In 1923, the report points to documents held in the Anglesey Archives record confirming the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Clavel Esme Vivian M.C. of 'Lleiniog Castle,' Beaumaris, to Deputy Lieutenant, by Richard Henry Williams Bulkeley Baronet KCB the report states.
Photographs of the house from the late 20th and 21st centuries are located in the Anglesey Archives.
The house was altered and extended in the mid-19th century. It was listed in 1962, updated in 2002.
The listing describes 'a substantially sub-medieval house with significant surviving interior detail, and good external Georgian character retained from C18 remodelling' but the listing chiefly describes the house before remodelling between 2000-3. J oin the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now