to be altered and written on againe and one tenement of that p'te and moyetie soe chosen and set out for y° said Sir Henry Bagenall to be taken out of his moyetie and added to ye p't and moyety of ye sd Owen Holland and then unduly procured ye sd p'son intrusted by ye sd Sir Henry Bagenall to see ye så devision made accordinge to ye true intent thereof to signe ye said writing after ye same was altered, ye wch was accordingly done, yet nevertheless ye sd one hundred pounds was paid to yesd Owen Holland by ye sd Sir Henry Bagenall upon pretence and imaginacon yt ye sd better moyetie of ye premises had beene sett out for ye sd Sir Henry Bagenall. Howbeit ye said Owen Holland procured and obteyned ye better p'te and moiety of ye sd Townshippe and ye sd one hundred pounds likewise to himselfe."

If all this were true, Mr. Holland certainly got the best of the bargain. The deed of conveyance, however, seems to bear it out in some part, as the only consideration there mentioned is the assignment of certain premises in Esceifiog for thirty years, to Griffith Bagenal, son of Sir Henry-referring, doubtless, to Harvie's lease, which was thus kept on foot in Griffith Bagenal's name. To avoid disputes about the coal-works, these parties executed another deed, dated 10th August, 1596-two days after the partition had been ratified-according to the terms of which both Mr. Holland and Sir Henry Bagenal were at liberty to "digg coale" anywhere in either moyetie of the township, each for his own "use, proffitt, and comodytie." No pit to be commenced in a corn-field without warning the tenant before his corn was sown. If either party commenced a pit, the other might, by notice within seven days, have half the coals raised there, on paying half the expenses of sinking. All these conditions are manifestly in favour of the resident proprietor. The description of the tenements actually granted to him does not enable us to identify them now, with the exception of one farm called Cefn-du; but it seems clear that by this transaction the family of Holland acquired the royal right to the minerals and commons in Eskeiviog-a very valuable acquisition, which for a great number of years pro

duced a fine income. The upper diggings in Esceifiog have been long closed, and the lower ones are much interfered with by the accumulation of water, but the colliery is still of considerable value, and requires only energy and capital to make it remunerative both to landlord and tenants.

Mr. Owen Holland represented the county of Anglesey in a short parliament summoned in 27th Eliz., 1585; but gave place in the following year to his friend Sir Henry Bagenall, the connection between whose family and the Griffiths of Plasnewydd-Holland's cousinsmay be mentioned here. Maurice Griffith mortgaged Plasnewydd to Sir Nicholas Bagenall, which mortgage does not appear to have ever been redeemed. Robert Griffith, his son, married Jane, the daughter of Sir Henry Bagenall, but he had to yield up the estates to his brother-in-law, Arthur Bagenall, in whose possession, and that of his widow and son, Nicholas, they continued for many years: descending subsequently by default of issue, to Sir Edward Bayly, grandson, and Sir Nicholas Bayly, great grandson of the famous Bishop of Bangor, Dr. Lewis Bayly, who had married Anne, another daughter of Sir Henry Bagenall. Henry Bayly, son of Sir Nicholas and Catherine Paget, took the name of Paget after his mother, and was called to the house of Peers in 1770 as ninth Baron Paget of Beaudesert. He was the father of the late Marquis of Anglesey, of Waterloo and Peninsular fame.

Mr. Holland filled the office of Sheriff of Anglesey in 1591, and again in 1599. His name appears in a subsidy roll for 1594, as paying twelve shillings, hardly any person on the list being rated at a higher sum. He died at Berw on the 1st February, 1600; as he is styled "lytle holland" in 1561, he cannot have been a very old man at his death. An inquisition then taken at Beaumaris found that besides his mansions at Berw and Trefarthyn, he left nine tenements in Porthamel; five in Trefarthyn; one in Nanhwrva; one at Carnan; ten in Bodlew; two in Clynuog vechan; five in Rhoscolyn;

3RD SER., VOL. XIV.

8

and half the township of Esceifiog, "valued at the last rental at 40s.," and that by his will, dated 10th March, 1597, he provided for his wife by leaving her Tyddyn mawr and other lands in Eskeiviog for her life.

Owen Holland, second of the name at Berw, had seven sons and seven daughters. The eldest son, Rowland, having died before his father, the second, Thomas, succeeded to the property. The others were variously disposed of about Anglesey. He had also seven daughters, one of whom married a Wynne, of Voelas; another, a Wynne, of Holyhead; a third, to Gwyn, of Llanwnda; and a fourth, to Hugh Gwyn, of Cromlech. In his time the family of Holland of Berw, having entirely disencumbered themselves of the direct race of Meredydd Ddu, had reached a position of very considerable consequence in the county of Anglesey, and at his death were aiming, as far as we can judge, at political eminence and any available local distinction which offered itself.

Thomas Holland, who succeeded Owen, lived very nearly the allotted portion, three score years and ten. He was never married. It seems probable that the deeds, from which much of this paper is derived, were arranged and packed up by him, and not disturbed for some two hundred years or more. Had he bestowed like care upon his love-letters or private memoranda, most interesting details might have here been inserted; but Thomas Holland seems to have paid more attention to "the main chance," and we have but dry details to offer of his doings. Very soon after his father's death he represented Anglesey in Parliament, being returned in 1601, to one of Queen Elizabeth's last houses. Sir Richard Bulkeley succeeded him, a near relation, probably his uncle: the old knight who made the name of Bulkeley famous, and who built Baronhill with the intention of entertaining there the son of James I.

Thomas Holland and his mother having made arrangements by which she lived at Tyddyn Mawr, and enjoyed the profits of the coal mines for her life, he set

to work to continue and improve the orderly arrangements which he had inherited. The mills at Berw he rebuilt, making conditions with Arthur and Griffith Bagenall for a supply of water from their division of Esceifiog; which supply works the mills to this day. He did more; he built the present mansion of Berw. The date over the entrance door is 1615, and the arms rudely carved there are the arms of Thomas Holland. Quarterly-1, a lion rampant between seven fleurs de lis; 2, a chevron between three bulls' heads cabossed; 3, a chevron between three choughs; 4, what appears to be a unicorn: with the letters T. H. and motto, "Deus sola fortitudo mea est." He made alterations in the older building, and over one window driven into the walls. there appear the initials T. H. The third house of Berw —of ordinary, but interesting Tudor architecture, having square mullioned windows and a square tower-is falling into decay more rapidly than the strong old edifice which has been attributed to Owen ab Ithel. It has all the characteristics of the time of James the First; the stiff little garden, close quadrangle, no view, low rooms; it cannot boast of many artificial beauties, although it is about the most interesting of the old mansions of Anglesey. It was surrounded by a deer-park, one part of which was high above the house, the other down below it on the marsh. Inside the entrance-hall are found the initials o. H., but they must be attributed to the nephew and successor of Thomas Holland, not to his father.

But Mr. Holland had a town house besides his mansion at Berw. Very likely his connection with Sir Richard Bulkeley attracted him to Beaumaris; subsequent events showed that he bore a true and constant friendship to the Bulkeley family; and if, as seems to have been the case, he in his younger days received from Sir Richard, his grandfather, and Sir Richard, his uncle, support and advice, Thomas Holland certainly repaid it in his services to junior members of the family of Baronhill, who, when he was old and experienced,

were in want of such assistance. In 1610 Holland bought a house in Beaumaris from Mr. Rowland Griffith, of Coedaney-by the description of "a mansion house, or burgage, and the kitchen and houses, buildinges, curtilages, backsides, courteyarde, and garden, with thapttces thereof situate lyeinge and beinge in the Castellward strete of the Borough Towne of Bewmares in the said Countie of Anglesie, lieinge there betweene the house backside and garden where dwelleth William ap Res Humphrey, north-eastward, and the nowe dwellinghouse of William Jones Esquier in the said Borough towne south-westward; and between the town wall south-eastward and the high strete north-westward within the Borough towne aforesaid," which premises had been previously occupied by Raulf Goodman, Ellin Salisbury (late wife of Thomas Bulkeley), and of John Roberts, mercer, then deceased, or of Elin Dobbe.

The William Jones, Esq., mentioned in this description, was a celebrated lawyer, afterwards justice of the Queen's Bench, but more notable in Beaumaris for his services in establishing the Grammar School there, over the foundation of which, at David Hughes' cost, Mr. Jones personally watched. The house, or the site of the house, purchased by Thomas Holland, may easily be recognised in Castle Street, Beaumaris, by his initials, which appear not only over the street door, but also in the rear. It is a curious old house, containing many points of interest; it is now (1867) occupied by a cabinet-maker, who has also a well-stocked ironmonger's shop and supplies the young ladies with instruments for the perpetration of croquêt. In later days this house was the residence of Mr. Owen Hughes, town-clerk, a great business man; and a large portion, not only of the borough, but of the county, business also was transacted there; so much, indeed, that Sir William Jones' house next door (now No. 6, Castle Street) was used as a coffee-house, where clients met their lawyers, and a great variety of business was prepared, not only for Mr. Hughes' Borough tribunal, but also for the County Hall.