The Phillips of Llanover & St Brides
A potted history
The Philips Family of Llanover and St Brides are the paternal family of our grandmother, Catherine A.M Skinner (n. Phillips). We started our research in the parish of St Brides, in Wentloog, Monmouthshire, before discovering earlier roots in the village of Llanover near Abergavenny. So we started there with the birth of John Phillips in 1695 and discovered an impressive family of landowners who achieved continued success through several generations.
The village of Llanover is a small collection of houses on the historic, privately-owned Llanover estate, which is associated with the Hall family. Augusta Lady Llanover lived locally in the 19th century and left her mark on the village and the surrounding Llanover House estate which remains privately owned. Her husband Sir Benjamin Hall became Baron Llanover.
Our 5th great-grandfather, John Phillips was born locally in 1695 and died in Llanover on 22nd April 1756. He was a landowner and employer and worked as a Dyer in the local textile industry. He was an important figure locally and was given the honour of being buried inside the local church, St Bartholomew’s, and was commemorated with a ledger stone. These are inscribed stone slabs usually laid into the floor of a church to commemorate or mark the place of the burial of an important deceased person
Amongst John’s children was our 4th great-grandfather Phillip Phillips born in 1718. Phillip followed his father as a Dyer and took over the business when his father died. We believe that the farm owned by the family was used to rear sheep for wool, the start of a long family association with farming. Phillip died in 1810 at the age of 93 and was buried with his father on 2nd June 1810. The name of Phillip Phillips was added to his father’s ledger stone, as a permanent commemoration in the church.
The research we conducted in Llanover proved particularly fruitful as we were able to prove familial connections between the Llanover Phillips family and Sir Thomas Phillips (1801–1867). Thomas was a Welsh lawyer, politician, and businessman, and Mayor of Newport at the time of the Newport Rising in 1839. This find substantiated a long-standing family story that had been told to us as children by our grandmother.
Our 3rd great-grandfather Phillip Phillips (b.1775) was the last generation of our line to be born in Llanover. He married Ann Williams in 1807 and had four children: Mary, Phillip (our 2nd great-grandfather), John, and Thomas. They then decided to pursue new opportunities in St Brides, Wentloog.
The success of his family in Llanover allowed Phillp to buy the freehold of a substantial farm called Greenmoor. Two further children followed, Jane and Mary, making a family of eight. St Brides is a parish on the Wentloog Level, 4½ miles south from Newport. The area is renowned for farming and features a high sea wall to prevent the tides of the Bristol Chanel overflowing the district. By the time of the first census in 1841 we find the family settled in St Brides and Phillip still farming in his 60s alongside his son Phillip (our 2nd great-grandfather).
In addition to his son Philip, eldest daughter Mary also spent time living at Greenmoor. She had married and lived there with husband David Davies Evans and their children. David was a renowned Baptist Minister, and the Dictionary of Welsh biography describes how he “…married a young woman from Monmouthshire, who was possessed of some private means, and moved to minister in that place; there also he succeeded in clearing the chapel debt.” There was at this time two chapels in Saint Brides, Rehoboth and Providence Independent Chapel.
Philip eventually retired in the 1850s before his death in 1866 at the age of 92. Eldest son Phillip then took over Greenmoor Farm and married Mary Richards. They had eight children at the farm, with the boys all carrying the middle name Richards. The children were Philip 1854, Anne 1855, Thomas 1858, John 1860 (our great-grandfather), William 1861. David 1863, Mary 1865, and Rees 1867. The family was also supplemented by the children’s uncle, Thomas Phillps, who spent his life at Greenmoor helping his brother as the Farm Bailiff. Phillip died in 1884 followed by Mary in 1899, they are both buried at St Bridget’s Church in Saint Brides.
Tradition continued with eldest son Philip becoming the third generation to run Greenmoor, he was listed in the Kelly’s Directory 1901 as one of the three principal landowners in the area. He diversified by launching a popular Dairy School at the farm. Phillip worked until his 70s and died in 1934 aged 81, he was buried at St Bridget’s Church with his wife. Younger brother Rees and his son Brind then took over the farm ensuring succession.
But back to 1884 and to John Richards Phillips, our great-grandfather. At the time of his father’s death he had been working as a grocer from a shop on Commercial Road in Newport but gave this up to return to Greenmoor to support his mother and brothers on the farm. He then lived at Sutton Farm in the parish, where his Uncle had farmed for many years. He remained there until the death of his mother in 1899 and then struck out on his own.
In 1900 John married Catherine AM Phillips, the daughter of a farmer from Bryngwyn Farm in Nash. The 1901 census showed them living together at Cwm Farm in Rogerstone. Cwm was an historic property and had been a farm since at least 1730. John and Catherine had two children, John Augustus (known as Gus) in 1903 and then our grandmother Catherine in 1907. Our great-grandmother Catherine died in August 1928 at Byngwyn Nursing Home followed by John in January 1943, they are buried together in Rogerstone.
The tenancy at Cwm Farm passed to Gus shortly after his marriage in 1932 to Olive Amelia Smith. In 1958 Gus was able to purchase Cwm Farm following the dissolution of the Tredegar Estate. They lived at Cwm Farm for the rest of their lives, following their deaths the farm was involved in a notable inheritance tax case. Our grandmother lived with Gus at Cwm Farm until 1932 when she married Donald Skinner.
The wedding took place on 4th June 1932 in Rogerstone. Our grandparents then lived at Abernant Farm in Kemeys Inferior and had two children, Mary 1934, and Janet (our mother) 1937. Donald suffered from poor health and gave up the tenancy at Abernant in 1941, retiring with his family to Langstone. Catherine continued to work and operated the local milk round for Unigate. When their youngest daughter Janet married Bernard in 1964, they purchased the house next door, Langstone Cottage, for the newlyweds to live in.
Our Auntie Mary married Raymond Adams in 1955 and they had had four children. Cousin Susan was born in 1962, followed by Paul in 1964, Kathyrn 1967 and Julian in 1969. The family settled in Wolverhampton, Ray had a successful career and worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mary was a Physiotherapist.
Our parents, Janet and Bernard, lived at Langstone Cottage and had the three of us: Cathy, Ann-Marie, and Rosie. Our Dad was a steelworker at Llanwern and had a wide circle of friends, mum suffered with her health and was unable to work. Surrounded by fields we spent our time playing outdoors and paddling in the river. Our grandfather Donald died in 1973, and although we were very young, we still have memories of him reading books to us.
Our grandmother Catherine lived until 1995, and as our next door neighbour we spent much of our childhood with her. The ashes of our grandparents are interred at Langstone Church. Our dad Bernard also passed away in 1995, a difficult time for the family. Dad was buried after a packed service at Langstone Church, our Mum died in 2011 and they were reunited at Langstone Church.
The three of us no longer live in the area but regularly visit the church to tend the graves. We knew little about our family growing up so through this project it has been wonderful to discover such a rich family hsitory packed with fascinating people.