Estate History
Our History
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Penydarren House
Our History
The story of Penllyn Estate can be traced from the present day back to the 1700s through the Homfray family.
In 1749 Francis Homfray, a successful ironmaster from Stafford, moved to Whitchurch, Cardiff to take on the 21 year lease of a water corn mill. Francis married Catherine Caswell and had three iron-worker sons: Jeremiah (1759), Thomas (1760), and Samuel (1762).
In 1786 Jeremiah and Samuel set up the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil and duly built their grand Penydarren House nearby. At the time, the neighbouring Cyfarthfa Ironworks dominated management of the Glamorganshire canal; in order to bypass the canal, the Homfray brothers trialled the first railway steam locomotive built by Richard Trevithick.
In 1809 Jeremiah was knighted by King George III for services to his country, but a few years later was declared bankrupt and fled to Boulogne to avoid paying his creditors. Jeremiah's son, John Homfray, married Ann Maria, daughter to the agent of the Marquess of Bute, reportedly the richest man in the world at the time.
In 1825 it was written of Sir Jeremiah Homfray -
"He brought to perfection the art of manufacturing iron with coal at Cyfarthfa and afterwards as acting partner to the ironworks of Penydarren, Abernant, Ebbw Vale, and Hirwaun and was the first to introduce the steam engine in blowing furnaces and working forge hammers in South Wales."
John Homfray purchased Penllyn Castle Estate in 1846 for £18,000. Although the castle itself is now privately owned, the estate remains in ownership of the Homfray family, direct decedents of Sir Francis Homfray.
The Homfray Coat of Arms
