WYNNE (WYNNE-FINCH) family, Voelas, near Pentrefoelas, Denbighshire

This family, settled in Rhufoniog for several centuries, claimed descent from Marchweithian. There are alabaster effigies of RHYS AP MEREDYDD, also called RHYS FAWR, of Plas Iolyn, standard-bearer in the battle of Bosworth Field, and of his wife Lowry, in Ysbyty Ifan church (Syr Robert ap Rhys, son of Rhys Fawr and Lowry, is also represented by an alabaster effigy in Ysbyty Ifan church; a chaplain to cardinal Wolsey, he was the father of Elis ap Rhys, i.e. Dr. Elis Prys (see also Vaughan family, Pant Glas). Their eldest son, MAURICE GETHIN, steward of the abbey of Aberconway, married Ann, daughter of David Myddelton ' Hen,' Gwenynog, receiver-general for North Wales in the time of Edward IV, and had a large family, the heir being CADWALADR WYNNE I, high sheriff of Denbighshire, 1548, who, by a deed of partition 8 February 1546, executed by him and his brother, Robert Wynne (in whose memory and that of his wife - they died in 1598 - there is a brass in Ysbyty Ifan church), obtained Voelas Robert receiving Cernioge as a royal grant. His heir, ROBERT WYNN, steward to queen Elizabeth for the land of the abbey of Aberconway, married Grace, a daughter of the house of Salusbury of Lleweni, and by her was the father of CADWALADR WYNNE II (died 1612), high sheriff of Denbighshire in 1605, who by his first wife, Anne Holland, of Berw, Anglesey, was the father of ROBERT WYNNE II (born before 1602), whose wife, whom he married in 1645, was Jane Thelwall, Plas y Ward. Robert Wynne, who was high sheriff of Denbighshire in 1631, was succeeded by CADWALADR WYNNE III (buried at Conway 6 February 1719/20), aged 79; he, by his second wife, Sidney (another Thelwall, of Plas y Ward), was the father of CADWALADR WYNNE IV, who married, 1716, Jane, daughter of Edward Griffith, Garn. Sidney, a daughter of this marriage, married William Griffith of Cefn Amwlch, Caernarfonshire; the heir of this marriage was JOHN GRIFFITH, high sheriff of Caernarvonshire in 1765, who died without an heir and bequeathed his Cefn Amwlch estate to his cousin, JANE WYNNE, Voelas.

The heir of Cadwaladr Wynne IV was WATKIN WYNNE (1717 - 1774), who was high sheriff of Denbighshire in 1755, and who built the first church at Pentrefoelas (1766). He married Jane, daughter of Richard Clayton, Leon Hall, Salop; they were the parents of JANE WYNNE (died 3 October 1811), sole heiress of Voelas, and by the will of her cousin, John Griffith (above), Cefn Amwlch also. Jane Wynne married (28 December 1778) the hon. CHARLES FINCH (1752 - 1819), second son of Heneage, 3rd earl of Aylesford (Jane Wynne's sister, Elizabeth, married Thomas Assheton Smith of Vaenol). The eldest son (and heir) of the Wynne-Finch marriage was CHARLES WYNNE FINCH, afterwards called CHARLES WYNNE GRIFFITH WYNNE (1780 - 1865), who built the present church at Pentrefoelas. He was succeeded by his son CHARLES WYNNE, afterwards CHARLES WYNNE FINCH (died 1874), who was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He it was who built the present house of Voelas (1865-8). He was Member of Parliament for Caernarvon boroughs, 1859-63. His eldest son was CHARLES ARTHUR WYNNE FINCH (1841 - 1903), who was succeeded at Voelas by his second son, and at Cefn Amwlch by the third son - the eldest son having died in 1890.

Author

Sir William Llewelyn Davies, (1887 - 1952)

Sources

J. E. Griffith, Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families (1914), 326
W. Rees, A History of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Wales and on the Welsh border. Including an account of the Templars (Cardiff 1947) (Cardiff, 1947)
Miss E. P. Roberts has shown that Robert Wynne II was born before 1602, as Siôn Tudur, who died in 1602, refers to him

Additional Links

Wikidata: Q20821257

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/