WILLIAMS, WILLIAM (c. 1625 - 1684), antiquary

Name: William Williams

Author: Emyr Gwynne Jones

Born c. 1625, second son of Edward Williams of Carwed Fynydd, Llanefydd, Denbighshire. He was educated at Westminster, and in 1642 was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. 1647/8, and M.A. 1657. In 1660 Robert, lord Bulkeley, gave him the living of Llandegfan cum Beaumaris, which he appears to have held for not more than a year. In 1668 he left Llandegfan to become rector of Llansadwrn, moving on again the following year to become vicar of Llangurig, Montgomeryshire. He was vicar of Northop, 1672-7, and of Rhuddlan, 1678-84; he also held the sinecures of Llansannan, 1663-78, and Bodfari, 1672-81. In 1679 he became a canon of St Asaph cathedral. Rhuddlan was his last living, and he died before 28 June 1684. He married Myddanwy, widow of John Lloyd of Plas Llanddyfnan, and daughter of William Jones of Plas Gwyn, Pentraeth. That he was a competent and reliable antiquary is proved by such of his work as has survived, i.e. ‘Historia Bellomarisci,’ 1669, published as a supplement to the revised edition of Fenton’s Tours in Wales (Archæologia Cambrensis, Supplement, 1917); ’ History of the Bulkeley Family ’ (1673-4), first published in Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club, 1948; and the story, possibly an eyewitness account, of the rising in Anglesey in 1648, which appears as a supplement to Richard Llwyd’s poem, ’ Beaumaris Bay.’