I have been very curious about where I live and one of the ladies at the WI sent me this
T H E D E S E R T E D M E D I E V A
L V I L L A G E
O F H I G H L I G H T (U C H E L O L A U)
G L A M O R G A N
H.J. THOMAS M.A., F.S.A.
The deserted medieval village of Highlight (Uchelolau)
was partially excavated by the Barry and Vale Archaeological Group between 1964
and 1969. The settlement was founded on marginal land following the
establishment of a small sub-manor in the 12th century.
By the late 13th century it had evolved into a small linear village
possessing a parish church and manor house. The village with the
exception of the manor house was completely depopulated before the middle of
the 16th century.
HISTORY
The parish of Highlight contained an area of about 405 acres. Its
boundaries are co-terminous with the manor of the same name except on the
northern side where the manor extends into the parish of Wenvoe to include
Lidmore Mill and an additional 13 acres. The boundaries follow streams,
but on the south where no natural features exist the parish is delimited by a
substantial hedge line laid out in two straight alignments. The overall
plan of the parish indicates that it was carved out of the large parish of
Merthyr Dyfan. This feature suggests that Highlight was created some time
after the primary Norman settlement of the Vale of Glamorgan, probably as a
result of expansion onto unoccupied and uncultivated marginal land in the
second half of the 12th century.
The original place name which is attested from the middle of the 13th
century was the Welsh Uchelolau, the first element of which is ‘Uchel’ =
‘high’, the second ‘olau’ = ‘tracks’, the nearest equivalent when translated
into English being ‘Ridgeway’.
This appeared in medieval documents
in many corrupt forms, for example ‘Yoch Wanwol’ in c. 1348. From the
first half of the 17th century onwards, the English name was
generally used, this in itself being a minstranslation into ‘Highlight’ by
confusion of the second element with the Welsh word ‘golau’ = ‘light’.
The implication, however, is that the settlement took its name from a
pre-existing trackway.
The sub-manor of Highlight was held under the lords of Dinas Powys by the
service of half a knight’s fee, for which 3s 4d wardsilver was contributed
annually. Dinas Powys itself was held from the 12th century by
the important family of De Someri, lords of Dudley who in turn held it of the
lords of Glamorgan. No early record survives as to whom Highlight was
sub-enfeoffed, though a David de Someri, doubtless a junior member of the family
is named as its lord in 1291.
In 1321-22, the main line of the de Someri family became extinct in the male
line and the lordship of Dinas Powys was divided into moieties, one of which
was in the possession of the Sutton family, the other in the hands of the lord
of Glamorgan. In consequence of the partition separate payments of 1s 8d.
wardsilver were paid by the tenants in respect of Highlight to the two
overlords, an arrangement which continued from the 14th to the late
18th century, except for a short period following 1617, when the
moieties were re-united under Sir William Herbert.
In Despencer’s Survey of the Shire
Fee of Glamorgan compiled in 1320 for taxation purposes, Highlight manor was
reported as containing two ploughlands. The assessments in this survey
seem to have been made in respect of the Gwentian acres (3,240 square yards to
the acre), in which case Highlight would have contained 240 Gwentian or 160
Statute acres, the arable proportion representing only about 38 per cent.
This clearly reflects the local ground conditions of impeded clay
subsoil. Rough estimates based on this survey also indicate that in the
adjacent parishes to the S.W. such as Barry, Penmark, and Porthkerry, located
on freely drained clay loam on limestone, between 50 and 60 per cent of the
land was arable.
At the close of the 14th century Highlight came into the possession
of Sir John St. John (d.1424) lord of Fonmon near Barry. He granted the
manor to his second son Alexander whose descendants resided at Highlight for
eight generations. In Beauchamp’s Survey of the lordship of Glamorgan
1429, Alexander St.John is returned as holding the fee of Uchelolau.
Before his death he had made provision through trustees for the settlement of
Highlight upon his son William and Katherine his wife and their heirs.
Oliver St. John, grandson of Alexander was present at William Fellow’s heraldic
Visitation of South Wales, held at Cardiff on 24 August 1531. Here
he submitted his family pedigree, and exhibited a surcoat embroidered with a
coat of arms (Argent, a bend gules and on a chief gules two mullets or,
pierced vert.), which had been worn by his ancestor Sir John St. John
at the battle of Agincourt.
A survey of knights’ fees in the county of Glamorgan compiled in 1546 names
William St. John (great-grandson of Alexander) as holding the manor of
Highlight alias Uchelolau, under the lordship of Dinas Powys. The manor
also figures in a Chancery Proceeding of c. 1538-44 brought by Robert Stradling
grandson of Alexander St. John against William St. John, wherein the property
is described as a ‘Manor place or mansion howse’ called Yughaloley, with a mill
and 240 acres attached, doubtless the demesne lands. At William’s death
in 1562, the manor was assessed as worth £24 per annum clear of all reprises
and that Christopher St. John aged 17 was declared his son and heir.
In 1612 a fine was levied at the Great Sessions on Highlight which related to
the marriage settlement of Sir William St. John (d.1641) son of Christopher St.
John, gent.(b.1547 d.1616) of Highlight, with Eleanor (d.1641) daughter of Sir
John St. John, knt, of Lydiard Tregoz, Wilts. The Highlight property is
stated as consisting of 2 messuages, 3 cottages, 2 tofts, one water corn mill,
2 gardens, 2 orchards, 150 acres of arable land, 150 acres of meadow, 100 acres
of pasture, and 20 acres of wood (420 acres in all). This William had
been elevated to knighthood in 1607 for services rendered to the Crown in Ireland.
The marriage settlement of William St John (d.1669), nephew of the
aforementioned Sir William, and Katherine (d.1672) daughter of Edward Lewis of
Wenvoe dated 1653, gives some brief particulars about Highlight; namely that
the manor then consisted of 4 messuages, one pigeon house, a water grist mill,
4 gardens, 4 orchards, 100 acres of arable land, 50 acres of meadow, 50 acres
of pasture, 50 acres of wood, 100 acres of furse and heath, also a tenemeet
called Brynhill containing 50 acres which was let to tenants (total 400 acres).
The male line of the St. Johns ended with Oliver (b.1658 d.1728) son of
William, who married Francis daughter of Edward Kemys of Kemys,
Monmouthsire. Upon his death the estates passed to his wife’s nieces, Francis
and Mary Kemys, children of William Kemys. Both died single, Francis of
1735, Mary in 1753. After the death of the latter, the properties passed
into the possession of their distant kinsman Sir Charles Kemys-tynte of Cefn
Mably whose descendents retained Highlight until it was sold to the late Cyril
Lakin 1920.
The parish church is first mentioned in the Norwich Taxation of 1254 in which
‘Ecclesia de Hukheloleu’ was valued at 2 marks (£1. 6s. 8d), but was unable to
pay the tax levied at one tenth. In the taxation of Pope Nicholas IV 1291
the church was valued at 20s. It is also mentioned in a list of Synodals
of c. 1348 as contributing 15d., and in a Clerical Subsidy roll of 1433
is returned as worth 15s. These figures indicate that Highlight was among
the poorest livings in the diocese, which reflects the poverty of the
community. The Register of Archbishop John Peckham records on 5 July
1291, the institution of Richard de Torvesmere, chaplain, to the church of
Uchelolau, on the presentation of David de Someri, lord of Uchelolau. In
1534 another incumbent, ‘Sir’ Robert Hewys (? Hughes), signed the Oath of
Allegiance to Henry V111, as rector of Uchelolau.
The church was still used for burials in 1559 when William St. John, lord of
Highlight, in his will instructed ‘my bodye to be buryed in the Churche of
Ychellolye. But the following entry from Bishop Godwin’s return of 1603
would suggest that the church was abandoned about 1570 :-
‘Ucheloly is a
personage the tithes whereof have bene received for the space of xxx. Years by
Christopher St. John gent’ the patron thereof, who will not alow any wages at
all to any curate, nor obey any sequestracion. So the parish hath bene
without service these 30 yeares and more, and the church almost fallen down,
val’ per annum xx. markes.’
The church was still mentioned long
after it became defunct in a fine of 1622 which specified that the manorial
rights included ‘the advowson of the church of High light alias Yghell
Oley.’. The spiritual needs of the few inhabitants of Highlight was
thereafter provided by the priviage of special pew in the neighbouring church
of Merthyr Dyfan. Sufficient remained of the church ruins in 1865
to be described by the antiquarian G.T. Clark :-
‘The remains of a
small chapel, about 45ft by 12ft inside. The east gable and part of the
south wall are standing. There is no east window.’
The parish was
certainly almost completely depopulated before the middle of the 16th
century, as Highlight is omitted from the first ‘three lay subsidies for Wales
of 1543-45. In the lay subsidy of 1546 William St. John, lord of
Highlight first appears as the sole tax payer for the parish, assessed in
respect of lands worth £20. The returns for 1593 and 1606 show an
increase of an additional householder in Highlight, the persons assessed being
Christopher St. John for land worth 40s. and Lison Portrey for goods valued at
£3; in 1623-4 these were the widow of Christopher St John and Lison
Portrey. The lay subsidy returns, together with entries in the Glamorgan
Plea Rolls are consistent in showing that there were only two houses in the
parish in the second half of the 16th century. Two
householders are likewise returned in the hearth tax of 1664 and 1670.
One of these by its connections with members of the St. John family was
certainly the manor house. The other can be identified with the isolated
farm of Brynhill Fach situated on the northern perimeter of the parish, and
which probably originated as a 16th century foundation associate
with enclosure of wasteland.
The two farms are
depicted on a Kemys-Tynte Estate Map of 1767, as Highlight containing 339 acres
and Brynhill 49 acres. The manor house by this date had been demolished
and replaced by a new farm house. No trace of the village is shown,
except an ‘old chapel’ surrounded by three closes called the ‘chapel fields’,
total area 16a. 3r. 35p, which was probably the former glebeland. Both
farms are assessed in the Land Tax of 1806. In 1828 the farms of Highlight
and Brynhill fach were rented out respectively at £180 and £10 annually.
The population of these farms remained fairly consisten throughout the 19th
century, not exceeding 24 persons.
The unusual
status of Highlight as an extra parochial place remained a curiosity, which
attracted the attention of a local journalist in 1889, who penned the following
account:-
“Here’s an
interesting little parish. The parish of Highlight, between Barry and
Wenvoe, has but two families within its borders, and three ratepayers (one of
them – Colonel Knight – being non – resident). There are only four
assessments on the rate book, and the present overseers are the two resident
ratepayers, and one of them a female. Instead of purchasing a new rate
book at the last assessment, one of the overseers affixed a sheet of paper in
the old one for the purpose of the new rate, which answered very well.
The rate book, which is a small one, has been in sue for over twenty-one
years. The rateable value of the parish is a little over £200.”
The parish
retained its independent status until 1898 when under the provisions of the
local Government Act, is was annexed for civil purposes to the parish of
Wenvoe.
The rural aspect
of highlight changed from the 1970’s when much of the area was swallowed up by
a huge housing estate which formed the northern expansion of the modern town of
Barry. Fortunately, most of the village site, including the church, was
preserved from development by being incorporated in an extension of the nearby
Brynhill Golf Course.
TOPOGRAPHY
The site of
Highlight medieval village lies on the northern outskirts of Barry town, on a
low ridge of land overlooking the Waycock valley, between 46m and 68m above sea
level, and bounded on the north by a small stream. The ridge carries an
ancient and deeply worn hollow trackway which runs along its brow. At the
eastern end of the ridge where the sloping ground broadens into a sheltered
hollow there is a moated homestead representing the original site of the
manor. At the north-western end of the ridge the ground slopes steeply to
the river Waycock. Here in a prominent position on the brow of the hill,
are situated the foundations of the parish church.
The village
itself lay between the manor site and church, following the line of the
trackway. Few surface traces houses and crofts are visible, the
earthworks having been almost completely destroyed by ploughing. The
subsoil is impeded lias clay which retains waterlogged conditions during
prolonged wet weather. Until recent housing development the only building
standing in the vicinity of the former village was Highlight farmhouse.
