In or Out

       Seems like 500 years would be a reasonable amount of time to get things going well for the family.  How to survive, how to grow, and how to keep the family together would all seem like basic questions.  The figure shown last post shows the wide distribution of the family farms.  Five to 15 acres of land to live upon, while the family settles into survival mode.  Circular in design and fenced all around to keep things in and to keep things out. 

       The horse with its foal you would want to keep close at hand.  A cow for milk and its calf would help keep food on the table.  Pigs would go to the woods and fend for themselves.  Sheep and goats would be another way to provide milk, food, and cloths.  Poultry [goose and hens] might lay eggs and multiply with around 24 chicks per reproductive cycle.  Bees might be a good addition to the fence line somewhat distant from the house.  Hawks and falcons might give some gaming to the activities.  Dogs would be an additional asset to help guard the place and, to help herd the growing sheep population. 

        Now you would want to keep out the wolf, fox, and badger who might want some food of their own.  Perhaps catching some of these critters might provide some skins to wear.  Speaking of skins, someone would need to know have to prepare the skins of the hind, roebuck, deer, ox, and beaver to keep some clothing available.  Wow, who guards the gate to keep proper the things in or out.

Family Farms

      My Celtic ancestors seemed to settle their families along the rivers' banks up to the head waters.  These farms were circular encampments, 5 to 15 acres in size, popping up all over the place.  They appear to be clustered into groups of three to four farms providing room for family members to grow and help one another along the way.  The following figure roughly shows the known Celtic sites of around 5 to 15 acres scattered about the rivers as discussed in the prior posts.  North is at the top and the rivers are named as given before. From the south [River Severn] there appears a pretty hefty number starting from the mouth and ending at the head waters.  The rivers to the north [Clwyd and Dee] show less farms at the mouth and more clusters up the rivers.  It was along the Clwyd and Dee that my own Celtic ancestors made their beds.  

This figure is drawn from the text edited by Miranda Green, chapter thirty-five, p. 673, written by Jeffrey Davies titled The Early Celts In Wales.

Unto These Hills and Mountains

      The rivers provided the avenues my Celtic ancestors traveled to higher land from the sea.  The mouths of the rivers to their head water they would explore, trying to find a place to rest their heads and all their other parts.   Now the figure below tries to show how this travel would be a problem from the get go. The blue shows roughly the land above 600 ft. from sea level.  Notice that there is not much space between the sea and the hills.  In addition, there were a number of mountains rising in the distance.  It was not just one or two mountains poking their tops into the horizons high, but lots of them. It was just about everywhere you visited.  These many mountains formed a number of natural barriers which gave separation between these family groups.  Not a bad idea for those who did not like the folks on the other side. In addition, the height of each mountain [in feet], and their clusters are shown, giving the relationship they have to this geography. Who could figure all this out?  Where to settle and how to survive would be the first questions on my family's list.

Names

      Places around us we see and know will have names very familiar.  Now what about places we have never been or seen before? What names do they occupy among the pages of history? The following figure lists the names of the pathways my Celtic ancestors followed as they are named today. They certainly called them by different names which will never be known.  These rivers are the pathways my own Jones family settled and got to know pretty well. The names are of Welsh origin, and if any reader knows how these came to be called as demonstrated below, please make a comment and help me understand more of my family tree.

Sea, Land, and Rivers

       It took a while for me to realize that my Y-chromosome had been on the Island since its early days.  Say what?  How did the Celts sail (or row) the sea to get on this Island?  Well, believe it or not, the Celts knew how to handle the sea.  The text which describes this skill is found in The  Celtic World edited by Miranda Green, first published 1995.  Evidence for Celtic boats and ships can be located in chapter 15, pp. 254-277, titled "Celtic Seafaring and Transport" by Sean McGrail.  It seems that logboats could handle the sea and carry 6 tons while on the way. That would be around the weight of 3 small cars made today.  Guess this would be able to bring one's family and pack a good size suitcase.  Anyway, the Celts could get to this new land by the sea.

      The land that was to become my ancestor's home must have had its own set of headaches.  Just imagine, you would need fresh water, fresh food, shelter, and protection from everything, and everyone who might not like you showing up on their land. There would be no "Welcome" signs awaiting.  Maybe some flat land that could grow things like barleycorn.  The land around this sea seems flat enough, but lots of other folks might come to question who we are.  Besides, no real firewood and building stuff for our shelter. Let's look further about and see what is available. Hum, up this river seems a way to go since fresh water and fresh food could be obtained along the way. 

 Upriver would certainly lead us higher into the hills, and maybe give us some high ground which would be easier to defend and protect.  Even higher ground might show signs of metal like copper, zinc, and lead. Who knows we might find a perfect place for both.  We will need land for plowing, seeding, grazing, building, hunting, fishing, and lots of trees for firewood and building.  We might even find some of our own folks up there which to join, and they might teach us some ways of this new land.  The river then it is.

      The following figure shows the sea, the land, and the rivers as they relate to my ancestor's story.

      Where we started and ended on this land surrounded on three sides by the sea, and almost cut off from any land connection by the rivers, is yet to be told.

A Little Geography

 It is frequently difficult to form a mental image of places named in a writing.  Where is that place?  How far away?  What does it look like?  Anyway, there are a lot of such places in my family tree that when understood, a great many brick walls are solved.  The next several posts will try and present the information regarding these places, so the reader might form their own images.  Many places are well recognized and well known, but let's start at the beginning when it became understood my family tree begins in Wales.  Being from the U.S., there were few mental images in my cobwebs of the brain.  The following is taken from a family newsletter begun in 1989.

On Lineal Descent

       One of the first group of people to settle the land that was to become called the "Welsh Marches" were the Celts.  Thought to have arrived between 500 B.C.- 400 B.C., they brought their family groups and special skills to manage iron production.  New settlements began to sprout up around the growth of barley corn, wheat, and rye, thus giving the potential to stay longer in one location rather than chase those four-legged critters.  Their skill with iron certainly helped them control the land about their settlements.

      Livestock became an important aspect of this settled environment, bringing sheep, cattle, and pigs into a much closer relationship.  Grazing land became more important as the settlement and family grew. Following the sheep up to the best grazing land high in the hills and mountains, they soon came to realize that this was not such a good location during the winter months.  They would return to their home base, leading them back to a better setting to survive until the spring season returned.  

      Much later, the early Welsh culture maintained this routine calling their summer dwelling "hafod" and their winter settlement "hendre".  It was this activity that gave the area their fame as the best fleece (wool) in the land.  It was the Inigo Sr./Jr.  and my own Jones family that had the same lineal descent.

A Cash Crop

      Sheep were multiple players on the home front.  The Giles (Frances and Joseph) in their book Life In A Medieval Village p.147, state that sheep were valued for "...fleece, meat, milk, manure, and skin (whose special character made it a writing material of incomparable durability)." On the same page it was recorded that in one area 23 folks owned 885 sheep.  That is roughly 38 sheep per person.  Here is the deal: 1) lambing time was in early spring, 2) the young were usually weaned in 12 weeks to graze with their mothers, 3) they were sheared in mid-June, and 4) fleeces were then carried to market.  Lots of work is here.  

      It is generally recognized that during the time of our Inigo Sr./Jr. the best (high-quality) wool was derived from the Welsh Marches.  This area is often difficult to understand especially to us who did not live during this window of time.  Basically, it was the boarder land between the Welsh and the Normans from 1066 to the Wars of the Roses 1485.  By 1573 many Welsh had followed Henry VII, and Henry VIII had legally united Wales and England under The Act of Union 1536.  The centers of this Norman march into Wales were Chester in the north, Shrewsberry in the center, and Chepstow in the south.  It was Shrewsbury in the center that occupied the Jones family for many years before and located our families' cash crop.

Counting Sheep

      The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers surrounded the life and family of Inigo Jones, Sr.  In this context members generally fell into two categories, i.e. freemen or liverymen.  It is unclear which group our Inigo (Sr.) belonged, but it was accepted that if either parent was a liveryman one could be admitted by patrimony.  Inigo (Jr.) seemed to have taken a different course later in his life, but he would have been born under these traditions in 1573.  Anyway, the clothworkers would depend on wool for their livelihood and business success.

      Peter Spufford in his book "Owner and Profit The Merchant In Medieval Europe" p. 326 states that "Apart from building materials, fuel and metals, the most significant raw materials to be carried about Europe were those destined to feed the textile industries, particularly the woollen cloth industry."  In addition, Frances and Joseph Giles in their book "Life In A Medieval Village" p. 65 indicates that "English wool was especially prized for its fineness, the most sought-after single characteristic of a fiber."  Again in Spufford's book just listed p. 328, he identifies "...the Welsh Marches which produced the very best wool in Western Europe...".

      Now counting the sheep, Spufford p. 326,  indicates that a stack of wool was very large, taking a whole wagon to hold a single sack of wool.  He states, "Each sack contained the wool of between 180 and 250  sheep, since fleeces varied greatly in weight." Just imagine what it would take to shear 188 to 250 sheep!  You certainly would not lose any sleep after this endeavor.