None May Survive

     Who are these guys? What in the world are they trying to do? Cutting down all the trees and making great mounds of earth, but for what? These, not so gentlemen, are taking all the wood around the place in order to build their bailiwicks! Also, pounds and pounds of dirt are all being piled into a big hump some 30-40 feet high. Then, on top of this mound of earth, they use all the cut wood to build a tower some 10 to 12 feet high just to look around the place. Next, they dig a deep dich around this mound, fill it with water, and let people come up to the tower at the top by one sloping ramp. At the bottom of this ramp, there is some funny looking gate that goes up and down over the water filled ditch seeming to be the front door. Not only this, they add a rectangular side area, also surrounded by wood and another ditch. This area is to house all the things they want to keep away from the resentful local folks who had just lost all they had to these dich diggers. Wow, life or death seem to be the only option for our family. What are we to do?

     Life and death circles us all. For my ancestors during this corridor of time, death would seem the closest circle. As it turns out, the next in direct line of descent from Jeuaf (JH-1) is his son Iorweth Fychan (JI-1) "Of Llwyn-Onn".  For the first time in the family tree a labeled "Of Llwyn-Onn" appears. It seems that the family made a move to a new homeland, after the first seven generations, to try and move the circle of life a little closer to the center. For my own understanding, the following figure was used to place all the locations in relationship to one another.

      From the Vale of Dee to the Vale of Clwyd, it was. As shown in the last post, the invasion plans of the Normans are outlined again in green. Thus, moving to the Dyffryn Clwyd area (colored orange) would place the family right between the two green arms (north and the south branches) of the Norman invasion. It would be about the safest place to hide out in the hills looking in this window of time. The name Llwyn Onn means Ash Grove. What a deal! Even to remember all those trees being lost to these new folks who are here to stay. To move this generation is so that some may survive.

      The following diagram places Iorwerth Fychan (JI-1) [fychan means the younger or smaller] in the family tree.