ABERFFRAW MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry name, historical form Aberffro, Anglesey location, TNA reference F237717, and the associated medieval-to-modern manor records all identify the Crown manor centred on Aberffraw in south-west Anglesey. The surviving archival leads specifically include medieval extents and ministers' accounts, later rentals with Malltraeth, and manorial court material naming Aberffraw and its members.
Representative point: 53.19187, -4.46445
Basis: supported_manorial_centre — The point is the documented archaeological location of the Aberffraw llys and motte, the medieval princely court and administrative centre associated with Aberffraw. The later manor was centred on Aberffraw, although the precise surviving manor-house site is uncertain.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern; exact period of intended boundary not specified
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The evidence establishes a geographically extensive and possibly composite manor rather than a simple modern-parish unit. A Bangor University archive description records the Manor of Aberffraw, otherwise Aberffraw of Maerdref, with members of Garddaf and Trecastell. Historical research also links the manor to lands and manorial rights around Malltraeth marsh, while the 18th-century topographical-reconstruction report states that estate surveys, land-tax material and tithe mapping could reconstruct parts of the medieval divisions of the township. However, no accessible source located in this research supplies a complete, unambiguous perimeter for the exact registry manor. The modern parish, community or cantref therefore cannot safely be substituted as a manor polygon.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Aberffraw Manor, record F237717: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F237717 — Registry record for the exact manor, including the authority/reference GB/NNAF/M171205.
- Coflein: Aberffraw town and royal llys: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/sites/32986 — Identifies Aberffraw on the River Ffraw and describes the royal palace or llys as the administrative centre of one of Anglesey's historic cantrefs; gives grid reference SH3550068900.
- Aberffraw llys and motte, Gatehouse Gazetteer: https://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/Welshsites/966.html — Provides the coordinate 53.19187, -4.46445 for the documented Aberffraw llys and motte and describes it as the probable medieval llys or princely court.
- Llys & Maerdref: An Investigation into the Location of the Royal Courts of the Princes of Gwynedd: https://www.walesher1974.org/her/groups/GAT/media/GAT_Reports/GATreport_167_compressed.pdf — Discusses Aberffraw as a multiple-estate with a caput at Aberffraw and identifies documentary and cartographic material capable of reconstructing medieval township divisions; also references the Manor of Aberffraw and Maerdref holdings.
- Bangor University Archives: Bodorgan collection browser: https://calmview.bangor.ac.uk/CalmView/TreeBrowse.aspx?field=RefNo&key=BOD%2F1741&src=CalmView.Catalog — Records a 1707 minute book of the Court Leet of the Manor of Aberffraw, otherwise Aberffraw of Maerdreffe, with its members of Garddaf and Trecastell.
- Dictionary of Welsh Biography: Meyrick family, Bodorgan, Anglesey: https://biography.wales/article/s-MEYR-BOD-1485 — Confirms that Meurig ap Llewelyn received the Crown lease of the manor of Aberffraw and that later disputes concerned parts of the Aberffraw manor lands.
- Anglesey Antiquarian Society, 1926 volume: https://www.tpwilliams.co.uk/TAAS/1926/1926w.pdf — Reports historical manorial rights in Malltraeth and states that the Crown manor of Aberffraw comprehended the part of the marsh lying within specified parishes, demonstrating that the manor's territorial interests extended beyond the immediate settlement.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is a supported manorial/administrative centre, not a securely identified later manor-house building.
- The archaeological location of the llys is itself partly uncertain; the source notes that the traditional site and excavated remains do not establish the entire court complex.
- The manor's historical extent appears to have included separate members or dependencies and rights in Malltraeth marsh, so it should not be represented by the modern Aberffraw parish or community without a dedicated map-based reconstruction.
- No complete, source-defined manor perimeter was located; returning a polygon would risk inventing boundaries.