On the western slopes of the Black Mountains, where the ridge of Ffwddog overlooks the Vale of Ewyas, generations of the Price Family farmed the same ground for centuries. Long before the surname Price appeared in written records, these hills had been home to Iron Age communities of the Silures, Roman Frontier settlements, and the Welsh kingdom of Ergyng. It was here, in one of Britain's oldest continuously inhabited landscapes, that the documented history of the Price family begins.
Preface
Unlike many published "Price family histories," which attempt to connect every bearer of the surname to medieval princes or noble houses, this work remains firmly grounded in the surviving records of one small community in the Welsh Marches. Whether the family ultimately connects to a documented medieval pedigree remains an open question. Until such evidence exists, the story presented here is the authentic story revealed by the records themselves.
It is my hope that this work will not only preserve the history of one branch of the Price family but also encourage further research into the remarkable families of Cwmyoy and Ffwddog.
This research began with a simple question: Who were the parents of Thomas Price (c.1805–1887) and his wife Elizabeth Lewis (c.1813–1884) of Cwmyoy, Monmouthshire?
Like many family historians, I quickly discovered that the answer lay not in a single record, but in the careful reconstruction of an entire community. The farms of Ffwddog, Henllan, Tycoch, Graigdddu, Coed Dias, Pant Rhys, and their neighboring holdings have become familiar places through parish registers, wills, estate leases, bishop's transcripts, census returns, and countless hours spent following the lives of the families who lived there.
This dossier is therefore not presented as a finished genealogy. Rather, it is an ongoing documentary investigation. Every conclusion is based upon the best evidence presently available and is subject to revision as new records are discovered. Throughout these pages, confirmed facts are distinguished from informed hypotheses, and each proposed relationship includes "kill conditions"—the specific evidence that would require it to be reconsidered or abandoned. Genealogy advances through evidence, not certainty.
The Ancient Price Family of Ffwddog and Cwmyoy
The surname Price derives from the Welsh patronymic ap Rhys, meaning "son of Rhys." Throughout Wales, hereditary surnames gradually replaced patronymics between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and many unrelated families independently adopted the surname Price. Consequently, sharing the surname does not necessarily imply common descent from a single medieval ancestor.
The Black Mountains have been home to successive generations of people for thousands of years. Bronze Age monuments still stand upon their ridges, while ancient trackways cross Hatterrall Ridge much as they have since prehistory. During the Iron Age this region formed part of the territory of the Silures, one of Britain's most formidable Celtic peoples. Classical authors recorded their determined resistance to the Roman conquest under leaders such as Caratacus, and Roman forts established throughout the Usk valley testify to the strategic importance of the region.
Although no documentary evidence can identify the ancestors of any medieval family among the Silures, archaeological and genetic studies suggest remarkable continuity within rural Welsh populations across many centuries. It is therefore entirely plausible that the medieval inhabitants of Cwmyoy—including the forebears of the Price family—shared ancestry with the ancient Britons who occupied these hills long before the arrival of Rome.
Following the Roman period, the district became part of the early Welsh kingdom of Ergyng, later lying near the frontier between Gwent and Brycheiniog. In the eighth century, Offa's Dyke, one of Britain's greatest earthworks, was constructed only a few miles east of Cwmyoy, marking the shifting frontier between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms. Even today, the Dyke serves as a reminder that this landscape has long stood at the meeting place of two nations and two cultures.
After the Norman Conquest, the region became part of the Welsh Marches, where powerful Marcher Lords ruled with exceptional independence. Yet despite centuries of political change, the upland communities around Cwmyoy retained a distinctly Welsh character in language, customs, farming, and family life. It was within this enduring rural society that the hereditary Price families of Ffwddog emerged.
The earliest probable ancestor presently identified for this branch of the family is Phillip Price of Henllan, whose will was proved in 1698. His will firmly establishes a Price family in the Cwmyoy district by the close of the seventeenth century and records a financial transaction with Morgan Lewis of Clodock, providing the earliest known documentary connection between the Price and Lewis families.
At present, however, no surviving record directly connects Phillip Price of Henllan to Thomas Price (c.1805–1887), the principal subject of this study. Phillip is therefore presented as a probable early ancestor whose precise relationship remains unproven. Bridging that gap remains one of the principal objectives of this research.
From the late seventeenth century onward, the documentary trail repeatedly returns to the same handful of farms—Ffwddog, Tycoch, Henllan, Graigdddu, Coed Dias, and Pant Rhys. Generation after generation, members of the Price family appear in wills, parish registers, bishop's transcripts, estate records, and census returns, revealing a remarkable continuity within only a few square miles of the Black Mountains.
The story that follows is therefore not simply the history of one family, but of one place. It is the history of ordinary Welsh farming people whose lives were intertwined with an extraordinary landscape—one shaped by the Silures, the Romans, the early Welsh kingdoms, Offa's frontier, the Marcher Lords, and the enduring communities of the Welsh borderlands. Their legacy deserves to be remembered not because it is legendary, but because it is real.
Click below to see a Speculative Pedigree — Revision 32 · July 27, 2026
Confidence grades: [A] = documentary proof · [B] = strong circumstantial evidence · [C] = plausible hypothesis · [D] = speculative inference requiring confirmation.
Each unconfirmed link states its kill condition — the single finding that would eliminate it.
This revision incorporates findings through July 27, 2026, including Ancestry.com register searches, the completed Cwmyoy/Llanthony bishop's transcript survey (1686–1850), Rowlestone parish register data (AF25/1, AF25/2, AF25/5), and the fully documented Price - Lewis family pedigree established from primary sources.
An Invitation to Fellow Researchers
If you are researching the Price, Lewis, Williams, Davies, Prichard, Watkins, or other families of Cwmyoy, Ffwddog (Foothog), Henllan, Tycoch, Graigdddu, Coed Dias, Pant Rhys, Llanthony, Clodock, Longtown, or the surrounding Welsh Marches, I would be delighted to hear from you.
Perhaps you possess family papers, photographs, Bible records, deeds, probate documents, estate papers, chapel records, DNA results, or oral traditions that shed additional light on these families. Even seemingly small discoveries—a marriage witness, an overlooked baptism, a tenancy record, or a forgotten inscription—may provide the missing link that helps reconstruct another generation.
Genealogy is at its strongest when researchers work together. No single archive preserves every answer, and no individual researcher sees every record. By sharing information, comparing evidence, and respectfully challenging one another's conclusions, we improve the accuracy of the historical record for everyone.
If you recognize individuals or families described in this dossier, or if your own research intersects with these lines, I warmly invite you to make contact. I would be pleased to exchange information, compare documentation, and acknowledge any contributions in future revisions of this work.
Every family history remains, in some sense, unfinished. It is my hope that this research will serve not as the final word on the Prices and Lewises of Cwmyoy, but as a foundation upon which future researchers may continue to build.
AP-RHYS AP RYSE PRYSE PRYCE PRICE
Pedigree
It is the ancestors of Gregory Edwin Price, to whom this web site is dedicated.
Greg Price's Genealogy Website