A right little Herbert

Glamorgan Star news 25/01/2023

3 minutes read

In 1520, the Barons Court was the home of the ruthless Herbert family.

A right little Herbert – by Graham Loveluck-Edwards:

From the 11th to the 16th century, the ‘Marcher Lordships’ were a complicated political entity.

As much as their role on paper may have been to subject the Welsh to English rule, it was never as simple as that. By Royal Charter they were permitted to maintain their own armies which made them very powerful but they were not especially loyal to the English crown. There are many records which show that they frequently allied themselves with Welsh lords to fight against one another and even in plots against the King of England himself.

This is something that the story of the demise of Edward II demonstrates better than most, up to the point when he was captured and clad in irons at Llantrisant by the agents of Roger Mortimer.

The Marcher Lords were all known to be especially ruthless in their pursuit of power and wealth and we have an account from 1520, from here in the Vale, which illustrates this amply.

It concerns the Herbert family who at the time lived in the Court at Cogan Pil near Penarth. An ancient building which today is the pub known as The Barons Court, at the top end of Penarth Road.

You may be wondering what a ‘pil’ is, as it appears in so many place names in south Wales. It is an old English word describing the tributary of a smaller river off a more major navigation. Such places were frequently used as a port and the point of the river Ely where it passes through Cogan, about a mile from its tributary onto the Taff has been used as a port for as far back in history as it is possible to trace.

One of the benefits of owning the Court at Cogan Pil was the ability to charge a mooring fee from all ships and boats which docked there. And the story I am about to tell is of a rather scandalous miscarriage of justice that shows just how unscrupulous the Herberts were when it came to claiming these dues.

Walter Herbert had seized a Portuguese ship and got its captain thrown into prison. His justification for doing so was a claim that the ship had attempted to berth and unload without paying for the privilege. He also claimed that the ship’s captain and crew were felons on the run. The captain protested his innocence and accused both Herbert and the Sheriff of Cardiff of corruption and ‘tyrannous behaviour’.

The next thing he knew, he was being fitted up for the unsolved murder of a woman whose body had been found in a nearby wood. The matter was brought before the court. There were only two witnesses who gave testimony: two members of the ship’s crew who were unable to speak a word of English. Their entire testimony was given in Portuguese with a running interpretation provided to the court by a servant in the employ of Herbert himself. No one knows what they said, but the English version given to the court was enough to see their captain hanged and his ship, crew and cargo impounded by the Herberts.

Did I mention they were ruthless?

The wealth the Herbert family amassed from such exploits put them in a position to buy the old monastery at Greyfriars, Cardiff, when it was dissolved by Henry VIII. They converted it into a very fine family residence. Its remains were finally destroyed and cleared to make way for the construction of Capital Tower in Cardiff City Centre in the 1970s. But the street it stands on is still known today as ‘Greyfriars Road’ as a memento.

By Graham Loveluck-Edwards

Graham Loveluck-Edwards is a columnist, author and broadcaster specialising in the history of Glamorgan. His latest book is out now and is called ‘More legends and folklore from Barry, Bridgend and the Vale’. It retails for £12.99 and is available from Amazon, all good book shops or from the author’s website at a discounted price at www.grahamloveluckedwards.com.