"The history of settlements within the Aberystwyth area has been dated as far back as the Mesolithic age and Pen Dinas hill and the southern surrounding area can lay claim to the fact that it was the first part of the area to be settled.

Archaeological evidence has proven that the Mesolithic settlers were hunters and fishermen who lived around the Tanybwlch beach area.

The dawning of the iron age saw a very well fortified hill fort being constructed on Pen Dinas, the evidence of which can still be viewed today.

It can be said that the Aberystwyth area itself has consisted of a selection of differing settlements in differing areas for many thousands of years.

Some of today's local inhabitants of Aberystwyth attribute the fact that Aberystwyth grew in the area it is in because of the presence of Aberystwyth castle.

This fact may be true as the castle has attracted attention throughout its history. Once again Aberystwyth can not claim the title of first castle in the area either.

The name Aberystwyth castle first belonged to an earthwork and timber mote and bailey style castle situated near Tanybwlch south of the river Ystwyth and therefore, as W.J.Lewis writes, was correctly named Aberystwyth castle.

The Tanybwlch castle itself was built by Gilbert of Clare who is perhaps better known as Strongbow. He was sent to strengthen the area in 1109. The castle, like the one in Aberystwyth town was to change hands many times during its existence and physical evidence of it can be viewed on any ordinance survey map of the area.

Tanybwlch castle does not stand today but the subject of this local history project, although much younger, still stands. The mansion named Plas Tanybwlch.

When one walks to the top of Pen Dinas the view of the surrounding area, particularly on a clear day, is nothing short of breathtaking. To the North The town of Aberystwyth and the ruin of the castle can be clearly seen.

If one turns and faces South East looking towards Llanfarian and instead of gazing at the horizon glances down along Tanybwlch beach there, about one mile inland and nestling in some trees a magnificent mansion can be seen.

At ground level Tanybwlch mansion seems to hide from the world but the elevation given by Pen Dinas exposes this old and beautiful house for all to see.

Situated in the parish of Llanychaiarn, Plas Tanybwlch was built in 1825 by Major General Lewis Davies. Lewis Davies was a veteran of the Napoleonic wars who had served under Wellington in Spain and Portugal.

The house was built as a family home and on General Major Lewis` death his eldest son Mathew Vaughan Davies inherited the lands and the estate. Mathew Vaughan Davies married Miss Emma Davies (1804-1872) who was the daughter of John Davies of Strawberry Hill.

They lived at Plas Tanybwlch and in 1840 their eldest son, Mathew Lewis Vaughan Davies, the most famous Davies of Tanybwlch was born.

A nephew of Col. Morris Davies of Penpompren, Tal-y-bont, and of the Reverend Charles Davis of Ynys-hir, Glandyfi, Mathew Lewis Vaughan Davies is most closely associated with Plas Tanybwlch in the minds of the local people in the Aberystwyth area as Baron Ystwyth and had an interesting political career in the area through out his life.

He was by no means a stereotypical gentleman of land and estate and is also remembered for his rough manner and ability to use colourful language at any occasion and in any place not least the house of Commons and Lords.

It was in 1885 that Vaughan Davies entered his political career after a largely leaderless and concerned group of conservatives asked for his help.

The misfortunes of Nanteos and Trawscoed estates had forced them into the position of seeking Vaughan Davies' help as a figurehead within the Welsh conservative party.

Unmarried at the time, Vaughan Davies was viewed by many as an "impoverished squireen". The new Domesday book of 1873 shows that his Tanybwlch estate measured at some 3,674 acres took only nine hundred and seventy-four pounds in rent per annum. Vaughan Davies wrote to the then Prime minister, of the situation the local conservatives were in

'We have no leader, being all esquires with the exception of Lord Lisbourne who will do nothing. He does not even subscribe to the registration fund, which at great trouble and expense I do my best to keep going.'

Davies first stood for parliament in 1885, as a Tory candidate, but he lost to a Liberal named David Davies of Llandinam (considered by many as the railway king of Wales) who triumphed over Vaughan Davies by over 2,000 votes.

David Davies had drawn support mainly from the Methodist churches which were numerous in Wales at the time and also from the Pryses of Gogerddan.

The campaign was a heated one with accusations and counter accusations of corrupt practices (one of which was the polling of under aged and dead voters).

Landlord pressure and intimidation was widespread and the Powells of Nanteos forced the Tregaron area into a conservative one.

It is believed that Vaughan Davies stood mainly in the hope of receiving a baronetcy from Alkers-Douglas, the conservative patronage secretary, a title that was to elude him for many years to come.

He lost the election badly and this was mainly due to the fact of the strength of his opposition and the fact that he did not have the backing of any of the leading country families.

In 1889 Mathew Lewis Vaughan Davies married Mary Powell and such is the power of marriage that after the couple were wed Vaughan Davies announced his express intention to change political affiliation and stand as the liberal party candidate for Cardiganshire.

He was selected in 1896 to the surprise of many not least due to the fact that for such a long time he was a staunch conservative.

This fact and the fact that Davies was seen by many to be poorly educated and of an ill-informed political nature led to an uproar in the liberal camp. The fact that he spoke no Welsh at all led comments such as the following to insue.

'We want a Welsh speaking man and better still a Welsh patriot. Vaughan Davies is an apostate. Flexible, feeble and flabby'.

In 1896 he was censured by the Welsh Land Commissioners after an attempt by him to squarely defend local farming rights backfired and resulted in the bringing to public attention of his own misdeeds and malpractice's towards his own tenants. This coupled with the fact that on numerous occasions Vaughan Davies was openly found donating money, and at one stage his carriage, to Liberal supporters led to statements such as the following appearing in the Cambrian news.

'Mr Vaughan Davies has changed not only his political opinions, but his views as to honesty and dishonesty. His candidature is being urged on the low and demoralising ground that money can be got out of him.'

As well as altering his political affiliation at this time Vaughan Davies also made extensive alterations to Plas Tanybwlch. In 1890 a large extension was built on the southern side of the mansion. Some of the original plans of this venture can be viewed in the National Library.

It was around this time that the stables, situated to the right of the oddly shaped diamond gardens were also built . In the late 1960`s a fire damaged the stables and one of the uses they have since been put to was of local pound for stray and homeless animals.

Despite all of the charges of unsuitability levied against him and his previous political connections, Vaughan Davies was accepted by the Liberals and elected Liberal member for Cardiganshire in 1895.

His election was by no means an easy accomplishment due to the fact that nationally Liberal support was decaying slowly and his success is attributed to the fact that his down to earth manner, love of foxhounds and somewhat less than appropriate approach to public speaking elevated his status among locals as a man of the people.

He managed to keep his seat for some fifteen years after 1895 and in 1921 he achieved one of his lives ambitions when he was created Baron Ystwyth. He never left Plas Tanybwlch and is noted for his lack of activity in the house of Commons, an approach he carried through to the House of Lords.

During the 1930`s infrequent garden parties were held in the grounds of the Sea Cottage, which was a small summer cottage built on the shoreline of Tanybwlch beach. The Cottage itself has since been demolished but was used to house small pox victims in the mid 1940`s.

One of these famous garden parties was held in honour of the officers of HMS King George V which was at the time paying Aberystwyth a courtesy visit. 1933 saw yet another distinguished visit being paid to Plas Tanybwlch.

Prince George, who was at the time attending the Royal Welsh Show, had his plane land in the fields of the estate and before proceeding to the Show he was entertained by Lord Ystwyth. Prince George who later became the Duke of Kent was crowned King George VI in 1937 and visited Aberystwyth town that year. Sadly Lord Ystwyth was not able to entertain the new King as he did in 1933.

Mathew Lewis Vaughan Davies, Baron Ystwyth passed away on the twenty-first of August 1935 after retiring from politics some years earlier. He was 94 when he died and never lost his vigour and strength of body and will. Baron Ystwyth is buried in Llanychaiarn church not far from the house where he spent nearly all of his long life.

In 1936 the entire contents of the Mansion and the surrounding lands were sold off and the hold of the Davies family name at Plas Tanybwlch came to an end.

In 1937 the local county council made the decision that there needed to be locally a bigger and better isolation hospital than the one they already had by the entrance to Tanybwlch beach.

They began to make plans to purchase Tanybwlch mansion which had remained uninhabited since Lord Ystwyhs death. Doubts were raised by the Ministry of Health as to the suitability of the Mansion and due to these doubts and the outbreak of world War One purchase was delayed until January 1946.

In July of the same year Typhoid broke out in the area and Plas Tanybwlch played a major role in curbing the epidemic and became an isolation hospital.

It employed a staff of ten in the late 1940`s which grew to around thirty in the late 1950`s. The hospital was retained until the opening of Bronglais in 1966 when Tanybwlch was deemed as surplus to requirements.

At the same time the College of Librarianship was emerging and saved Plas Tanybwlch from possible dereliction by acquiring it and turning it into halls of residence.

Its closure as a halls of residence was met with protest from Students. But close it eventually did leaving many happy memories such as those recounted by Mr J Birch - "I was a student at "Tany" from 1980 to its much lamented closure in 1984. It was a wonderful place to stay - perhaps unique in UK higher education. Where else at a UK university would you wake to the sound of only sheep and waves? Where else would your exam revision be disturbed by peacocks in full display? Where else would the main student pastimes be croquet and table tennis? Yes we were a BIT cut off. The Royal Oak was 2-3 miles away, as was the nearest polling station, and as for shops... a log walk over the beach which on winter evenings could get a bit blu! stery.We did have a bus - well about two trips per day. Once you were in town you had to sit around in the library or trek back again. But we loved it. We absolutely loved it. Big rooms (mostly shared). By the 1980s it was also mixed - and a quite a few marriages resulted (including my own). When closure was proposed in 1982 we fought hard and managed to keep it open until the cost of the college running it became too much in 1984.To spend four years at higher education in our own mansion... it was a privilege.

By the mid 1980's Tanybwlch was again left without an owner and its future was in doubt. Once again it was rescued by yet another college, this time Coleg Ceredigion who transformed the mansion into a catering college where students could put their theory into practice. This restored the reputation Plas Tanybwlch had for good food when it was a hospital.

In 1996 the mansion once again found itself facing an uncertain future as financial constraints forced Coleg Ceredigion to sell Plas Tanybwlch.

Quite recently the future of the Mansion was once again secured. Uli Jon Roth, former guitarist with the world famous German rock band The Scorpions purchased the mansion only a short time after research was started for this project.

An article in the Cambrian News states his intentions were to live there and install a high tech studio in one of the mansions high ceiling rooms where work on his latest recording would begin soon.

The Mansion of Plas Tanybwlch since its creation in 1825 has had a long and colourful history. It is refreshing to know that its future is a bright one and that it has once again been returned to its original status of a home hopefully to be occupied for many years to come."

Article written by Eoin Garland