Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Date of Designation
30/03/1999
Name of Property
Gravestone of John Ystymllyn
Unitary Authority
Gwynedd
Location
The headstone stands in the churchyard of the church of St Cynhaearn, on the N side of the path from the lychgate.
Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
History
John Ystymllyn, colloquially known as Jac Black, was captured in the Indies in 1742 by a member of the Wynn family and brought back to Wales, and who did service at the nearby farm of Ystymllyn, from where he took his name. He is said to be the first slave brought into N Wales. A portrait of him is held by Ronald Armstrong Jones, Plas Dinas.
Exterior
A simple sandstone headstone, elegantly inscribed with the inscription 'Here lieth the Body of John Ystymllyn who Died July the 27th 1791, Aged 46 Years, followed by an inscription recording his origin in India (probably the West Indies).
Reason for designation
Included as of special interest in commemorating a slave in service in Wales in the later years of the C18, who must have been well enough thought of that he was provided with a handsome memorial.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]