On the south side of
the alter at Llanbeblig Church is a tablet inscribed with the words
'S.M. William Williams, late of Glanrafon, Esq.,
His Majesty's Attorney General of North Wales. He died the
26th April, 1769, aged 65. This monument was erected by his widow
Hephzibah Williams.''
He lived at Plas
Glanrafon, Castle Street, and in the book 'Old Karnarvon' by W.H. Jones, (published by H.
Humphreys, 1882), the author refers to him as Councillor Williams and gives an
account of a riot in the in 1752. The authorities had heard a rumour that a large
number of quarrymen from Mynydd y Cilgwyn and Rhostryfan intended raiding the
Granary in Shirehall Street, the reason being that the price of corn was
purposely being kept high through legislation and ordinary people could not
afford it.
One morning in April,
1752, and being aware of the impending raid, Councillor Williams gathered
together a number of men armed with guns, swords and bludgeons to defend the
Granary. In the meantime the insurgents had also made an emergency plan, should
the authorities become aware of their intention. In South Penrallt, there lived
an old man who earned his livelihood as an itinerant gelder and it was his
practice, when looking for business, to stop at a crossroad or village square
and blow his horn. This would alert the neighbourhood of his presence and any
farmer requiring his services would go to him and accompany him to his farm.The
quarrymen had made arrangements with the gelder to blow his horn should he
believe them to be in danger.
At 10 o'clock in the
morning the quarrymen marched into town and, by then, the old man had heard
that Councillor Williams and his men were waiting in the Sportsman Hotel in
Castle Street, ready to pounce on the would be raiders. The gelder then blew
short blasts on his horn from his doorstep, which was directly opposite where
Moriah Chapel later stood. The insurgents ran in the direction of Ty'n y Cei and waded across the river, making for Coed Helen, closely
followed by Councillor Williams and his men. One quarryman, not easily
frightened, was half way across when he turned and said to his pursuers "You have no bullets, only powder in your guns". And one of them, the Landlord of the Crown
Inn, replied by saying "I'll show you what I have in my gun", and immediately shot him through the heard,
killing him instantly. The insurgents rushed to retrieve his body and made
haste in the direction of the woods. The Councillor and his supporters went in
search of the old gelder and held a Drum Head Court Martial, before hanging him
near the Anglesey Arms. They then took him down, placed him in a coffin and
carried it to Llanbeblig cemetery. It was later said that he was still kicking
when earth was being thrown on the coffin.
In the meantime, the quarrymen had not been idle. They had made a coffin
for their comrade and had painted it, half and half, in red and black. They
then carried it through the streets of the town in a solemn procession and on
to Llandwrog for burial.
There was, however, no end to the Councillor's vindictiveness. He arranged for some of the
insurgents to be brought before the Magistrates Court and punished, and others
were forced to flee the country. It was believed at the time that the ghost of
the man in the red and black coffin haunted the Crown Inn for a century, right
up to 1852, when the building was demolished to make way for the Railway.