Lȏn Selar, Llanengan
This small road led to a house called Selar, predecessor of the large house beyond this wall. It’s believed the original house, dating from the mid-17th century or earlier, was called Creigir Selar.
By the following century, Selar (as the house is named in church records) was home to John Marc and his wife Jane, and then to their son Richard Jones and his wife Elizabeth. Father and son were, in turn, employed as the parish church’s clerk.
Richard and Elizabeth had six children but only William, born in 1777, survived to adulthood. As his father and grandfather had done, William took his father's first name for his surname, according to Welsh custom. William Richards joined the Royal Navy as a young man and was promoted to captain by the Admiralty after he showed great leadership and courage in a battle during the Napoleonic wars.
After the wars, he went into the service of Lord Newborough. When at home in Pwllheli in 1818 he met Sarah Constable, daughter of a wealthy Northampton family. They were married in 1819, a year after William inherited Selar. The house was then rebuilt and extended to twice its original size. Stables were added, and a new entrance from the main road.
The house with its wide whitewashed frontage is prominent on the left of the old photo of Llanengan. On the slope behind it stands the chimney of the Tan’rallt lead mine.
The new house was called Belle Vue (French for “beautiful view”) but the track that led to the original building retained its original name of Lȏn Selar, still used today.
Belle Vue was changed to The Rock in 1998, when it was a restaurant for a brief period.
With thanks to Diogelu Enwau Llanengan