The source material in this section are excerpts and reworking of various materials from articles in catalogues, yearbooks, the world wide web and reading Dr. Wynne Davies (Ceulan Stud).
 

This story of the famous "Coed Coch" stud is written at the request of that we think many new welsh-owners - be they breeders, as riders - have heard the name mentioned or encountered it several times in their ponies’ pedigree without really being aware of the history and background of the stud.
It is relevant knowledge, as there probably is not a stud in history that has had such an influence on the sec. A and B-breeding as the "Coed Coch" stud. As loyal welsh mountain breeders, we have chosen only to concentrate on this section, since it is also the section, "Coed Coch" is best known for.

Coed Coch Estate

The "Coed Coch" estate is close to the city "Dolwen" in the "Abergele” in North Wales. The place is now privately owned, and there is no public access, but some of the property can be inspected from the outside. You can go around on the public roads, as in the dawn of time was the whole "Coed Coch" studs property. In addition to the main building and stables the stud consists of a few farms, which are now leased. Some of the leased farms is sold to Wyn Jones, descendant of the first head of the stables John Jones (Nerwyn Stud), who’s ponies are on the "Coed Coch's" soils today. The stud ended by an auction on the 7th of September 1978 at 10:30; there were sold 244 animals of the highest quality (136 sec. A, 84 sec. B and 24 ridding ponies of unknown section).
The family Wyn "Coed Coch" and their relatives - family Wyn Williams - had for several centuries been serious horse breeders. It was a predecessor to Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Wyn Williams - the last owner of "Coed Coch" - which at the beginning of the 18-hundred were accused of having sent thoroughblood stallion "Merlin" at "Rubon Hills." That is why we still call the ponies from the north "Merlynnod" or "Merliws". Up to 1920 the family Wyn had only thoroughbred and hunters on "Coed Coch," and John Jones - who was head of the stables and born in one of the property farms in 1875 - rode around with these champion-stallions and covered mares as far north as Scotland . He was with family Wyn until his death in 1965. At that time he had served 6 owners of "Coed Coch", including Margaret Brodrick, which acquired the property in 1916, after her deceased half brother Edward Wyn, and it was then it is said that “Coed Coch" began.

Memorial tablet at the entrance to Coed Coch

The story begins on a Saturday in 1924, when Miss Brodrick and John Jones returned from hunting. He suggested purchasing some small ponies to grass the highest situated hills, and the choice fell of course on welsh mountains. It was easy to persuade Miss Brodrick, however they did not have any idea that this decision should be the start of a world famous company. On the Monday the two then rode down to Mrs. Martha Evans, who was a tenant on the property on one of the small farms, "Trofarth." Here they bought 5 wild mares of medium quality, and later in the year they got bought some better mare material - Coed coch Eirlys and C. c. Stretton. At that time one could allocate its own prefix to purchased unregistered ponies.
It is undoubtedly C. c. Eirlys, which can be described as the stud’s foundation mare. Her first foal, C. c. Seren (after Grove Sharpshooter), was found in the pedigrees to half of the sec. A's, which was sold on the action in 1978. Only after that C. c. Seren was born, they began naming the foals after their mothers, for example: Ebril, Eira, Eog and Eurliw Goch, which were all after Eirlys. It was C. c. Seren, which started the studs showing career. She won 21 1st prices in significant shows in the period 1931-37.

Coed Coch Madog

Other significant mares from that time include Gatley Stardust, which was the beginning of the "Sensigl" - and "Symwl" lines, and Grove Madcap, which was the mother of Mefusen, which was the mother of perhaps the most important and famous stallion, C . c. Madog. Madog won 9 times on the "Royal Welsh" during the period 1951-62. In addition Tanybwich Prancio needs to be mentioned, a mother of Prydferth and Pioden, whose offspring include Pelydrog (winner of 65 first prices and 30 championships), Proffwyd, Pela, Pryd and not least Planed, which won the "Royal Welsh" as a 2-year-old in 1954. The mare, Dinarth Penol, which was at the stud for only 3 years, resulting in C. c. Glyndwr (after Revolt) in 1935.

Coed Coch Glyndwr

The story tells that Glyndwr was a very pitifully small colt at birth, and had it not been for John Jones' grandson, Shem, which coincidentally came over and saw him lie there on the field, he had not survived. Shem carried Glyndwr home to the farm with the mare Henol walking after them, and thereby saved Glyndwr's life. Did this little lad know at the time that he saved this stallion, that over time this would have the greatest importance for the whole welsh-breeding at all?
Glyndwr and 33 other ponies was sold at the action in 1937, but was quickly back again, as the new owners had no grass for ponies. Between the ponies, which was sold, was C. c. Sirius, which was later the mother of Siaradus (after Glyndwr) born in the "Rhyd-y-Viljandi” Stud, and first got its name; C. c. Siaradus when she was bought back to "Coed Coch." She was, as all Coed coch ponies, late developed, and when she finally was developed, she won 55 first places and 41 championships.
  

Home of Wyn Jones, "Nerwyn Stud"

She was an exceptional filly and show pony, and of those who saw her “live”, she is regarded as one of the most beautiful ponies, and her match will never come again. She is the mother of C. c. Sws, Salsbri and St. Iwan. C. c. Salsbri was the father of Saled, Bari, Shon (Dk.) and Targed. She is buried in the park on at "Coed Coch."

Coed Coch Siaradus                                                                    Coed Coch Siaradus Memorial

Wyn & Coed Coch Siaradus 

Glyndwr was both grandfather and mother's father to C. c. Madog, who died in 1978. Madog was sold as a foal, and as a 3-year old he woke John Jones' interest, who wanted him back. John Jones proposed Madog's owners to sign him up for a show. They did so - took Madog from the field, mucky and out of training, and came in as last in the class. So was John Jones allowed to buy Madog, and it was the last time he was last in a class. He won 139 first prices and 63 championships, including 9 times "Royal Welsh" winner.
Glyndwr was at "Coed Coch" stud in 6 years, and was amongst others father of Pioden, Prydferth, Siaradus and Sirius. He was also at one season at the “Criban stud”, and here he became the father of Criban Winston (father of Criban Victor). In 1943, Miss Brodrick was in Europe for "Red Cross", and Glyndwr was sent to Lady Wentworth at the “Crabbet stud”. He proved to be a bit of an escape artist, and destroyed often the neighbours’ gardens with the Lady’s mares. Therefore, he was in 1949 passed on to Mr. Mcnaught on Clan stud, where he was until 1953. In this way we have consistency between Clan-(Clan Tony was the father of Clan Pip, which is ancestor to Revel - and Flydon-ponies) and Twyford-ponies, as it is Mcnaught's daughter Alison Mountain, which has "Twyford." While he was on the "Clan" he also covered the Coed Coch-ponies. From this came Cc Anwyled and Mari (mother of Salsbri). This means that we have consistency between the ponies we see today - Coed coch, Clan, Revel and Twyford - and the past. In 1953 Glyndwr went on to Miss The Beumont at Shalbourne stud, and here he was until his death in 1959.

From left: Coed Coch Glyndwr, Siaradus, Madog, Pwyll

Back on the "Coed Coch" stud Miss Brodrick still breeded ponies on a large scale. She was a pioneer and a classy ambassador for the whole welsh-breeding. Together with her stableman - John Jones - excited she the breeders with good advice, and she exported more and more ponies for example to U.S. and Australia. Dr. Wyenne Davies, for instance told how he enjoyed playing truant from school to take with Miss Brodrick and Jones around in the middle-and South Wales, looking for ponies, which could be exported. Here, he has probably heard many pony-stories, which has been reflected in his many books.
Miss Brodrick was never hiding the fact that her hard work could not have been done without Jones and his family's assistance, which also included the grandchild Shem and great-grandchild Wyn. When she received MBE-Order from the Queen in 1961 John Jones and his daughter Lili were of course there also.
In 1958 at Wembley, four generations of the family Jones were to "Horse of the Year" show where they showed 4 generations of Coed coch-ponies: Prydferth, Pryddest, Pathew and Madog, who behaved as a playful 2-year colt and enjoyed all the attention.
Shortly before Christmas 1962 Miss Brodrick died, and the "Coed Coch" stud went on to Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Williams Wyn. He got very serious about breeding, and again using the Jones family, he managed the stud with great seriousness until his death in 1977. He tried with great success to take up the legacy after Miss Brodrick, by shows and breeding. He engaged in "Society's work, and was a transition president in WPCS.
Unfortunately, it appeared that there were no descendants with sufficient interest in pony breeding, which could carry on the stud and for example pay the huge death duty to takeover the stud. One even considered the possibility that the stud could be transferred to the University of north Wales, but in vain one realized that it was not possible to keep the large stud going, and it was decided to hold an auction in 1978 and thereby shutting it down. The last time that "Coed Coch" participated in a show, was late summer 1978, which took part in "Flint and Denbigh Show" in north Wales. The stable men who were involved here, each with their favourite: Shem with Cc Rhion, "Big" John Jones with Cc Bari, "Little" John Jones with Cc Hillstream and Wyn with Cc Barrog

Coed Coch Bari

Now, all ponies were prepared for the great auction, and Shem showed them all, with the exception of Bari, as "Long" John Jones showed himself . All the older mares (over 16 years), however were not in the auction. They were given away for good homes, where they could be allowed to enjoy their retirement. This is something we could learn from today, where you often see older mares and stallions switch homes. Besides this the four stablemen were allowed to choose each a mare, which some of them founded their own stud with for example Wyn chose the 3-year-olds mare Cc Lili, he covered with Cc Barrog, and this combination resulted in Nerwyn Cadno.

Nerwyn Cadno, 27 years old                                                                 mare after Nerwyn Cadno

The weather on the auction the 7th of September 1978 was miserable, but still this did not provide a damper on the many present people spending. People had come from all over Wales - indeed of all the Earth's 4 corners of the world - to bid on the result of 54 years of breeding. There was sold ponies for a total of 184,453 pounds, which was 842 pounds on average - 36 of them were A foals.
The last pony, which bar the "Coed coch" name was catalogue No 175 - a colt called Coed Coch Pen-y-Daith, which in Welsh means "end of the journey." He was sold for 320 pounds to the Patterson family in Scotland.
Below we have chosen some examples of Coed Coch- ponies show results, which is quite impressive:

Coed Coch Anwyled, born in 1953 (after Glyndwr): 30 First prices and 10 championships.
Coed Coch Madog, born in 1947 (after Seryddwr): 139 First prices, 63 championships and 53 other prices.
Coed Coch Pelydrog, born in 1955 (after Madog): 65 First prices and 30 championships.
Coed Coch Salsbri, born in 1957 (after Madog): 42 First prices and 12 championships.
Coed Coch Siaradus, born in 1942 (after Glyndwr): 55 First prices and 41championships.

In addition, the following were all gold medal winners from the various shows and "Royal Welsh":
 

Coed Coch Pioden, born in 1941 (after Glyndwr)
Coed Coch Prydferth, born in 1943 (after Glyndwr)
Coed Coch Pryd, born in 1963 (after Madog)
Coed Coch Shon, born in 1961 (after Salsbri)
Coed Coch Seryddwr born ? (after Glyndwr)
Coed Coch Swyn, born in 1958 (after Glyndwr)
Coed Coch Mari, born in 1965 (after Salsbri)
Coed Coch Pibwydd, born in 1956 (after Llanerch Titmouse (after Pathew (after Madog)))
Coed Coch Neredd, born in 1959 (after Proffwydd)
Coed Coch Asa, born in 1958 (after Gredington Hyned (after Madog))
Coed Coch Marli born ? (after Madog)
Treharne Tomboy, born in 1959 (after Treharne Reuben (after CC Blodyn))
Coed Coch Saled, born in 1963 (after Salsbri)
Coed Coch Bari, born in 1971 (after Salsbri) - he was sold at the action in 1978 to Lady Creswick - Australia - for 21,000 pounds.
 

We know that there is only mentioned a fraction of the ponies breed on the "Coed Coch" stud but we hope that you still have a little insight into the importance of this stud and its work, which 2 persons - Miss Margaret Brodrick and stableman John Jones - have archived.

We are very proud that the main part of our ponies’ pedigree is connected to many of the above names.

If you have had a taste for more knowledge about the coed coch-ponies, we suggest that you read further in Dr. Wynne Davies' books and seeking knowledge on the world wide web.