Firstly it is important to remember that there is strictly no Freemen’s Roll of Llantrisant.

We have no list of Burgesses (Freemen) prior to 1724 which leaves a period of almost 400 years without a definitive collection of names of those who enrolled.

When Rev Rickards became Portreeve he was infuriated by the lack of evidence of a Roll. He recreated what he could from 1737 onwards, relying on the oldest living Freeman at the time.

Following that date we must rely on several sources, including the Corporation Minutes and Roll followed by the entries made by Sem Phillips in his history of the town in 1866.

With the tradition of Welsh surnames not coming into fashion until the 1780s, it is difficult to link many minor Freemen with their father or father-in-law on the list.

Since the present Roll was followed there are also areas of error, particularly the sudden large leap from numbers 3,099 to 4,000 where the Clerk simply made an administrative error. There is also areas where there’s a general lack of details.

However, what we still have is a fascinating document naming thousands of men who have proudly called themselves a Freeman of Llantrisant.