The Heron/Hearne Tribe
Teulu Heron/Hearne

Unknown, Glamorgan


The Heron or Hearn/e tribe has the heron for its crest.
  The name may also be written as Herin, Hern/e or Hurn/e and was first recorded in England in 1539.

From an original base in East Anglia the Herons spread out to the Midlands; the 18th century saw them expand into northern England and then down to Wales.

The Welsh Herons are mostly descended from Richard Heron.  One of Richard's grandsons was Edmund (Edward) Heron, born in Northamptonshire.  He and his wives Jemima and Anis Smith chose to travel in South Wales.

Another of Richard's grandsons was Alfred Heron from Lincolnshire.  Alfred married Rebecca Buteridge, and they settled in North Wales.  Their son Crimea married Dilaia Lee; they moved to Glamorgan, where their children were born in the 1880s/90s.

Dilaia's sister Melvinia Lee married Moses (Moti) Heron, another of Alfred's sons.  In 1881 Melvinia and Moses were living in tents near Wrexham with cousin Maggonas Lee and his family "next door".

 

Moses' youngest daughter Sophia married Jonathan Ayres and settled down in Cardiff.

Moses's daughter Rachael married Alfred Thomas, although both married again.  Later on, Rachael lived in a double decker bus on a hilltop in Haverfordwest.

 

Haverfordwest                           VS


In the 1930s some Herons are remembered as travelling in caravans to Barratt's Farm in Barry each year, returning to Kent for the hop-picking season in September or to Evesham for the fruit harvest.  They were joined by many other Gypsy families, such as the Prices, Ayres and Northams.

Rachael and baby Lenny

Acknowledgements

Would you like to contribute to these pages?

Romani Cymru researchers would like to hear from anyone who is Welsh Romani or has Welsh Romani ancestral connectionsWe would also like to hear from anyone with stories or experiences over the past years relating to Welsh Gypsies.  All sensitive information will be treated in the strictest of confidence.  Please email The Romani Cymru Project at:  avpro@valleystream.co.uk


Strict Copyright Warning
All texts/audio/still/motion picture images are strictly copyright to ValleyStream Media 1980-2010 or to the stated contributor/
copyright holder/s or "unKn". Any unauthorised copying of any images or material from this website for any use is strictly prohibited without written permission from the image owners - owners of unknown images ("unKn")  from this website please contact us for fair use or image withdrawal. All rights reserved.


Romani Cymru
Romany Wales Project