Ann Maddocks

Ann Maddocks (born Thomas, 1704–1727) was a Welsh maid who according to tradition was forced to marry against her wishes and died pining for her true love.

Thomas and Price married in 1703, but her father died in 1706, and tradition tells that he had placed Ann in the wardship of Anthony Maddocks, a lawyer from Cwmrisga.

[1] The legend states that Ann had fallen in love not with the wealthy Maddocks, but with the poet and thatcher, Wil Hopcyn (William Hopkin) and when discovered were forbidden to see each other.

However, the couple continued their relationship by sending love letters to each other in secret, taken by one of her maidservants and hidden in a hollow in an oak tree on the Cefn Ydfa estate.

[4] In 1904, William Haggar released a silent film, The Maid of Cefn Ydfa[5] interpreting the events, with his family cast as the main characters of the tale.