Ievan Blayney was born in about 1375 of Tregynon, Montgomeryshire, the son of Gruffyd ap Llewelyn Vychan.

In a history of Gregynog, the author says, "The name Blayney is curious and strange, and yet a symbol of the world in which the family rose to prominence. It is first recorded in a roll, the purpose of which is unknown, of burgesses of Welshpool in 1406 - 'Evan Blayney of Tregynon'. He was known to his kinsmen in the hills west of Welshpoo as Ieuan ap Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fychan ap Llywelny ab Einion ap Llwelyn ap Meilir Gryg. Those forefathers in his patronymic cataloge had lived at the farm of Llwyn Melyn in the northern part of Tregynon parish since the twelfth century. The year 1406 was in the middle of the revolt of Owain Glyndwr, and Ieuan may have felt it prudent to anglicise his name in the colonial atmosphere of the little town sheltering beneath the red walls of Powis castle. He lived in a marcher lordship - Ceri and Cedewain lay as twin lordships astride the Severn - and this was a colonial unit at this period, with descendants of conquerors living in great castles such as Powis, with colonists filling the miniscule towns, while all around in the hill country like Tregynon there coexisted the native subjects, among whom were native gentry like Ieuan. His family memorised in defeat their ancient genealogies, which showed their forefather Meilir Gryg as a descendant of the Welsh lord of Cegidfa (Guilsford) Brochwel ab Aeddan, and that he in turn was descended, albeit through illegitimate lines, from Brochwel Ysgithrog ancient king of part of Powis. The bards reminded each generation of its royal origins and its long history, indeed they showed each gentry family of the hills how it was akin one to another. Through Brochwel the Blayneys were akin to nearly every native family of note in Powys...His official surname Blayney may have been in origin a mere nickname: it refers clearly to his home in the Blaenau, the headwaters of the streams Rhiw and Bechan which flow about Llwyn Melyn and Gregynon...Blayney then is an unusual kind of Welsh surname, a geographical one of a kind common in England but very rare in Wales...It is a Welsh word, but turned into a surname of an English type, and seems to be symbolic of the marcher world.

"Ieuan, or Evan Blayney was a Welsh gentleman seeking minor office in a small marcher lordship. His ancestors has apparently lived for at least seven generations at Llwyn Melyn in Tregynog, the first bein Meilir Gryg who may have lived in the late twelfth century...The status of the Blayneys can be seen by the houses into which they married at this early date, Mathafarn near Machynlleth, Nannau in Llanfacreth, houses of the greatest standing. Evan himself married Elen Lloyd of Mathafarn, an aunt of the poet, prophet, and gentleman Dafydd Llwyd on whose prophecies Henry Tudor was to set such store in 1485." (Gregynog, Hughes, Morgan and Thomas, 1977)

He married Elen, the daughter of David ap Evan Lloyd, son of Evan Lloyd, son of Llewelyn ap Tudor of Mathavarn. Ieven and Elen had the following children:


1. Howell, born about 1390.


2. Owen, born about 1400; married Catherine Blayney.


3. Griffith, born about 1407; married Joned Howell.


4. Efa, born about 1410; married Dafydd Ddu.


In Gregynon, the author describes, "The three sons were Howel, from who descended the lines in the northern part of the patrimony towards Manafon in the Rhiw valley, such as Price  of Manafon, and Blayney of Stingwern (between Llanfair Caereinion and Llanerfyl); secondly Owen, who founded a family at Aberbechan, where Bechan flows into Severn near Newtown, and who climbed to the office of deputy steward of Richard Duke of York in the marcher lordship of Cedewain, and who later became an esquire of the body to the duke's son, King Edward IV; the third son Griffith lived at Gregynog, and became the ancestor of the line of Blayneys who made the name most famous. Evan's daughter Efa married Dafydd Ddu...Like many of the Welsh native gentry during the so-called War of the Roses they were Yorkists. A bard who was one of the finest ever seen in Wales...has left us a beautiful ode to the two brothers Owen of Aberbechan and Gruffydd of Gregynog. The two brothers are "swans as white as a water lily from Tregynog yonder" (Gregynog, Hughes, Morgan and Thomas, 1977)

SOURCE: Montgomeryshire Families, Bill Barker; Gregynog, Glyn Tegai Hughes, Prys Morgan, and J. Gareth Thomas.