Robert Hughes lived in Llithfaen, a small village a few miles from Nefyn.

He was sentenced to death for opposing the enclosure of the common land used by the local community to gather firewood and graze their animals.
From the vantage point of his cottage on a hill above the village he could watch all the main approaches and he blew a conch shell to warn of the coming of the officials who had the task of measuring the common land for enclosure.

The court records state ‘The defendant and others on October 29 1813 assembled in a riotous manner to oppose the enclosing of the commons—the Riot Act was read and the prisoner and others to the number of 80 and more remained so riotously assembled for upward an hour’

The Sentence was commuted to transportation for life to Australia. He was 52 years old and described in the records as ‘weak and feeble’.

The ruins of his cottage are still visible.