Papers from Ty'n-yr-heol House

The collection includes deeds, copy deeds, draft deeds, financial papers, legal papers and copy letter books relating to the Jones family of Ty'n-yr-heol House, estate papers, legal papers, draft deeds and copy deeds relating to the Eaglesbush Estate, papers and copy deeds relating to the Plâs-newydd estate, correspondence relating to Edward Henry Bath, legal papers relating to the 7th Earl of Jersey, papers, bills and posters relating to William Paddison, bills, papers and posters relating to Albert Beer Paddison and bills and papers relating to other members of the Paddison family.

Ty'n-yr-heol House is located near Tonna in the parish of Llantwit-juxta-Neath. In 1845 it was owned and occupied by Philip Jones (b. c. 1786), who had previously lived at Clyn y Castell in the same parish. In 1851 Ty'n-yr-heol House was occupied by Philip's son, William (b. c. 1817), and his family. By 1901 William and his wife, Jennett, had died and their eldest surviving son William (c.1854-1916) was head of the household. William was a Poor Law Guardian for Neath Poor Law Union in 1881 and a Justice of the Peace by 1906. He owned land in and around Clyne and Resolven in the parish of Llantwit-juxta-Neath, including Pencaerfelin, Glyn-gwilym-Uchaf, Graig Uchaf and Blaen-y-cwm farms. He married Alice Margaret Paddison, late in life, in 1913. When he died in 1916, Alice continued to run the estate with the assistance of Gomer Hughes and her brothers, Ernest Edwin and Watkin Whitson Paddison.

Alice was the daughter of William Paddison (1826-1895), an estate agent who worked from offices at 20 Queen Street, Neath, and lived at Llyngriffith farm in the parish of Cadoxton-juxta-Neath. His clients included the Evans family of Eaglesbush, for whom he acted as a trustee. After his death William's son Charles Campbell took over the farm and another son, Albert Beer, worked as an estate agent from 20 Queen Street. Their brother Ernest Edwin may have assisted Albert, as he is listed as an estate agent's secretary in the 1901 census. It is unclear if there were any other connections between Ty'n-yr-heol House and the Evans family, but the collection includes many deeds and papers relating to the Eaglesbush Estate.

In 1883 Edward Evans (1830-1894) purportedly owned around 550 acres of land, over 500 acres of which were in the county of Glamorgan. The Eaglesbush Estate included land and properties in the parishes of Llandeilo Talybont, Neath, Llantwit-juxta-Neath (including Pencaerau and Eaglesbush, and farms called Tyr Cimla, Tyr Segyr Isha and Wainvawr) and Llansamlet (including Kilveymont farm). Edward Evans leased pieces of land for the building of houses and was involved in the mineral industry owning shares and possibly managing the Eaglesbush Colliery Company. The estate may have had financial problems, in 1878 Edward Evans, mortgaged it to Griffith Llewelyn of Baglan Hall for £32,500 and took out several mortgages and further charges in the years following. After Edward Evans' death in 1894, the estate vested in his son, Walter Rice Evans. Perhaps as a result of the debts generated by Edward or as a way of avoiding selling off parts of the estate, William Paddison and Walter Rice Evans did not raise the payments intended for Walter's sisters from the estate on the death of their father, and Walter gave the money to his sisters out of his own pocket.

The records suggest that William Paddison had other clients as an estate agent, including Pendrill Charles of Plâs-newydd.

The records were not found in any particular order and may not have originated from the same source. They have been arranged by subject. Two copies of the Cambrian newspaper were found in the collection marked 'William Jones esq., Ty'n-yr-heol ?- Rector of Neath regards' and 'William Paddison + co disolved partners'. These have been catalogued separately as part of the Neath Antiquarian Society's newspapers collection (references NAS X 18/8, 12). Copies of the Ystradfellte Water Acts, 1902 and 1912 were purchased by the Neath Antiquarian Society in 2004. These Acts are stamped 'A. B. Paddison, Tynyrheol House, Llantwit-juxta-Neath'. They have been catalogued separately as part of the Neath Antiquarian Society's collection of Acts of Parliament.

No restrictions

Source not recorded.

Compiled by Andrew Dulley for the ANW project.

A hard copy of the catalogue is available at the Neath Mechanics' Institute.

Usual copyright regulations apply.

All records have been retained.

Accruals are not expected.

For other records relating to the Eaglesbush Estate, see Neath Antiquarian Society papers, reference NAS RE, and West Glamorgan Archive Service's collections, references D/D RE and D/D TH.

For more information about the Evans family of Eaglesbush, see Neath Antiquarian Society Old Neath & District in pictures, vol. 2, photo no. 97; Dr T. G. Davies, Neath's Wicked World pp. 135-141; Elis Jenkins, Neath and District - a symposium, pp. 170-171; D. Rhys-Phillips, History of the Vale of Neath, pp. 328, 332, 406-609, 417-419, 706-707, Andrew Dulley, The Rice Evans Estate of Eaglesbush, Neath in The Report of the County Archivist, 1997-1998. For more information about William Jones and the Paddison family see D. Rhys-Phillips, History of the Vale of Neath, pp. 256, 453, 579. For images of Ty'n-yr-heol House see Tonna Local History Project Tribute to Tonna, p. 9.