Pen-y-lan was most probably built by Ellis Lloyd of Leighton Knole, Shropshire, in about 1690, on the site of an earlier farmhouse. He had come into possession of the estate through his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward ap William ap John ap David. Ellis Lloyd died without issue in 1712, bequeathing the estate to his great-nephew, Eubule Williams, on condition that he changed his name to Lloyd. Both Eubule's children died before him so that the estate reverted to his brother Edward, who on inheriting the estate also changed his name from Williams to Lloyd. Edward's only daughter, Mary, married Roger Kenyon of Cefn and died in 1781. In accordance with the will of Ellis Lloyd, Pen-y-lan passed to his only surviving relative, his great-niece, Ann Lloyd. On her death in 1784 she bequeathed the estate to Edward Lloyd of Shrewsbury, who in his will directed his trustees to sell the estate, who sold it to Roger Keynon of Cefn Park, Wrexham, and brother of Lloyd, 1st Lord Kenyon of Gredington, Flintshire, in 1792. Roger's eldest child, Edward Kenyon, succeeded his father to the Pen-y-lan estate in 1796, changing his name to Edward Lloyd Kenyon at the same time. Subsequently he altered his name to Edward Lloyd Williams. He died in 1837 without issue, leaving his nephew, Edward Lloyd Kenyon as heir to the estate. At his death in 1843 his only child and heiress, Louisa Mary Beaumont Kenyon, was only four years old and the estate was held for her by trustees. In 1854 the trustees sold the greater part of the estate to James Hardcastle of Bolton, Lancashire, a partner in the legal firm of Ormrod, Hardcastle & Co., who had married into the Ormrod family. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law James Ormrod. His grandson, Peter Ormrod (d. 1920), married Sarah Emma, a descendant of the Foulkes family of Pen y Bryn.
Scope and content: includes estate and family papers and deeds relating to Denbighshire, Flintshire, Cheshire, Shropshire and Lancashire.