TREVALYN HALL ESTATE PAPERS

Records of the Trevalyn and Plas Teg estates, 1575-1956 (predominantly 1773-1956) including rentals, 1783-1941, vouchers, 1773-1839, surveys and valuations, 1796-1836, estate correspondence of the Boscawen family, 1783-1876, accounts of lands sold by George Boscawen, 1803-1831; mining records, 1803-1920, including royalty accounts for the lordship of Mold (lead mines, collieries, and Coed Talon iron works), Afon Eitha Colliery, Ruabon, Denbighshire, 1803-1814, 1837-1854, 1908-1920, and Minera lead mines, 1843-1851,and reports and accounts for collieries in Wrexham, Ruabon, Gresford and Llay, Denbighshire, 1914-1918; family papers, 1575, 1773-1929, including wills, 1779-1929, household and financial accounts of George Boscawen, 1773-1816, household accounts of Thomas Griffith, 1836-1841; letters of county meeting over depressed state of agriculture, 1849-1850; legal papers, 1798-1854, comprising case over the will of John Trevor V, 1781, partition and settlement of Trevalyn estate, 1798-1849, mineral rights to the lordship of Mold, 1851-1853, and limestone quarries in Denbighshire and Flintshire), 1853-1854.

The Trevor family of Trevalyn were one of the leading families in East Denbighshire by about 1600, with estates in Flintshire and Denbighshire centred on Travalyn Hall in Rossett, Denbighshire. The Plas Teg estate in Hope, Flintshire, was also acquired by the family when it was purchased by Sir John Trevor I (1563-1630) and it was he who built the present Plas Teg house in 1610. Sir John Trevor I was extensively involved in national affairs as an M.P. 1592-1614 for boroughs under the control of Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral. He served Howard as his secretary, was appointed Surveyor of the Navy and profited by various shrewd investments including the farm of the duty on Newcastle coals. On his death in 1630, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir John Trevor II (1596-1673), who resided mainly in London. He sat as M.P. for Denbighshire 1621 and Flintshire in the next two Parliaments, but subsequently for boroughs under the control of either Lords Howard or Pembroke. He amassed wealth from the keepership of several royal forests, his father's farm of the coal tax and he inherited in 1638 Trevalyn from his uncle, Sir Richard. He was a Puritan and allowed the deprived Puritan minister of Denbigh, William Jones, to live in Plas Teg which was licensed as a conventicle under the Act of Indulgence, 1672. He was pre-deceased by his eldest surviving son, Sir John Trevor III (1626-1672), Secretary of State to Charles II. The estates on Sir John's death passed to his grandson, John Trevor (1652-1686). He married Elizabeth Clare, widow of William Morley of Glynde, Sussex, through whom he inherited the Glynde estate, which afterwards became the chief residence of the family. On the death, in 1743, of his grandson, John Trevor, commissioner of the admiralty, the male line came to an end and the Welsh estates descended through co-heiresses. The Plas Teg estate eventually passed to Gertrude Trevor, who had married the Hon. Charles Roper. Their son Trevor Charles Roper, 18th Lord Dacre, married Mary Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Fludyer, but dying without issue, his widow bequeathed the estate to Cadwallader Blayney, a cousin, who assumed the name Trevor-Roper. The estate remained in the family until the Second World War when the heir, Richard Trevor-Roper, was killed and the trustees were forced to sell the estate to pay death duties. In the late 1950's it was made the subject of a preservation order, and as a result of the publicity on this occasion, P. D. Trevor-Roper, a descendant of the former owners, decided to purchase it. However, it has since been sold out of the family.

Arranged chronologically into the following: group of deeds; estate papers; Trevalyn settlement; legal papers; financial papers; probate papers; household and personal accounts; Thomas Griffith (1786-1856); shrievalty; correspondence and family papers; correspondence: public affairs; charities and donations; and Trevalyn: additional MSS.

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Compiled by Mair James for the HMC/NLW Family and Estates project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Burke's Landed Gentry, (London, 1952); Veysey, A.G., ed., Guide to the Flintshire Record Office, (Flintshire County Council, 1974).

Hard copies of the catalogue are available at Flintshire Record Office, the National Library of Wales and the National Register of Archives.

Compiled by Mair James for the HMC/NLW Family and Estates project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Burke's Landed Gentry, (London, 1952); Veysey, A.G., ed., Guide to the Flintshire Record Office, (Flintshire County Council, 1974). Input by Estelle Roberts.

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All records deposited at Flintshire Record Office have been retained

Accruals are not expected

Further papers relating to Trevalyn Hall are Flintshire Record Office, D/PT, D/G and D/BC.