Further Porth-yr-Aur Papers

This material is held atArchifdy Prifysgol Bangor / Bangor University Archives

  • Reference
    • GB 222 BMSS/3881-3896
  • Dates of Creation
    • n.d.

Scope and Content

very much of a mixture. Several are concerned with the affairs of Henry Hughes, M.A., rector of Llangefni, 1784-1819, and of Llanfaethlu, 1819-1828. He was almost certainly a nephew of the David Hughes who was Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, from 1727 to 1777 (see 3881); his will, drawn up in 1824 (3894), proves him to be a man of wealth and property, with an inordinate number of nephews and nieces ready to inherit them; he was a very stout Anglican, for the same will laid it down that no "sectarian chapel" was to be built on his lands; he was given to what he calls "rural observations" (3892), especially noting the first arrival of swallows in the Llangefni district for a series of years. But he had some deep-rooted prejudices - he very bitterly complains (3893) of the attitude of the younger Henry Rowlands of Plas Gwyn towards him, great-grandson of the author Mona Antiqua, though for a time he (Rowlands) had been a pupil of his; and we have seen what a sharp letter he received from Bishop Majendie in 1825 (3808). The Bishop has a sharp letter in this group also (3890), not to the rector, but to attorney Evans (cp. 3807). So also has the irascible and irrepressible Jeffrey Holland of Dolbenmaen (3884-3885, and cp. 3742).

Moving from the world of clerics, we come to 3882, where the High Sheriff for 1781 tells his successor of the Caernarvonshire cases that still remain unsettled; to 3886, which states the resolutions drawn up at Caernarvon on 5 May, 1806, for the further regulation of the dues payable at the Harbour of Porth Dinllaen; to 3887, describing the reactions of the Enclosure Acts in the Clynnog district - it is a letter of indignant protest to the gentlemen and freeholders who proposed to meet on August 31 1812, to carry inclosure still further (the letter is not signed, but on the dorse in pencil are the words, "delivered by Thomas Lot, who received it from Thomas Jones of Bwlch Derwin, tailor"). 3896 is a pedigree illustrative of the later ramifications of the Goodman family of Ruthin, and of the descent of certain "claimants". Much more interesting is 3891, in which John Evans the Porth yr Aur attorney gives some details about his family not included in Mr. Parry's Catalogue, p.3. His grandfather was David Griffith of Gelli Ffrydan (or Ffrydiau) in the Upper Nantlle Valley, his father Evan David of Talymignedd Ucha'; John Evans was brother to David Evans of Nantlle, who was quite prominent in developing quarries in the first decade of the 19th century. He had cousins in London who had fallen upon bad times : J.E. drafted a pedigree to show who they were, but there is no overt proof that he went any further than that, though this document contains an exact address to which help could be sent.

Other Finding Aids

Another catalogue description can be found here https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb222-bmsspaad

Related Material

Bangor MSS. 1110, 3654-3868