MOSTYN MSS

Deeds for lands in Wales and England, but mainly in Flintshire, 1489-1952, Caernarfonshire, 1464-1953 (mainly relating to Llandudno), Denbighshire, 1522-1938, Merionethshire, 1596-1931 (including the Corsygedol estate), Montgomeryshire, 1572-1890, Radnorshire, 1598-1805, and Cheshire, 1564-1939, mainly relating to the Beeston estate and Parkgate colliery; papers relating to Llandudno, Pengwern, Bodfach, Berthlwyd, Pant-glas, Beeston and Parkgate, Cheshire estates as well as to the Mostyn estate, including rentals, 1612-1940, surveys, 1732-1954, valuations, 1677-1911, lease registers, 1829-1937, accounts and vouchers, 1373-1931, sale particulars, 1781-1946, enclosure papers, 1800-1843, maps and plans, 1740-1986, including Mostyn Quay and Docks, 1878-1933, deposited railway plans for Whitford, and neighbouring parishes, 1837-1898, and Llandudno plans, 1840-1986; records relating to minerals including coal mining, 1674-1948, lead and iron mining, 1766-1941, and quarries, 1885-1948, and general papers relating to royalty accounts, 1856-1873, and reports, 1855-1863. The archive also includes Mostyn family papers including correspondence, c.1613-c.1936; marriage settlements, 1533-1885; wills and testamentary papers, 1546-1943; inventories and executors' papers, 1609-1770; and diaries, 1789-1792, 1795.

The Mostyn family came originally from Pengwern, near Llangollen, Denbighshire. In the late 14th century the family gained Trecastell, Anglesey, when Ieuan ap Adda ab Iorwerth Ddu married Angharad, daughter and co-heiress of Ednyfed ap Tudur ap Goronwy. The family acquired lands at Mostyn, Flintshire, in the early 15th century through the marriage of Ieuan Fychan (d. c. 1457) to Angharad, daughter and heiress of Hywel, son of Tudur ap Ithel Fychan of Mostyn. Hywel and his descendants, for the most part, held the lordship of Mostyn by lease until Sir Roger Mostyn secured possession of it in perpetuity in 1631. Thomas ap Richard (d.1558), grandson of Hywel was the first member of the family to assume the surname Mostyn. The Mostyn family also acquired the estates of Gloddaeth, near Llandudno and Tregarnedd, Anglesey, the inheritance of Margaret daughter of Gruffydd ap Rhys ap Gruffydd who married Hywel ap Ieuan Fychan of Mostyn. It was not until Margaret's death in 1532 that these estates came into the possession of the Mostyns. The family also acquired the Beeston estate, Cheshire, following the marriage of Sir Thomas Mostyn (1651-1700?) to Bridget, daughter of D'Arcy Savage of Leighton, Cheshire, and the Bodysgallen and Pantglas estates in Caernarfonshire, and the Corsygedol estate in Merionethshire, following the marriage of Margaret Wynn, daughter and heiress of Dr Hugh Wynn of Bodysgallen and Berth Ddu, to Sir Roger Mostyn, 5th baronet (1734-96) in 1766. On the death of Sir Roger the estate passed to his son, Sir Thomas Mostyn (1776-1831), 6th baronet, who died unmarried. The baronetcy became extinct and the estate was left by Sir Thomas Mostyn to his brother-in-law, Sir Edward Pryce Lloyd (1768-1854) of Pengwern, Flintshire, who had married Elizabeth Mostyn in 1794. Sir Edward was created Baron Mostyn in 1831. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Lloyd (1795-1884), 2nd baron, who assumed the additional surname of Mostyn in 1831. The foundations of the development of Llandudno town were laid out in 1849 by the Mostyn family, who leased most of the plots for development and influenced the building designs and uses of land. Llywelyn Nevill Vaughan Lloyd-Mostyn (1856-1929) succeeded his grandfather, Edward Lloyd, 2nd baron, as 3rd Baron Mostyn. His heir was his second son, Sir Edward Llewelyn Roger Lloyd-Mostyn (1885-1965), 4th baron, who was succeeded by his eldest son, Roger Edward Lloyd Lloyd-Mostyn (b. 1920, fl. 1977), 5th baron. According to the 1873 return of owners of land the Mostyn estate measured an estimated 8,390 acres in Flintshire, Caernarfonshire and Denbighshire with an estimated annual rental of £15,312.

Arranged chronologically into: deeds (listed in vol. I); deeds; estate records; financial and general; correspondence; manorial; plans; ecclesiastical; office; family papers; private Acts of Parliament; legal records; and miscellaneous (listed in vol. II); deeds; financial records; office; legal records; diaries; and miscellaneous (also listed in vol. II); Maps and plans (listed in vol. III); Miscellaneous; plans; Mostyn Quay and docks railway plans; Llandudno plans; Flintshire - deeds, minerals, estate papers, and miscellaneous; Denbighshire - deeds and estate papers; other Welsh counties (excl. Caernarfonshire); English counties; and family papers (listed in vol. IV); deeds (mainly Llandudno); estate records Caernarfonshire (listed in vol. V); and Additional - miscellaneous deeds, estate papers, correspondence, family papers, office papers and legal papers.

Data Protection Act restrictions will apply to any items less than 100 years old that contain personal information as defined by the Act.

Please order documents using the alternative reference number (where provided).

Compiled by Mair James for the HMC/NLW Family and Estates project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Flintshire Record Office, Mostyn MSS Catalogues; Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940 (London, 1959); Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (London, 1959); James, Brian, 'The Great Landowners of Wales in 1873', National Library of Wales Journal, XIV (1965-6); Veysey, A.G., ed., Guide to the Flintshire Record Office (Flintshire County Record Office, 1974); and Dr. A. D. Carr, The Mostyns of Mostyn, Flintshire Historical Society Journal, Vols. 28 and 30.

Hard copies of the catalogue are available at Flintshire Record Office, 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: Flintshire Record Office, Mostyn MSS Catalogues; Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940 (London, 1959); Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (London, 1959); James, Brian, 'The Great Landowners of Wales in 1873', National Library of Wales Journal, XIV (1965-6); Veysey, A.G., ed., Guide to the Flintshire Record Office (Flintshire County Record Office, 1974); and Dr. A. D. Carr, The Mostyns of Mostyn, Flintshire Historical Society Journal, Vols. 28 and 30.

Item level descriptions input by James Wasiuk, Frances Jones, Anne Davies, Estelle Roberts, David Samuel, Jean Parry and Beryl Hickman.

Usual copyright regulations apply.

Usual copyright regulations apply.

Items 6503, 6509 and 6535 have been permanently withdrawn.

Accruals are not expected

Further Mostyn estate papers, together with literary manuscripts, are University of Wales Bangor, (Bangor) Mostyn Manuscripts, University of Wales Bangor Library, Lloyd-Mostyn MSS, and National Library of Wales (NLW) MS 4965E. The greater part of the literary manuscript collection from the Mostyn Hall library, including the Welsh portion, is National Library of Wales (NLW) MSS 3020-3076, 16966, 21238-21254 (described in NLW, Handlist of Manuscripts, and in J. Gwenogvryn Evans, Report on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language, I, i, [Historical Manuscripts Commission] 1898).