PLAS TEG ESTATE PAPERS

Deeds, 1291-1812, for lands mainly in Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Buckinghamshire; estate papers, [14th cent.], 1528-1879, including surveys and valuations, 1572-1825, rentals and some accounts for the Trevalyn and Plas Teg estates, 1609, 1666-1667, 1797-1830, correspondence, [late 16th cent.]-1815, correspondence, papers and accounts for an estate in Oldswick, Buckinghamshire, [14th cent.], 1597-1648, including accounts for quartering Parliamentary troops and taxes paid to garrisons at Aylesbury and Oxford, 1643-1647; and family papers, 1619-1866, including marriage settlements of Trevor family, 1542-1722, wills, 1593-1808, financial papers, 1520-1808, and legal papers, 1378-1854. The archive also includes the papers of Sir Thomas Fludyer's estates in Leigh, Kent, and Covent Garden, London, 1680-1772; correspondence, accounts and papers of C. B. Trevor-Roper (including letters from W. E. Gladstone) relating to Oak Farm Company collieries and ironworks, Staffordshire, 1844-1849; and a survey of the possessions of the late monastery of Strata Marcella, [mid-16th c.].

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 1950s 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: deeds; estate records; plans; family papers; ecclesiastical; legal records; business papers; office records; charities; and miscellaneous.

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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: Veysey, A.G., ed., Guide to the Flintshire Record Office (Flintshire County Council, 1974); Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940 (London, 1959); Smith, Peter, 'Plas Teg', Flintshire Historical Society Publications, vol. 18 (1960); Flintshire Record Office, Schedule of Plas Teg MSS.

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: Veysey, A.G., ed., Guide to the Flintshire Record Office (Flintshire County Council, 1974); Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940 (London, 1959); Smith, Peter, 'Plas Teg', Flintshire Historical Society Publications, vol.18 (1960); Flintshire Record Office, Schedule of Plas Teg MSS.

Input on CALM by Sue Davison.

Usual copyright regulations apply.

Usual copyright regulations apply.

All records deposited at Flintshire Record Office have been retained

Accruals are not expected

Further papers relating to Plas Teg are Flintshire Record Office, D/G,D/BC and D/TR; and papers relating to the Trevor family are East Sussex Record Office, GLY.