Henblas A Manuscripts

The outstanding items in the collection are the two diaries written by William Bulkeley (1691-1761) of Brynddu, Llanfechell, and covering the years 1734-1743 and 1747-1760 respectively. Another volume of diaries, extending from 1743 to 1747 was obviously at one time in existence, but was lost or misplaced before the collection reached the Library. Other items from this collection are six manuscript volumes associated with Mrs Elizabeth Morgan, wife of Henry Morgan of Henblas, and consisting of household accounts, 1732-1775; inventories of pewter and linen, etc., 1734; and of store-rooms, 1734; a record of gardening operations, 1754-1772; and cookery and medical recipes. The collection also includes the original manuscript of Henry Rowlands's Mona Antiqua Restaurata (1723) and a book of recipes and medicines from the early eighteenth century belonging to Rowlands's sister, Amy Rowlands; a book of pedigrees of Gwynedd families formerly belonging to Humphrey Humphreys, Bishop of Bangor (1689-1701); a seventeenth-century manuscript volume containing, for the most part, arguments in Latin bearing on the questions set for the Oxford Acts, etc.; and a group of four manuscripts written by Chancellor Edward Wynn of Bodewryd consisting mainly of notes and sermons.

It was necessary to adopt the Henblas A designation to distinguish these manuscripts from the bulk of the estate papers that were deposited in the Library in 1944, namely Henblas B.

The Evans family of Henblas, co. Anglesey appears to be descended, not from Henry Morgan (d.1780), but from his sister, Margaret who married William Evans of Llethrddu, near Llanaelhaearn in 1725. The old Lloyd family and the Morgans who succeeded them had secured control of a good proportion of the parish of Llangristiolus along with unimportant outliers in other parishes. However, with the marriage in 1725 of Margaret and William Evans, new life and personality was brought to the family fortunes.

There were numerous acquisitions of land under William Evans, although not large in area, and it is noteworthy that there was but one substantial acquisition following his death - the Bontnewydd lands in Caernarfonshire. The son Charles was lucky in marrying an heiress but her estate was small and heavily incumbered. In turn, his son Hugh, who came to the estate after the successive deaths of two unmarried brothers, saddled the estate with an incubus which it found impossible to shake off.

The eventual solution was to refer the impossible situation to the Court of Chancery, which could only lead to the inevitable decree that a sufficient part of the estate be sold to liquidate the mortgagors and to carry out the provisions in the will of Hugh's son, Charles Henry Evans. Charles Henry Evans left a widow, Henrietta Evans, to cope with a world of difficulties, in poor health, jealously guarding the interests of her young son Warren, though surrounded by an array of surveyors, valuers, auctioneers, and Masters in Chancery.

Open

Originally placed on temporary loan in the Library by Mrs Warren Evans of Henblas, Llangristiolus, Anglesey, and Lady Hugh Vincent of Bronwydd, Bangor, and later purchased from the trustees of the Henblas estate.

Usual copyright conditions apply

The main portion of the manuscripts probably found its way to Henblas in the days of Henry Morgan (d.1780) and his wife Elizabeth. The presence of some manuscripts can be explained by the family connection between Henry Morgan and Bishop Robert Morgan and Chancellor Wynn of Bodewryd. It is practically certain that the original of Rowland's Mona Antiqua Restaurata (ms 6) and the recipes of his sister Amy (ms 5) were preserved at Llanidan when his grandson, another Henry Rowlands, was vicar there - the latter's marriage to Dulcibella, niece to Henry Morgan of Henblas, and sister to Charles Evans of Trefeilir, who inherited Henblas through his mother Margaret, probably explains the changed home of the two Llanidan manuscripts. They could also have been moved to Henblas when the third Henry Rowlands of Llanidan bequeathed his estate in 1842 to Charles Henry Evans of Henblas. It is unclear how the two diaries of William Bulkeley became part of the collection.

Henblas B Manuscripts