Caerynwch Estate Collection

Deeds of the Caerynwch estate, Brithdir, Merionethshire, 1614, 1655-1920; estate papers, 1592-1912, including maps and plans, 1797-1901, personal and estate accounts, 1721-1907, rentals, 1794-1889, estate correspondence, 1863-1912; and family papers, 1721-1893, including marriage settlements, wills, and correspondence, including letters relating to Richard Richards's period as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. The archive also includes correspondence relating to the Rev. Charles Tooth's estate, including a house at No. 18 Via Maggio, Florence, 1894-1896.

Caerynwch mansion was built on the Plas Hen estate, Brithdir, Merionethshire, by Sir Richard Richards (1752-1823), Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, son of Thomas Richards of Coed, Merionethshire. He had acquired Plas Hen following his marriage in 1785 to Catherine Humphreys, only child of Robert Vaughan Humphreys of Plas Hen. After the mansion was built, the estate came to be called Caerynwch instead of Plas Hen. Sir Richard was succeeded by his son Richard Richards (1787-1860), who became a Master in Chancery and MP for Merionethshire, 1836-1852. He married, in 1814, Harriet (d 1852), daughter and co-heiress of Jonathan Dennett of Lincolns Inn Fields. Richard Richards was in turn succeeded by his son, Richard Meredydd Richards (1821-1873) who, in 1863, married as his second wife Louisa Jannette Anne Edwards, only daughter and heiress of Edward Lloyd Edwards of Cerrigllwydion, Denbighshire, and of the Dolserau estate near Dolgellau. Richard Meredydd Richards's eldest son, Richard Edward Lloyd Richards (1865-1905), died without issue so that the estate passed to his brother Henry Meredydd Richards (1870-1942), who was succeeded by his son, Richard Meredyth Richards (b. 1920, alive 1969).

Arranged chronologically

No restrictions

Compiled by Mair James/Stephen Benham for the HMC/NLW Family and Estates project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this record: Griffith, John Edwards, Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire families (Wrexham, 1998 reprint); Condry, William, Wildflower safari: the life of Mary Richards (Llandysul, 1998).

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

Usual copyright regulations apply.

All records deposited at the Meirionnydd Archives have been retained

Accruals are not expected

Further papers relating to the Caerynwch estate are National Library of Wales, Caerynwch Estate Records, and National Library of Wales MS 21795A.