Maesyneuadd deeds and documents

A collection of 402 items comprising title deeds, documents and papers relating to the Wynn/Wynne and Nanney families of Maesyneuadd and Maesypandy, co. Merioneth. They are grouped as follows; family papers, including marriage settlements (and allied documents), wills and probates of wills, including those of Samuel Poole of Argoed (1664/5), the Rev. John Ellis of Dolgellau (1665), John Anwyl of Llanfendigaid (1658/9), John Nanney of Maesypandy (1721), Jane Brynkir of Brynkir, co. Caernarfon (1760), John Nanney of Maesypandy (1764), William Nanney of Maesyneuadd (1796), the Rev. John Nanney of Belmont, co. Denbigh (1838), the Rev. Edmund Williams of Pentre Mawr, Llandyrnog (1855), 1585-1863; letters from Robert Wynne (d.1803) from India to his father, William Wynn of Maesyneuadd and his brother (Sir) William Wynne, 1789-95; letters addressed to the Rev. John Nanney of Maesyneuadd and Belmont, co. Denbigh, 1795-1838; letters addressed to Captain (afterwards Sir) William Wynn, 1803-37; papers in a series of Chancery suits between John Nanney, son and heir of the Rev. John Nanney plaintiff, and Sir William Wynn, Simon Hart Wynn and others, defendants, concerning the title to the Maesyneuadd estate, 1838-59; title deeds and allied documents relating to properties in Corwen, Dolgellau, Harlech, Llanaber (Bodwilim, etc.), Llanbedr, Llanfair, Llandanwg (Llechwedd Ddu, etc.), Llandecwyn, Llanfihangel-y-traethau (Moel-y-glo, etc.), Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, Llangelynnin, Peniarth and Tal-y-llyn, co. Merioneth, 1470-1832; Bangor, Llanrug, Maenan, Pennant and Penyfed, co. Caernarfon; Betws, Eglwysfach, Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, co. Denbigh; and Cilcain, Halkyn and Ysgeifiog, co. Flint, 1621-1863; rentals and valuations of the Maesyneuadd and Maesypandy estates, 1851-83, and a survey of the Maesyneuadd estate, 1790; miscellanea, including papers relating to the free school of Llanegryn, 1717-99 and a copy of the tithe apportionment for the parish of Tal-y-llyn, 1845.

The Wynn/Wynne and Nanney families of Maesyneuadd and Maesypandy, Merionethshire can trace their descent from Osbwrn Wyddel, down through Dafydd ap Ieuan ab Einion, constable of Harlech Castle during the Wars of the Roses, to his grandson David ap Thomas ap David ap Ieuan, by which time the foundations of a landed estate had already been laid. Humphrey ap Dafydd, described as a 'gent' in 1569 married Annes, daughter of Ellis ap Maurice of Clenennau. Together they had a son, Edward ap Humphrey, who by his first wife also had a son, Robert ap Edward ap Humphrey who was to be the last of the male line of the original Maesyneuadd family. Robert ab Edward ap Humphrey married Elliw, daughter and heiress of Ifan ap Rhys Wynn, Hendre'r Mur, Maentwrog, and by her had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret. The former married Robert, son of Archdeacon Edmund Prys, the latter, who was the heiress of Maesyneuadd, married Griffith Lloyd, of Rhiwgoch, Merioneth. She in turn became the mother of another Maesyneuadd heiress, Jane Lloyd.

It is by the marriage of Jane Lloyd to Morris Wynn ap William Wynn (d.1673) of Glyn, Cywarch, Merioneth, that the surname Wynn comes into the Maesyneuadd family and persists for several generations. By his wife, Jane Lloyd, Morris Wynn had a son, Robert Wynn (d.1691), who married Jane Evans of Tan-y-Bwlch, Maentwrog. Their daughter, Lowry, interestingly, became the first wife of Ellis Wynne of Lasynys, renowned as the author of the Welsh prose classic, Gweledigaethau'r Bardd Cwsc . William Wynn (?d.1720), son of Robert and Jane, was the Sheriff of Merioneth in 1714. He married twice, firstly a Margaret, daughter of Ellis Brynkir, the mother of his heir, Robert Wynn; and secondly Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Roger Lloyd, Rhagad, near Corwen. By his second wife he had another son, William Wynn, Rector of Llangynhafal, Denbighshire, and an eminent poet.

Robert Wynn, the son of William Wynn and Margaret (Brynkir) was Sheriff of Merioneth in 1734 and it was his son, another William Wynn (d.4 April 1795), who assumed the name Nanney after his mother Lowry Nanney, daughter of John Nanney (III) of Maesypandy. In his will, John Nanney (IV), had included a proviso that all male successors to the property should assume the name Nanney, and accordingly, William Wynn became William Nanney. William Nanney's heir, by Elizabeth, daughter of John Williams, Ty Fry, Pentraeth, Anglesey, was the Rev John Nanney (d.1868), of Maesyneuadd and Maesypandy. After the death of Rev. Nanney, the estate appears to have gone through a period of instability. However, the Maesyneuadd line continued with Robert Chambre Vaughan (1796-1876), son of this John Nanney's sister, Lowry Vaughan (d.1803), and her husband Thomas Vaughan (d.1804), of Burlton Hall, Shropshire. His grandson, Thomas Goldisborough Chambre Vaughan, succeeded Robert Chambre Vaughan.

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Deposited in April 1949, by Mr J. Rigby of Pentre Mawr, Llandyrnog, co. Denbigh. He inherited the papers from his aunt, Lucy Victoria, daughter of the Rev. Edmund Williams of Pentre Mawr, who married in 1859, John Nanney of Maesyneuadd and Maesypandy.