The following source was used in the compilation of this description: Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Vol. 9 (Aberystwyth, 2003)
Title based on name of residence of former owners.
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Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, better-known as the 'Ladies of Llangollen', were both members of Irish aristocratic families. Having quickly established a relationship following their meeting in 1768, the women escaped the scandalised animosity of their home circle by setting up home at Plasnewydd, a Gothic-style house situated near Llangollen, Denbighshire. For the next fifty years, they lived a secluded and often penurious existence, while nevertheless receiving such notable visitors as the landowner, traveller and writer Anne Lister and the poets Robert Southey, William Wordsworth and Percy Shelley. Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby are both buried in the grounds of St Collen's Church, Llangollen, while Plasnewydd is now a museum dedicated to their lives.
Published
Papers, 1774-1947, of Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, popularly known as the 'Ladies of Llangollen', comprising diaries and correspondence, together with related papers.
Arranged according to NLW MSS reference numbers: NLW MSS 22967-22996.
Hamilton family (per A. R. Heath, Bristol); Hamwood, Dunboyne, co. Meath; Purchase; 1990.
Description compiled by Bethan Ifan.
Published in microform (see Ladies of Llangollen ... A Listing and Guide to the Microfilm Collection (Adam Matthew Publications, 1997)): copies are available at NLW (see NLW Films 999-1003).
For press cuttings and pamphlets acquired with the papers see NLW ex 1364.
Usual copyright laws apply.
Eva Mary Bell, The Hamwood Papers (London, 1930)
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal of Sarah Ponsonby, 10 May-25 June 1778, entitled 'Account of a Journey in Wales perform'd in May 1778 by Two Fugitive Ladies', recounting the arrival of herself and Lady Eleanor Butler in Pembrokeshire and their subsequent travels in Wales and Shropshire, including first impressions of Llangollen (f. 11) and a watercolour view of Benton Castle signed by the Ladies (f. 1 verso).
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 999).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Diary of Lady Eleanor Butler for 1784, including comments on the weather, visitors, letters received and books acquired and read.
'Bought of Eddowes, Salop. December 1783' (f. 1).
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 999).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Commonplace book of Sarah Ponsonby, 1785-1789, including gardening notes; verse in French, Italian and English; sketches and designs; ground floor plan of Plasnewydd (f. 41); expenses of building the dairy (ff. 2-3); and miscellaneous notes.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 999).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume, [c. 1785], containing notes on geometry in the hand of Sarah Ponsonby.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 999).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal of Lady Eleanor Butler, January 1788-January 1791, chiefly recording details of the weather, visitors, books read, correspondence and local events.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1000).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal of Lady Eleanor Butler, 1 January-6 April 1791.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal of Lady Eleanor Butler, 17 May-12 July 1799, including a list of visitors to Plasnewydd.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal of Lady Eleanor Butler, 1 January-27 March 1802, including a list of visitors to Plasnewydd, medical recipes and a book-list.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal of Lady Eleanor Butler, 4 August-31 December 1807.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal of Lady Eleanor Butler, 1 January-31 December 1821, including newspaper cuttings and medical recipes.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Hester Lynch Piozzi (1741-1821) inherited the Bachegraig estate of the Salusbury family on the death of her mother, Hester Maria, in 1773. The estate comprised a wood, a few farms, a dilapidated church and a few cottages, along with Bachegraig House. Hester and her husband, Gabriele Piozzi (d. 1809) built a new house on the estate called Brynbella, taking up residence in 1795. Bachegraig was the earliest example of a brick house in Wales, erected by Sir Richard Clough in 1567 at the foot of Tremeirchion Hill.
Hester was the daughter of John Salusbury (1710-1762) of Bachegraig, Governor of Nova Scotia and Hester Maria (d. 1773), a descendant of the Salusbury family of Lleweni. Hester married firstly, Henry Thrale (d. 1781), a London brewer. In 1784, she married secondly, Gabriele Piozzi, an Italian music master. In January 1798 Hester and Gabriele adopted the five year old son of Gabriele's brother, Giovanne Battiste. The boy became known as John Piozzi (d. 1858). Hester was part of a literary circle, and was a friend and correspondent of Dr Samuel Johnson.
The Brynbella estate passed to John on his marriage to Harriet Maria Pemberton of Condover Hall, Shropshire. Hester thereafter resided at Bath. Sir John was knighted in 1817 and became known as Sir John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury.
Published
Eight letters, 1778, to Mrs Elinor Goddard (née Shuldham) relating to the flight to Wales of Sarah Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler, together with thirty-two letters, 1781-1831, to the Ladies of Llangollen, arranged alphabetically by correspondent. The correspondents include Edmund Burke (1), 1790; Hester Lynch Piozzi (2), 1800-1801; Arthur Wellesley, first duke of Wellington (2), 1820-1829; and William Wilberforce (1), 1823.
Also included are autograph published verses by Thomas Campbell ('Stanzas to Painting', ff. 28-29) and William Wordsworth ('A stream, to mingle with your perfect Dee ...' and 'Look at the fate of summer flowers ...', ff. 95-96), all differing slightly from the published versions; a transcript of a sonnet by John Bligh, earl of Darnley (f. 19); and verse, in French, attributed to Anna Seward (f. 68).
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Transcripts, [1872x1880], in an unidentified hand (see also NLW MSS 22994B, 22996B) of twelve letters, April-November 1798, to Sarah Ponsonby from her second cousin Sarah Tighe (née Fownes) in Ireland, containing news of the progress of the Wexford Rebellion.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Transcripts, [18/19 cent.], in the hand of Sarah Ponsonby, of an incomplete and apparently unpublished verse drama entitled 'Love's Frenzy, or the Garlands of the Faun', and of poems, bearing dates of composition between 1777 and 1779, some of them by the same anonymous author; illustrated with monochrome watercolour drawings, also probably by Sarah Ponsonby.
At least one leaf missing after f. 41, part of ff. 37, 58 cut away.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A catalogue, 1792, probably in the hand of Sarah Ponsonby, of books at Plasnewydd belonging to her and to Lady Eleanor Butler, comprising both a subject classification (ff. 3-92) and location list (ff. 93-131).
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1001).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume containing transcripts, [c. 1804-1805], probably by Lady Eleanor Butler, of two letters, 1801-1802, from a traveller recounting his experiences in Jerusalem (cf. NLW MS 22982C) and Paris, including a meeting with Napoleon Buonaparte.
Four leaves cut away before f. 1.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1002).
See also NLW MS 22982C.
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume containing transcripts, [c. 1805-1806], probably by Sarah Ponsonby, of letters, 1800-1804, from a traveller recounting his experiences in Jerusalem (cf. NLW MS 22981B), Moscow, India and Cairo.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1002).
See also NLW MS 22981B.
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume, 1800-1835, containing poems and quotations in English, French, German and Italian, and drawings in pencil, ink and watercolour, all in various hands, compiled for Camilla Blachford, apparently sister-in-law of the poet Mary Tighe, and distantly related to Sarah Ponsonby. The poetry includes autograph poems by Mary Tighe ('A faithful friend is the medicine of life', f. 2 recto-verso) and Thomas Moore ('Love's Album, to Mrs Blachford', ff. 70-71 verso), both containing variants to the published versions.
Many leaves cut away.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1002).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume, 1803-1859, containing verse and prose in English, French and Italian, mainly dedicated to Caroline Hamilton (née Tighe, d. 1861) of Hamwood, in various hands including those of members of the families of Hamilton, Tighe and Fitzgerald, as well as transcripts and watercolour decorations by Sarah Ponsonby, among them being two views of Plasnewydd (ff. 35, 39). The poetry includes an autograph unfinished poem by Thomas Moore, differing from the published version ('Tell me the witching tale again ...', ff. 3-4), an autograph, apparently unpublished poem by Mary Tighe ('Though Genius and Fancy hereafter may trace ...', f. 7 recto-verso), and two autograph published poems by Mrs Felicia Hemans (ff. 48 verso-49).
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1002).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume copied, March 1804, for Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby by Mary Tighe containing a transcript of the latter's poem Psyche, published in 1805, and of verses written to her by Thomas Moore.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1002).
See NLW MS 22983B, ff. 70-71 verso for the incomplete autograph draft of Thomas Moore's verses.
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, better-known as the 'Ladies of Llangollen', were both members of Irish aristocratic families. Having quickly established a relationship following their meeting in 1768, the women escaped the scandalised animosity of their home circle by setting up home at Plasnewydd, a Gothic-style house situated near Llangollen, Denbighshire. For the next fifty years, they lived a secluded and often penurious existence, while nevertheless receiving such notable visitors as the landowner, traveller and writer Anne Lister and the poets Robert Southey, William Wordsworth and Percy Shelley. Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby are both buried in the grounds of St Collen's Church, Llangollen, while Plasnewydd is now a museum dedicated to their lives.
Published
Transcript, 1814, probably in the hand of Lady Eleanor Butler, of the fourth edition of a poem in French entitled 'Les On. Disparition de Buonaparte'.
Formerly in the fly-leaves of NLW MS 22985B.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1002).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Medical recipes compiled and transcribed, [1790s], by Sarah Ponsonby, acquired from friends of herself and Lady Eleanor Butler.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1002).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Notebook containing coats of arms of various English and Irish families probably drawn and coloured, [c. 1801], by Sarah Ponsonby.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume, [c. 1823], in an unidentified hand containing a tale in French entitled 'Histoire Tragique d'un Père de la Trappe'.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Vouchers, 1832-1833, for bills paid, following the death of Sarah Ponsonby in 1831, by Charles Hamilton (1772-1857) of Hamwood and his second son, William Tighe Hamilton (b. 1807), as her executors; together with brief notes, watermark, 1870, on the Ladies of Llangollen, and extracts from their diaries, in the hand of Charles William Hamilton (1802-1880), eldest son of Charles and Caroline Hamilton.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Letters, 1929-1947, mainly to Mrs Eva Mary Bell, relating chiefly to her book, The Hamwood Papers (London, 1930), with copy and draft letters from her, and miscellaneous family letters; together with a typescript synopsis of the book, a typescript radio script on the Ladies of Llangollen, and related notes.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume, [1920s], compiled by Mrs Eva Mary Bell in the preparation of her book, The Hamwood Papers (London, 1930), and containing notes, arranged alphabetically, on persons and families named in the diaries of Lady Eleanor Butler.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal, 1774-1778, of Elinor Goddard (née Shuldham, referred to as Lucy Goddard in Eva Mary Bell's The Hamwood Papers), recording mainly events of personal interest, including the attempts by Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby to escape from their homes in Ireland during April 1778 (ff. 56-60).
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume containing a transcript, [1872x1880], of NLW MS 22993A, in the same hand as NLW MSS 22978B and 22996B, with a few annotations in the hand of Charles William Hamilton (1802-1880).
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
See also NLW MSS 22978B, 22993A and 22996B.
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
Journal, 1782-1788, of Elinor Goddard (née Shuldham), recording mainly events of personal interest, including two visits by her to Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby at Llangollen in 1782 and 1787 (ff. 2 verso, 83 verso-84).
Folios 40-54 partly cut away, prior to the copying of NLW MS 22996B; leaves cut out after ff. 16, 52, 86.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Title based on contents.
Published
A volume containing a transcript, [1872x1880], of NLW MS 22995B, in the same unidentified hand as NLW MSS 22978B and 22994B, with a few annotations in the hand of Charles William Hamilton.
Available on microfilm at the Library (NLW Film 1003).
See also NLW MSS 22978B, 22994B and 22995B.
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.