Davies-Evans Collection

Family and estate papers of the Davies-Evans family of Highmead including rentals, mainly of the Dolgadfan estate, Montgomeryshire, 1760-1907, deeds, 1654-1897, accounts, 1824-1908, legal papers, 1805-1905, correspondence, 1813-1907, maps, plans and photographs, [19 century]; wills, all relating to the Highmead estate in Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire, 1786-1903; and genealogical papers, 1819-1886.

Highmead mansion was built in 1777 by Herbert Evans (c. 1744-1787) on the estate of his mother Elizabeth Lloyd, the last of the Llanfechan branch of the Lloyds of Castell Howell. Her father, David Lloyd, left Llanfechan and settled at Cardigan, but Elizabeth had several farms, on one of which Highmead was built, in Llanwenog. Herbert Evans was succeeded by his sons John who died without issue in 1799 and by another Herbert who also died without issue in 1848. The estate passed eventually to Mary Anne Evans, the daughter of Watkin Evans (d. 1816), a younger brother of John and Herbert, who had married Elizabeth Griffiths, the heiress of Dolgadfan, Montgomeryshire. She married Delme Seymour Davies (d. 1869), the son of William Griffith Davies (1762-1814) of Penylan in Llanfynydd, Carmarthenshire. Herbert Davies (b. 1842), their son, assumed the surname Davies-Evans in 1884 in order to succeed to the estates of his great-uncle Herbert Evans (dsp 1848) of Highmead. Major Herbert Davies-Evans (1842-1928) was a descendent of the Davies family of Penylan who appear to have owned the Penylan estate since the 1640s at least. Penylan was sold by Delme Seymour Davies (1807-69) to David Jones of Pantglas, but Major Herbert Davies-Evans's second son, Delme William Campbell Davies-Evans (1873-1953) bought back Penylan when the Pantglas estate was sold. According to the 1873 return of owners of land the Highmead estate measured 6,307 acres in Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire and carried an annual rental of £3915. In 1956 Highmead became a school for the disabled but closed down sometime after 1975.

Arranged into the following: accounts; deeds; diaries; genealogy; legal papers; correspondence; maps, plans, and photographs; rentals; wills; and miscellaneous documents.

No restrictions

Deposited by Messrs R. Wilson & Co., Solicitors, High Street, Pangbourne, Berkshire, April 1964.

Compiled by Mair James for the HMC/NLW Family and Estates project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Burke's Landed Gentry, (London, 3 vols, 1965-1972), vol III; James, Brian, 'The Great Landowners of Wales in 1873', National Library of Wales Journal, XIV (1965-6); Jones, Francis, Historic Cardiganshire Homes and their families, (Newport, 2000); Jones, Francis, Historic Carmarthenshire Homes and their families, (Newport, 1997)

Hard copies of the catalogue are available at Carmarthenshire Archive Service and the National Register of Archives

Usual copyright regulations apply.

All records deposited at Carmarthenshire Archive Service have been retained

Accruals are not expected

Further papers relating to the Highmead estate are National Library of Wales, Highmead Estate Records. A draft item level description is available for part of this archive.