Cefn Park Manuscripts

Scope and Content

The lands associated with the Cefn Park estate in the mid-nineteenth century were extensive. The estate extended to Ireland and the Home Counties, as well as to Denbighshire, Flintshire and Montgomeryshire. The Cefn Park estate was purchased from the Kenyon family by the Rev. Nathaniel Roberts. In 1820 he married Frances Matthews, heiress of the Plas Bostock estate in Holt and of the Wrexham Fechan estate, Denbighshire. The Plas Bostock estate had been purchased in 1751 by George Matthews of Worthenbury from Jonathon Ffabian, a Coventry weaver. Jonathon's father had married Mary Poynton, heiress of Plas Bostock. The Wrexham Fechan estate came into the Matthews family on the marriage of Frances's father, John, to Mary Jones, daughter of William Jones. William Jones (b. 1724) was the son of the Rev. William Jones, curate of Erbistock, and Ann Lloyd, sister of Edward Lloyd of Llwyn y maen, Oswestry. William Jones of Wrexham Fechan's sister, Sarah, married David Price of Eyarth in Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, and as their daughter died without issue the Eyarth estate also passed to the descendants of Mary Jones and John Matthews. In 1877 Eyarth, then vested in Sir Roger Palmer, was sold by auction. Nathaniel Roberts also inherited extensive estates in Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire as a result of the two marriages of his father, the Rev. William Roberts who firstly married Margaret Owen of Plas Nantymeichiad, Meifod, Montgomeryshire, and secondly, Susannah Maurice of Henfachau, Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Denbighshire. Nathaniel and Frances died without issue and the estates passed to the survivor of the remaining three Matthews sisters, Eleanora, who in 1828 had married Sir William Henry Roger Palmer of Castle Lacklin, County Mayo, and Kenure Park, County Dublin. Their only son, Sir Roger William Henry Palmer, had no direct descendant and his estates passed to the family of his sister Mary Ellen, who had married Archibald Peel in 1857. One of her daughters, Ellen, married firstly, Henry Graham, and secondly, Lord Askwith. Her other daughter, Mary, married George Capel Ralph Curzon Fenwick and lived at Plas Fron near Bangor on Dee. After Sir Roger Palmer's death in 1913 Roderick George Fenwick took the additional surname of Palmer and lived at Cefn Park until his death in 1968. The estate subsequently reverted to a member of the Graham family, Roger Henry William, who took on the additional surname of Palmer.

Scope and content: Papers of the Cefn Park and related estates, including deeds, 1568, 1580, 1677-1969, mainly for lands in Denbighshire and Shropshire; Cefn Park estate papers, 1711-1951, including accounts and rentals, financial records, 1901-1947, legal papers, 1755-1947, and family papers, 1674-1967; papers of the Henfachau, Trefedryd and Nantymeichiad estates, including deeds, 1596-1827, for lands in Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire; estate papers, 1606-1828; legal papers, 1687-1792; and family papers, 1603-1799; Plas Bostock estate papers, including deeds for lands in the Wrexham area, 1659-1827; legal papers, 1658-1828; and family papers, 1648-1828; Eyarth estate records, including deeds, 1612-1831, for lands in Denbighshire and Flintshire; legal papers, 1708-[c. 1768]; and family papers, 1652-1802; and Wrexham Fechan estate papers, including deeds for Wrexham, 1703-1790, and legal papers, 1728-1794. There are also papers of the Roberts family including deeds, 1757-1791, correspondence, 1791-1836, and legal papers, 1828-1834.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically into: Cefn Park MSS comprising records of the following: Cefn park and miscellaneous estates, Henfachau, Trefedryd and Nantymeichiad estates, Plas Bostock estate, Eyarth estate, Wrexham Fechan estate.

Access Information

This collection is open for research. It is advisable to book in advance, for details and opening hours see http://archives.denbighshire.gov.uk/visit-us/. Access to some documents may be restricted due to Data Protection legislation, Denbighshire Archive Service will advise where this is the case.