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The Pye family were reputed to be descended from Viking mercenaries who came with William the Conqueror in 1066 and were rewarded with lands on the Welsh borders in Herefordshire around Kilpeck. The Mynde near Much Dewchurch in Herefordshire was the family seat in Tudor times.

Richard Symons of London purchased the Mynde estate, Herefordshire, in around 1740. His brother John owned the Clowerwall estate in Gloucestershire. Richard Symons's only surviving child was Anna-Sophia Symons, whose son, Richard Peers inherited the Mynde estate and assumed the surname of Symons. Richard was created a baronet in 1774, but died unmarried in 1796, when the title became extinct. The property devolved on his death upon Thomas Raymond, who on succeeding to the estate assumed the surname and arms of Symons. The estate then devolved in direct male line until Thomas-George Symons (b. 1818). On his death the estate was inherited by Henry Ambrose Clive, younger son of General Edward Henry Clive of Perrystone Court, Herefordshire.

Charles Morgan and John Morgan were guardians of Ann Jemima Butler (1760-1812) and Patty Butler (1760-1838), infant daughters and coheiresses of James Butler (c.1738-1775) and Martha his wife, née Dolben (c.1734-1776). James and Martha’s clandestine marriage in 1756 had resulted in a protracted legal case, only abandoned when James reached his majority. Ann Jemima and Patty married the brothers Roger Clough (1759-1833) and Richard Clough (1753-1784), the sons of Hugh Clough of Plas Clough (1709-1760). Roger sold the Sussex estate to buy Bathafarn in his own county (‘Clough of Plas Clough’, DWB): articles of agreement for the sale of Warminghurst estate from the Rev. Roger Clough and Ann Jemima, his wife, and Roger Butler Clough, their eldest son, to Charles, duke of Norfolk, for £70,000, 14 Jan 1805, with a mortgage of Warminghurst estate, 7 Aug. 1805, and final release, 24 Nov. 1806 (among Arundel MSS. D 2532-2574); articles of agreement for the purchase and sale of the mansion, park, and demesne called Bathafern Park with all its appurtenances from Lord William Beauclerk to Rev. Roger Clough, for the sum of £70,000, 16 Nov. 1805 (NLW, Bathafarn & Llanbedr 299 et seq.).

The Lloyds of Gwrych Castle can be traced back to David Lloyd of Plas yn Gwrych in 1608. In 1787 Frances Lloyd, daughter of the Rev. John Lloyd and co-heiress of Henry Wrych, married Robert Bamford-Hesketh of Bamford Hall and Upton, who was the son of Robert Hesketh, of Upton, Cheshire. Through marriage the family had acquired land in Cheshire and Lancashire. It was this Robert Hesketh of Upton who acquired the Bamford estates following his marriage to an heiress named Nicholson. He was succeeded by his heir, Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh (1788-1861), who married Lady Emily Esther Ann Lygon, youngest daughter of the 1st Earl of Beauchamp in 1825. It was Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh who built Gwrych Castle in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was followed by his son Robert Bamford-Hesketh,1826-1894, who married Ellen Jones-Bateman in 1851. He bought various parcels of land and in 1873 the estate measured 3424 acres of land, along with a number of coal mines in North Wales.

Winifred Bamford-Hesketh (b. 1859), Robert Bamford-Hesketh's sole heiress, married Douglas Mackinnon Baillie Hamilton, 12th Earl of Dundonald in 1878. In 1919, she sold some of the old buildings on the estate, along with the Llanddulas limestone quarry and some mines. In her will, she bequeathed Gwrych to Prince George, later King George V, who was unable to accept the gift and sold the castle, which was later on re-purchased by the Earl of Dundonald for £70,000.

Thomas Hesketh Douglas Blair, Lord Cochrane, 13th Earl of Dundonald, sold Gwrych Castle mansion in 1946 for £12,000, along with the remainder of the estate.

The Colby family settled on their arrival in Pembrokeshire in Bletherston which they owned from 1597 to 1786. A younger branch of the Colby family, many of whom were solicitors, lived at Bangeston in Pembroke, which they purchased in 1722. The family acquired through the marriage of John Colby in around 1715 with Anne Jones the Rhosygilwen estate, Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire. Ffynone estate was purchased by the Colby family in 1752, and the Ffynone mansion was erected in 1795. The family also inherited Dyffryn Wdig near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, through the marriage of two of the daughters, and purchased properties in the parishes of Cenarth, Carmarthenshire, and Llanfihangel Penbedw, Pembrokeshire and were actively involved in working collieries in Pembrokeshire. The estate remained in Colby possession until 1919 when John Vaughan Colby died without male issue. Ffynone passed to his daughter Aline Margaret, who married C.J.H. Spence-Jones, who took the name of Colby by royal licence in 1920. Ffynone was sold in 1927 to a Glamorgan businessman.