Sub-sub-fonds GC and numbered Vols - Gogerddan estate and general correspondence

A large quantity of correspondence between the successive owners of the Gogerddan estate, their agents, solicitors and other parties. The main group comprises incoming letters from miscellaneous correspondents, 1586-1949. The next group contains letters of specific correspondents, 1753-1924, namely the London solicitors, Charles Deare, and Boys and Tweedie, and the stamp distributor, James Morse. The third group consists of numerous letter books containing copies of outgoing correspondence, 1851-1925. The final group comprises the letters and papers of Thomas Pryse and his trustee, mainly 1660-1790. The main subject throughout the correspondence is the routine management of Gogerddan esate business. Other prominent themes include lead mining, quarrying and timber production; commercial ventures such as shipping (mid-18th cent.); the railways (1860s); the development of housing in Aberystwyth and the surrounding villages (mainly 19th cent), manorial rights in the manors of Genau’r-glyn, Perfedd and Cyfoethybrenin, agricultural improvements; the establishment of local shows (late 19th –early 20th cent.), patronage of local schools and charities, and the financial decline of the Gogerddan estate (early 20th cent.) Many of the letters from other landowners reveal the social scene and political interests of the Cardiganshire gentry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They demonstrate clearly the exercise of personal influence to obtain positions for their own families and acquaintances. The solicitors’ letters concentrate on the family settlements, trusts and financial issues affecting the Gogerddan estate. Some letters and documents relate to other estates as well as Gogerddan.. For example, the papers of Thomas Pryse (d. 1745) cover the administration of the Mathafarn and Rug estates; and the letters to Pryse Pryse (d. 1849) refer to the Buscot Park and Woodstock estates.