Fonds GB 0210 HENSOL - Hensol estate records

The original owners of Hensol estate, Glamorgan, were the Jenkins family which failed in the male line in the early eighteenth century. The estate passed to Cecil (d. 1720), only daughter of Charles Mathew of Castell y Mynach and Cecil, daughter of David Jenkins. Cecil as heiress of Hensol and Castell y Mynach, bought these estates to her husband, Charles Talbot (1685-1737), who was created Baron Talbot of Hensol in 1733.

Charles and Cecil's son and heir, William Talbot, 2nd baron, was created Earl Talbot in 1761, a title which became extinct after his death, and Baron Dynevor in 1780. William's only child Cecil married George Rice of Newton (later called Dynevor Castle) in Carmarthenshire, and M.P for Carmarthenshire 1754-1779. The remainder of the peerage of the barony of Dynevor was left to Cecil who became baroness Dynevor in 1782. She assumed the name of De Cardonnel by royal licence in 1787, pursuant to the will of her mother. William was succeeded in the Barony of Talbot by his nephew, John Chetwynd Talbot of Hensol. Their heir was George Talbot Rice, 3rd Baron Dynevor who assumed the additional surname of de Cardonnell by royal licence in 1793, but resumed the name Rice by royal licence in 1817. He was succeeded by his only son, George Rice, 4th baron, who assumed the additional surname of Trevor as inheritor of the estates of the Trevors of Glynde, Sussex. He died without male heir and the estate therefore passed to his cousin, Francis William, 5th baron, vicar of Fairford, Gloucestershire. Francis's heir was his grandson, Walter Fitzuryan, 7th baron, who married Lady Margaret Child-Villiers, eldest daughter of the 3rd Earl of Jersey. He re-assumed by royal licence the surname of Rhys in lieu of Rice.

According to the 1873 return of owners of land, The Rev. Lord Dynevor, owned 10,509 acres in Wales (in Carmarthenshire and Glamorgan), with an estimated rental of £18,552.