Herbert family, of Dolforgan

Family

Herbert family, of Dolforgan

The Dolforgan estate was originally extremely modest (two capital messuages and six messuages and pasture in 1678). In 1772, John Herbert of Dolforgan married Avarina Brunetta Owen. Through this marriage John Herbert acquired the Llynlleoedd estate centred on Machynlleth. He also purchased lands from the 1780s onwards.
The 1772 marriage settlement created a charge of £10,000 to provide for the younger children of the marriage, and the estate was mortgaged in 1809 to raise this sum when the younger children came of age. Over-generous marriage settlements added to the estate's debts, which totalled £51,000 in 1865.
John and Averina's eldest son, John Owen Herbert, married Harriet Johnson of Southstoke, Somerset, in 1823. The only child of this marriage, Harriet Averina Brunetta Herbert, married Walter Long of Rood Ashton, Wiltshire, in 1846, but died the following year. Her husband died soon afterwards, having devised the estate to his father, Walter Long the elder. In 1867, following the death of Walter Long the elder, the estate was inherited by his second son, Richard Penruddocke Long. He was finally forced to sell most of the estate in 1870, for £76,500 to James Walton of Cwmllecoediog. The remainder of the estate was sold, again to Walton, between 1871 and 1874. The return of owners of land, 1873, credited James Walton with an estate with an estimated acreage of 5,562 acres with an estimated rental of £3,078. In 1894, Walton sold the estate to John William Willans, a distinguished engineer.