Fonds GB 0210 LORDYN - Lord Dynevor (9th Baron) Papers

Richard Charles Uryan Rhys (1935-2008), 9th Baron Dynevor, was born in 1935, the son of Charles A. U. Rhys (1899-1962), 8th Baron Dynevor. He was educated at Eton and Magdalene College, Cambridge. In 1959 he married Lucy Catherine King, the only daughter of Sir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein CBE. They had one son and three daughters. The marriage was dissolved in 1978. His heir was Hugo Griffith Uryan Rhys (b. 1966), 10th Baron Dynevor. The 9th Baron lived in London, and his chief interest was in the Black Raven Book Press of which he was a director. In 1962 Lord Dynevor inherited the remaining holdings of the Llandeilo Estate, comprising 23 farms, and 2,000 acres (8 km²), a ruined castle, a deer park with a herd of rare long horned white cattle, and a substantial death duties bill. The death duties were owed on both the 7th and 8th Barons. Attempts were made to save the patrimony but eventually the castle was sold to a private buyer in 1974. The National Trust bought the deer park and the outer park at Dinefwr in 1987. Newton House was purchased by the Trust in 1990 having been through several hands since first sold by Lord Dynevor in 1974. It was in a very poor state of repair. The East Drive was acquired in 1992. The Home Farm was acquired in 2002. Cadw and the National Trust now control the estate of some 700 acres (3 km²).