Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [c. 1715]-[1812] (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
67 ff. (paginated 1-134)
Guarded and bound at NLW.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Evan Evans (Ieuan Fardd or Ieuan Brydydd Hir, 1731-1788), scholar, poet and critic, was born in the parish of Lledrod, Cardiganshire. Even before he entered Merton College, Oxford, in 1750 Evans had made the acquaintance of such prominent literary and antiquarian figures as the Morris brothers - Lewis, Richard and William - of Anglesey, William Wynn of Llangynhafal and Goronwy Owen. Throughout his clerical career - he was ordained in 1755 - Evans would spend much of his time collecting and copying Welsh manuscripts of literary and historical interest, including poetry from the Red Book of Hergest, all the while making contact with others engaged in the same pursuit such as David Jones of Trefriw, Rhys Jones of Blaenau and John Powel of Llansannan, as well as English antiquaries such as Daines Barrington. In 1764 Evans published his seminal work Some specimens of the Poetry of the Antient Welsh Bards, in which he attempted to interpret the substantial output of Welsh poetry, much of it produced at court, from the sixth to the sixteenth century. Arguably the greatest Welsh scholar of his age, Evans possessed an in-depth knowledge of the contents of Welsh manuscripts in the various private libraries of the time and was well acquainted with the works of the great Welsh scholars from the Renaissance onwards. He realised that the chief requirement of Welsh scholarship in his day and age was the publication of the texts of the principal manuscripts which related to the history and literature of Wales. Although Evans himself ultimately failed in his endeavours to achieve this goal, the brilliant work he did accomplish earned him a position of unquestioned importance within the field of Welsh scholarship.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Papers relating to a petition, [c. 1715], to have the Great Sessions held in towns in Anglesey in addition to Beaumaris, with a printed Case of Most of the Considerable Gentlemen, Freeholders, and Inhabitants of the County of Anglesey; a statement concerning the parliamentary representation of Newborough; notes by Paul Panton on electoral law; draft letters by Paul Panton, 1801; letters by W. Bulkeley, 1715, and Daines Barrington, 1769-1770; notes, by Richard Fenton, for an itinerary in South Wales, [1812] (pp. 85-88); notes by Evan Evans on Cadnant and Gorsedd Nigri; printed votes of the House of Commons including an order on the petition of the Grand Jury of Anglesey on a bill to discourage the commencing of frivolous actions in the Westminster courts; and a copy of the charter of Englefield, Flintshire, 1242.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Formerly Panton Papers 35.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 9085D.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Subject access points
- Petitions -- Wales -- Anglesey
- Political science -- Early works to 1800.
- Courts -- England -- Westminster -- Law and legislation
- Newborough (Wales) -- Politics and government
- Anglesey (Wales) -- Politics and government -- 18th century
- Wales, South -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800.
- Plas Cadnant (Llandysilio, Wales : Farm)
- Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 18th century.
- Englefield (Wales) -- Charters, grants, privileges
- Anglesey (Wales) -- Antiquities