Wynne Finch family, of Voelas and Cefnamwlch

Family

Wynne Finch family, of Voelas and Cefnamwlch

The Cefnamwlch estate in Caernarfonshire was in the possession of the Griffith family from at least the 15th century until the end of the 18th century. William Griffith (1721-1752) married Sidney Wynne, daughter of Cadwaladr Wynne of Voelas, Denbighshire. Their son, John Griffith (d. 1794) was the last of the Griffith family to live at Cefnamwlch. Dying unmarried, he bequeathed the estate to his cousin, Jane Wynne (d. 1811) of Voelas, who married the Hon. Charles Finch, brother to the Earl of Aylesford, who had inherited the manor of Pooley Hall, Warwickshire, from his godfather, Charles Jennens of Gopsall Hall, Leicestershire, in 1773.

The Wynne family had been settled at Voelas since the times of Cadwaladr ap Maurice (d. 1611) who was granted Voelas by Henry VIII in 1545-1546. The estate then descended in the male line until Watkin Wynne (1717-74), whose heir was his daughter, Jane Wynne (d. 1811). Both the Voelas and Cefnamwlch estates passed to their son, Charles Wynne (1780-1865), who assumed the names of Griffith-Wynne in lieu of Finch. He was succeeded by his son Charles Wynne who assumed the additional name of Finch. On the death of Charles's son, Charles Arthur Wynne Finch in 1903, the Voelas estate passed to his second son, John Charles Wynne Finch (b. 1891), while the Cefnamwlch estate passed to his third son, William Heneage Wynne Finch (b. 1893).

According to the 1873 return of owners of land, Charles Wynne Finch, of Foelas, Denbighshire, and Cefnamwlch owned an estimated 13,591 acres in Wales (all in Caernarfonshire and Denbighshire) with an estimated rental of £7,687.