| Description | In as much that there is hardly a single parish in Caernarvon and Anglesey that is not represented here the parishes have been grouped according to hundreds and listed alphabetically within each hundred. It is impossible to give anything but an indication of their contents. They vary in number from such parishes as Bottwnog or Llanfaethlu with only one document, to Llanbeblig with over 2000 or Amlwch with over 400, and in total they provide a remarkable picture of parochial administration during the critical years from 1790 to 1834.
Inevitably, perhaps, the most prevalent type of document is that which deals with the settlement of paupers of filiation, and where settlement was made the subject of litigation, as so often happened, the case papers also. But there also occur what may be called the extraordinary documents that arose out of an occasional charity action or the more frequent poor rate action.
The parishes of Carnarvon district are particularly well represented, a fact which can be easily explained on the grounds of population and also their close association with John Evans in questions of administration generally; and in their case, papers dealing with poor rates arrears are a welcome addition to the more usual documents.
The miscellaneous group consists of published accounts of poor law administration in various parishes in England of which those for Chester and Liverpool are particularly useful. |