| Disgrifiad | The purely devolutionary papers consist of abstracts of title and copies of recovery deeds relating to different parts of the estaets, conveyances of individual properties bought or sold from time to time, copies of wills and copies of marriage settlements.
But the majority of the documents in this section are those that issue out of the workaday management of an estate, such as tenancy agreements, fugitive rent receipts, notices to quit and notices of quitting and distress papers.
All the actions, with the exception of the Jones v Wardle chancery action in 1782, arose out of the tenancy of individual premises.
It appears as if Evans became receiver of the estate rents in 1812, for the accounts extend in an unbroken series from that year until 1828; they take the form of statements of rents received and of arrears at the two rent sittings in each year. A few accounts of an earlier period - 1795 - 1803 - have also been preserved and these contain statement of the advances made in 1798 and 1799.
The comparative poverty of the rent accounts previous to 1812 is compensated by the agent's general accounts, for these cover the period from 1783 to 1802. William Griffith's annual statements of accounts during these years are, in effect, balance sheets of the working of the estate, and several account books give us the basis of the accouts in detail. For example, two of them are account books of cash remitted to and received on behalf of Jones Parry, and others contain accounts of cash laid out generally and also in the management of the demesne.
The house and demesne accounts and receipts provide one of the most intimate pictures of farm management in the whole collection. Some of them are incidental to the activities of the estate agent and others of the farm bailiff, and they have to do with the demesnes of Madryn, Wernfawr, Cefn Llanfair and Penarth, during the years 1796 to 1803. They consist of shop accounts, workmen's bills, agricultural produce bills and receipts for rates and taxes. Some of them are of a more personal nature as between agent and proprietor and consist of interest vouchers and bank receipts.
The legal accounts, extending from 1810 to 1839 consist not only of bills of costs of different actions but also of periodical statememts of accounts for general legal work in connection with the estate.
Over a hundred letters have been placed in this group, but those to be found at PYA/50331-50483 also pertain to the Madryn estate.
Several of the papers already listed in the devolution section arise out of the relations of Gwilym Lloyd Wardle and the MAdryn family. The papers of this section however deal with Wardle's own estate of Brynkir and they consist of leases, notices to quit, a draft conveyance and a score or so letters. |
| AdminHistory | John Evans's connection with the Madryn estate amounted to that of an agent for those parts of the estates that lay in the mid-Caernarvonshire area and that of legal adviser for the whole estate, and this group, which is the most valuable single unit among the estate papers is the outcome of those activities. |