Project Title: 'Proprietors, people, transition and change on a Welsh estate: Gregynog Hall, Montgomeryshire, 1750-1900'
Supervised by: Dr Shaun Evans and Dr Lowri Ann Rees
Research supported by: Generously supported by the Gregynog Trust
Gregynog Hall is famous as the former home of art collectors Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, and as a University of Wales conference centre. Until 1913 it was the headquarters of one of the oldest landed estates in Montgomeryshire: at the centre of social, economic and political networks which reached across neighbouring parishes and across the border into Shropshire and Gloucestershire; networks which created a strong sense of identity with, and connection to, Gregynog.
This study of Gregynog’s fortunes during a period of social and political change seeks to enrich its history and offer fresh perspectives on identity and society in a Welsh rural county. The principal themes include:
- Landownership and dynastic succession, including the role of women in estate succession;
- Geographical and cultural location in the March of Wales; the estate’s growth, management and role in the local economy; the transition from resident to non-resident landlords; the role of agents;
- Politics, public life and Welsh culture: the Gregynog landlords and the growth of Liberal Montgomeryshire in an era of social and political change and a resurgent Welsh national consciousness.
Archival sources relating to the history of the estate are preserved in the National Library of Wales, Powys Archives, Gloucestershire Archives, and at Gregynog itself. These records are supported by important historiographical studies, notably Melvin Humphreys’ The Crisis of Community: Montgomeryshire 1680-1815 (Cardiff, 1996).
Latest News:
Mary has recently completed this doctoral research project. You can read more about it here.
