| Description / Disgrifiad | Scope and content: Deeds and documents relating to the Abercamlais estate, mainly in central and southern Brecknockshire, 1553-1820; letters, 1780-1840, to Richard Davies, archdeacon of Brecon, relating mainly to ecclesiastical matters such as church livings, St Davids cathedral, miscreant clergy and sick clergy, Church property, Church history and thought, the archdeaconry, the poor, the vicar of Brecon, and parliamentary elections in Brecknockshire, 1817-1820, including a number of letters from Thomas Burgess, bishop of St Davids, 1809-1814; and sermons of Archdeacon Davies. |
| Admin History / Hanes Gweinyddol | Administrative and biographical history: Abercamlais was the home of a branch of the Williams family of Penpont, Brecknockshire. The mansion was built around 1600 by Thomas Williams ('Ficer Gwyn Llansbyddyd', d. 1613). It was rebuilt by his son, the Rev. Daniel Williams (d. 1643), vicar of Myddfai, Carmarthenshire. The present house was built either by Daniel Williams's grandson Thomas Williams (d. 1700) or, more probably, his great-grandson Rev. Thomas Williams (fl. 1708-69). The estate was inherited by Martha, daughter of John Williams (b. 1742) of Abercamlais, archdeacon of Cardigan, who married Richard Davies, archdeacon of Brecon. In 1827, their daughter, Elizabeth Davies, married Thomas Williams (1801-77) of Aberbrân, dean of Llandaff, the son of Robert Williams of Aberbrân and Annabelle his wife, the daughter of William Garnons, of Trelough, Herefordshire. In 1861 their son, the Rev. Garnons-Williams (1829-1908) inherited Abercamlais on the death of John Penry Williams without issue, founding the Garnons-Williams family of Abercamlais. Captain Neville Glennie Garnons-Williams held Abercamlais in 1972. |