Fonds GB 0210 ABEPERGWM - Aberpergwm estate records

The Williams family of Aberpergwm was an old family with a very long association with the upper Neath Valley. The family pedigree can be traced back to one Morgan ap Caradoc ap Iestyn, the 12th century lord of Nedd-Afan. The family made Aberpergwm their home in the 16th century, and continued there until the 1950s. The estate consisted in the main of a large area in the parish of Cadoxton-juxta-Neath, principally in the hamlets of Neath Higher and Neath Middle, in the manor of Neath Ultra and Cilybebyll, and adjacent areas in Breconshire. Several members of the family were instrumental in cultivating Welsh poetry and music in the Neath Valley, and the house once contained many important Welsh manuscripts.
The Williams family were deeply involved in the coal industry, encouraging the growth of the industry to such an extent that Morgan Stuart Williams is described in 1889 as colliery owner in preference to the usual esquire.
William Williams (1788-1855) married Matilda Susannah Smith, only daughter and sole heiress of Col. Thomas Smith of Castellau, Glamorgan, and Rosamund, daughter of John Bush of Burcot, Oxfordshire. Matilda Susannah married secondly, Edward Lloyd of Ty'n-y-Rhyl, Flintshire, which may explain the presence of papers of the Lloyd family of Castellau and Aberpergwm.
According to the 1873 return of owners of land, Morgan Stuart Williams (1846-1909) of Aberpergwm, Glamorgan, owned an estimated 3,917 acres in Wales (in Glamorgan and Breconshire), with an estimated rental of £3,690. He purchased the St Donat's Castle estate in 1899. His eldest son and heir, Godfrey Herbert Joseph Williams, sold St Donat's Castle in 1922.