Fonds GB 0210 CAERYNWCH - Caerynwch estate records

Caerynuwch mansion was built on the Plas Hen estate, Merionethshire, by Sir Richard Richards (1752-1823), Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, son of Thomas Richards of Coed, Merionethshire. Richards had acquired Plas Hen following his marriage in 1785 to Catherine Humphreys, only child of Robert Vaughan Humphreys of Plas Hen. After the mansion was built the estate came to be called Caerynuwch instead of Plas Hen.
Sir Richard was succeeded by his son Richard Richards (1787-1860), who became a Master in Chancery, and MP for Merionethshire 1836-1852. He married, in 1814, Harriet (d. 1852), daughter and co-heiress of Jonathan Dennett of Lincolns Inn Fields. Richard Richards was in turn succeeded by his son, Richard Meredydd Richards (1821-1873) who married as his second wife Louisa Jannette Anne Edwards, only daughter and heiress of Edward Lloyd Edwards of Cerrigllwydion, Denbighshire, in 1863, and of the Dolserau estate near Dolgellau, Merioneth. Edward Lloyd Edwards's eldest son, Richard Edward Lloyd Richards (1865-1905) died without issue, so that the estate passed to his brother Henry Meredydd Richards (1870-1942), who was succeeded by his son, Richard Meredyth Richards (b. 1920, alive 1969).