Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1774-1947 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
30 volumes.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, better-known as the 'Ladies of Llangollen', were both members of Irish aristocratic families. Having quickly established a relationship following their meeting in 1768, the women escaped the scandalised animosity of their home circle by setting up home at Plasnewydd, a Gothic-style house situated near Llangollen, Denbighshire. For the next fifty years, they lived a secluded and often penurious existence, while nevertheless receiving such notable visitors as the landowner, traveller and writer Anne Lister and the poets Robert Southey, William Wordsworth and Percy Shelley. Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby are both buried in the grounds of St Collen's Church, Llangollen, while Plasnewydd is now a museum dedicated to their lives.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Hamilton family (per A. R. Heath, Bristol); Hamwood, Dunboyne, co. Meath; Purchase; 1990.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Papers, 1774-1947, of Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, popularly known as the 'Ladies of Llangollen', comprising diaries and correspondence, together with related papers.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged according to NLW MSS reference numbers: NLW MSS 22967-22996.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
Script of material
Language and script notes
English, French, German, Italian.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Published in microform (see Ladies of Llangollen ... A Listing and Guide to the Microfilm Collection (Adam Matthew Publications, 1997)): copies are available at NLW (see NLW Films 999-1003).
Related units of description
Publication note
Eva Mary Bell, The Hamwood Papers (London, 1930)
Notes area
Note
Title based on name of residence of former owners.
Alternative identifier(s)
Alma system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Butler, Eleanor, Lady, 1739-1829 -- Archives (Subject)
- Ponsonby, Sarah, 1755-1831 -- Archives (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
September 2017
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
The following source was used in the compilation of this description: Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Vol. 9 (Aberystwyth, 2003)
Archivist's note
Description compiled by Bethan Ifan.