Fonds GB 0210 MSTRAHMAN - Traherne-Mansel Franklen manuscripts

John Montgomery Traherne, probably the most notable Glamorgan antiquary of his day, was born at Coedriglan, near Cardiff, the son of Llewellyn Traherne, who had inherited the Coedriglan estate. John Montgomery Traherne's early interest in scientific matters is evidenced by his later election to the Linnaean Society (1813), the Geological Society (1817) and the Royal Society (1823). In 1830 he married Charlotte Louisa, daughter of Thomas Mansel Talbot of Margam. Having been for some time deeply immersed in the history of Glamorgan, he was elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1838. From 1844 to 1851 he served as chancellor of the diocese of Llandaff. Traherne corresponded extensively with leading figures in both the scientific and literary worlds.

The ancestors of the Mansel family originated in Normandy and appear to have arrived in Britain with William the Conqueror. The Gower branch of the family lived in comparative obscurity during the Middle Ages, but through judicious marriages with local families they acquired the manors of Penrice, Oxwich and Port Eynon in 1410, which formed the basis of the family's Gower estates. Later purchases included the manors of Landimore (including Rhossili), Weobley and Reynoldston, and later still, portions of the Popkins and Lucas estates in Gower. During the 15th and 16th centuries the Mansels lived mostly at Oxwich Castle, but at the Dissolution of the Monasteries Sir Rice Mansel first leased and later bought the lands and buildings of the Abbey of Margam.

Margam Abbey had been founded in 1147, endowed by Robert earl of Gloucester with a large tract of land between the Afan and Kenfig rivers. During successive centuries, the abbey grew in importance, and its possessions increased, to such an extent that at the time of the Dissolution its holdings amounted to some 50,000 acres. Rice Mansel, now the owner of lands stretching from one end of Glamorgan almost to the other, set about converting the old monastic buildings into a mansion, which became the principal home of his descendants for the next 200 years. The Mansel family line came to an end in 1750 with Bussy, the fourth Baron Mansel, and the estates, but not the title, passed to the family of his sister Mary who had married John Ivory Talbot of Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire. In the 1770s Thomas Mansel Talbot built a new house at Penrice, as an alternative residence to the rambling old house at Margam. The house at Margam was in its turn pulled down in the early 19th century and a new mansion was built there between 1827 and 1830 near the ruins of the old abbey.

According to the 1873 return of owners of land, Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, of Margam owned an estimated 34,033 acres in Wales (all in Glamorgan), with an estimated rental of £44,175.

Sir Rice Mansel (d. 1559) of Penrice and Oxwich purchased Margam Abbey from the Crown. The family's connection with the Talbots of Wiltshire was established when John Talbot of Lacock Abbey married Mary Mansel, daughter of Thomas Mansel (d. 1723), the first baron Mansel. The manor of St Hilary in Cowbridge, Glamorgan originates from the sixteenth century. It became part of the Traherne estate during the nineteenth century and was also the residence of Sir Thomas Mansel Franklen (d. 1928), antiquary and clerk of the peace for Glamorgan.