Ffeil NLW MS 9062E/1662. - Warrant to search records etc. re.the Forest of Snowdon,

William Sill, esquire, auditor of north Wales, to the Baron of the Exchequer at Caernarfon, or his deputy, to the prothonotaries, mayors, aldermen, bailiffs, and other officers, and to all the inhabitants of Caernarfonshire, Anglesey, and Merionethshire. Copy of a warrant [in the autograph of Owen Wynn] authorizing Owen Wynn, esquire, of Gwydir (foreman of the jury empanelled to hear evidence before a commission, appointed 3 July 1639, to enquire concerning encroachments in the Forest of Snowdon, according to the tenure of the articles hereunto annexed), to search the records, charters, or evidences in the Exchequer of Caernarfon, and prothonotaries' offices, and to have copies written out fair under the teste of the several offices and corporations where the records do now remain, because the evidence before the commission will be hindered for want of the production of the 'Extent Book of North Wales' and divers other ancient records which are (on the information of Wentworth Woodford, one of the aforesaid commissioners) some perished, part embezzled, and others delivered out without warrant to several private persons; the said Wentworth Woodford dwelling 200 miles distant from the several counties, a stranger to the inhabitants of those parts, and unable, for the present, to go from office to office and place to place to enquire, search, and demand the said records. Overleaf, in the same hand: A letter from my Lord Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the said Owen Wynn intimates that Mr Woodford cannot, for the present, attend this service because of his other employments in the King's service elsewhere, and that the enclosed warrant is sent to Owen Wynn as foreman of the jury in Caernarfonshire, authorizing him to search all offices and to view all charters and records within the said counties of Caernarfon, Anglesey, and Merioneth and to take out copies of all such as he shall see material under teste and at such a rate as His Majesty pays in any of the offices at Westminster. If any of those offices, either within the liberties or without, or any private persons who have any records or charters in their custody or keeping, refuse to let him have access to view them or refuse to have copies made under teste, then he is to certify their names and contempts to the Lord Treasurer. This course is taken that the said Owen Wynn may satisfy himself and the rest of his fellow jurors as to the certainty of the encroachments within the said Forest of Snowdon, that the King's officers may be put to as little charge and trouble as possible. The said Owen Wynn, moreover, to charge all those officers and private persons whom it may concern, to preserve such records for the King's service and to have them ready to be produced upon all occasions. Further, that the charges of the said Owen Wynn for this search are to be paid. Underneath: 'His Majesty's protection to the said Owen Wynn and his servant during the time of this his search.'. [See also under the year 1655 for documents of a similar nature. It is possible that some of Owen Wynn's memoranda included under the year 1639 may belong to the year 1655, or vice versa.].