Record#

EV ID	EV-0220
Title	Leckwith Woods: Western Ground Rents’ gift of c.109 acres to Cardiff council
Date of document	Events 1938–1985; web page undated
Type	park history web page citing council committee minutes
Evidence label	SECONDARY (cites Cardiff committee minutes of 15 Oct 1940, 4 Feb 1941, 10 Mar 1942, 15 Apr 1942, 3 Jun 1985; minutes not seen)
Repository / reference	Cardiff Parks history site: Leckwith Woods
Status	HELD (public online copy)
Provenance	Lead from another AI (pasted by the family, 18 Oct 2026 22:20 BST); verified by Tab on 18 Oct 2026 against the source named here. Page read.
Related evidence	EV-0019 (1938 Bute–WGR conveyance, PENDING); EV-0216 (1965 contract naming “a Conveyance on sale dated 25th December 1938” as WGR’s root)

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Quotation: “The Council acquired a part of Leckwith Woods comprising some 109 acres as a gift from Western Ground Rents Ltd, which had bought the urban estate of the Bute family in 1938. The gift was offered and accepted in 1940, though the transfer of ownership was not formally completed until April 1942. The deed included a covenant that the land be used as a playing field, park, recreation or pleasure ground only.” Later: “the woodland was leased to the Forestry Commission. The Council agreed in June 1985 to accept the surrender of the lease.”

Proves: As reported by this secondary source: WGR bought the Bute urban estate in 1938 and gave about 109 acres of Leckwith Woods to Cardiff council (offered 1940, completed April 1942) with a recreation-use covenant. WGR was disposing of former Bute woodland near Leckwith in 1940–42.

Does not prove: Where the 109 acres lie: the 1942 plan is being sought. Link to Great House Farm and Parcel A: see the working theories below. That Cwm Cydfin followed the WGR route: HYPOTHESIS. Whether WGR’s 1938 purchase is the conveyance of 25 Dec 1938 named in 1965 (EV-0216): HYPOTHESIS (same year; not matched).

Working theories (evidence pending): the 1940–42 woods gift and Parcel A. Each theory is stated as a theory, with its support and the record that would test it. Each rests on the dated records named and on our case’s reading of them; evidence being added.

Provenance of the plan of the Williams parcel (corrected 20 Oct 2026): date and origin unknown; from a family heirloom collection, disclosed 2026. Our case, prospective, links it to the 1877 Daniel Thomas & Son agreement, which is not yet in hand [SOURCE PENDING]. It is the only known source for the three-way split of Parcel A, much as Parcel B is known from the 1939 tenancy plan. See the plan.

T1 (theory): the woods gift to Cardiff took in the woodland third of Parcel A. Support: the gift was “110 acres of wooded land at Leckwith” (Western Mail, 14 Sep 1940, p.5; press search snippet), about 109 acres in the council’s own history (Cardiff Parks; EV-0220); Parcel A’s woods are “practically Leckwith” and are now held by the Forest of Cardiff charity (our case, 20 Oct 2026; charity 1002867; woodland title WA735527, transferred 10 Nov 1994: EV-0136, GHF-E149). Test: the April 1942 WGR → Cardiff conveyance and its plan, laid over the c.1841 tithe parcel 266 “Wood” and the WA735527 plan; Cardiff’s Parks Committee minutes of 15 Oct 1940 to 15 Apr 1942 (Glamorgan Archives BC/C/6/78–80). The plan will show whether the gift’s ground reaches the woods beside the farm, some of which straddle the Llandough–Leckwith line, or lies higher on Leckwith Hill.
T2 (theory): Parcel A went to the Williams family in 1928, so it was not in the 1938 Bute → Western Ground Rents conveyance. That would explain why WGR never let Parcel A to Williams. Support: Mary (Nancy) Williams’s statement (c.1974) that rent was last paid in 1928 (statement; EV-0016); the May 1939 WGR–John Williams tenancy plan shows Parcel B only (EV-0023). Point raised in our case (20 Oct 2026). Test: the conveyance of 25 Dec 1938 with its parcels and plan (EV-0019; root recited in EV-0216), and any 1928 receipt or instrument (EV-0016).
T3 (alternative theory): Parcel A did pass to WGR, and WGR gave part of its woods to Cardiff. On this reading the givers held Parcel A, or acted as if they did, while Mary (Nancy) Williams, formerly Buckler, asserted that she owned it (our case, 20 Oct 2026). Support: WGR let land at Llandough from 1939 to 1963 (Glamorgan Archives DBDT123/7–13; Woodland & Land-Transfer Assessment). Test: the same 1938 conveyance and 1942 plan.
Possible connection: the 1949 attempt to make Mary’s Parcel-A occupation appear permissive (2 Feb 1949; SOURCE PENDING) and the 29 Mar 1961 deed between WGR, South Western Brick & Tile and “Cardiff City”, recited on the Forest of Cardiff woodland title WA735527, pink strand (GHF-E129; EV-0040), may relate to this gift (our case, 20 Oct 2026). Test: the 1961 deed and its plan, from the HM Land Registry title files.