Record#
Page ID: 30 · Title: Llandough Limeworks · Evidence status: Not yet labelled — see the Editing Protocol · Version: 1.0.1 · Editing Protocol
Llandough limeworks and the unconfirmed 33-acre lead… … read more
The Llandough Limeworks are independently associated with Daniel Thomas and his son Alfred in the People’s Collection Wales account. Mary (Nancy) Williams’s later account links quarrying to part of the Great House Farm holding from 1876. A separate, uninspected archive lead refers to about 33 acres; the relationship between that acreage, Great House Farm and the 1877 house-parcel arrangement is not established. See The 1877 Agreement and The Bute Estate.
Evidence, in date order#
1876–1912 — 33-acre limeworks deeds, D153/4–8 (catalogue entry; deeds unread)
Archive reference NLW Bute Estate Collection: D153/1–8 (catalogue: D153/4–8, 1876–1912)
Catalogue description transcribed in EV-0291; original deeds and the 1876 plan not yet obtained.
Catalogue: GHF-E030-01
Location: National Library of Wales (repository correction; item scope still to verify)
Evidence status: the NLW catalogue entry reads “land (33 a.), formerly part of Great House Farm, for the Llandough Limeworks (33 a.), 1876-1912 (D153/4-8)” (EV-0291). The deeds are unread: the parties, the grantor and the parcel are not checked against them.
Parcel unassignedParcel reading. Because the original source has not been inspected, it is too early to say what the papers do or do not say about the parcel. The Wiki has not established whether the 33-acre reference relates to Parcel A, Parcel B, a working area overlapping more than one holding, or a distinct tract. The former “best guess Parcel A” is withdrawn pending the actual record and any associated plan.
1877 : Daniel Thomas and the reverter
Catalogue: GHF-E030-02
Location: Family archive / privately held material
Evidence description: Mary (Nancy) Williams’s 1974 statement records her recollection of a 1877 arrangement involving Daniel Thomas, the house parcel and quarrying, with the freehold said to pass to the Williams family when quarrying ceased. The original deed and plan remain missing. This is evidence about the family’s Great House Farm account; it does not itself prove that the separate 33-acre D153 lead describes the same land.
Parcel AParcel reading. Parcel A. On the current reconstruction, the land identified in Mary’s account as the house parcel sold to Daniel Thomas is Parcel A; the underlying deed and plan remain missing primary evidence.
Deed Bute–Thomas conveyance and Thomas tenancy, 1877
Missing: family copy taken 1950–52; library copy reported missing 1984
Catalogue: GHF-E030-03
Location: Family archive / privately held material
1928 : The last machine leaves
Catalogue: GHF-E030-04
Location: Family archive / privately held material
Evidence description: Mary (Nancy) Williams, formerly Buckler, reports that quarry machinery was removed and the final rent was paid in 1928 in connection with the Thomas arrangement. The original receipt and 1877 instrument are not attached here; the precise land extent and legal effect remain to be tested.
Family reconstructionParcel reading. The family reconstruction associates the 1928 rent/machinery event with the Thomas house-parcel arrangement. The receipt and original 1877 deed/plan are not attached here. This does not independently establish the extent of the 33-acre reference or prove that all quarrying on that acreage ended in 1928.
Family hypothesis, not a proved conveyance. The reported end of rent/quarrying in 1928 is the basis for the claimed reversion to John Williams. Its terms, extent and legal effect must be tested against the original 1877 instrument, plan and 1928 receipt.
Source distinction: two Williams lines and two quarry histories#
Great House Farm / Llandough: Mary (Nancy) Williams’s c.1974 account concerns her own family’s occupation at Great House Farm. She describes the Bute transaction involving the farmhouse/buildings and about 10 acres, plus land retained by Bute. The original 1877 instrument and plan have not been produced here.
William Evans Williams of Pwll-y-Pant, Caerphilly: History Points’ account of former Pwll-y-Pant House identifies a different Williams, who died in February 1870 and left his estate to the Marquess of Bute. The National Library of Wales catalogue for D242/1–27 identifies the 1870 probate of William Evans Williams’s will at D242/17, notes on his real estate at D242/18, and related succession-duty papers/accounts at D242/19–23. Separately, D258/1–110 is specifically catalogued as papers relating to his personal and real estates, including the Pwllypant estate audit (D258/98–101); Pwll-y-Pant estate rentals are catalogued in D255. The catalogue summary for D242/18 names several other parishes but does not name Llandough in that particular property note. That is not proof that no related land transaction occurred elsewhere in the wider estate papers.
Independent Llandough limeworks context: People’s Collection Wales records that Daniel Thomas started the limeworks at Llandough in 1851 and that his son Alfred continued them. This corroborates the Thomases’ connection to the Llandough works, not the title owner or extent of the 33 acres.
Brickworks next door: a published history of Welsh brickworks gives: “Llandough Limeworks were owned in 1871 by D Thomas and Son and the brickworks had been opened next door by 1899. J E Billups of Billups Brick Co Ltd was the proprietor, becoming the Llandough Brick Co by 1923. The limeworks had gone and the brickworks is marked ‘disused’ by 1947.” (secondary; its sources are not cited). J. E. Billups died in November 1896; his obituary names “the Penarth Brickworks, which were started by him” (South Wales Daily News, 26 Nov 1896, p.6). Both in EV-0292.
What the catalogue now establishes: the NLW Bute title-deeds file list describes D153/1–8 as deeds relating to premises in the parish of Llandough, including a dwelling house adjoining the churchyard in 1811 (D153/1–2), and dates the series 1811–1912. The file’s own catalogue record reads: “… land (33 a.), formerly part of Great House Farm, for the Llandough Limeworks (33 a.), 1876-1912 (D153/4-8). Plan engrossed on D153/3 (1875) and 4 (1876).” It does not name William Evans Williams (EV-0291). The same NLW list separately describes D247/1–69 as deeds for Penyrheol-las, Quarry Mawr and the woodland later known as Pwll-y-Pant Quarry in Eglwysilan (1723–1895). The 33 acres are in the Llandough entry (D153/4-8); the Eglwysilan entries (D242, D247, D258) state no acreage (EV-0291). The catalogue does not name the parties to D153/4-8 or say which part of Great House Farm the 33 acres were; the deeds and the 1876 plan are unread.
Repository and scope correction: the Wiki’s SC-21 entry records that Glamorgan Archives said it did not hold the D153 reference and identified it as an NLW reference. The NLW title-deeds list confirms that the parent file D153/1–8 concerns premises in Llandough, but the individual contents of D153/4–8 and the Wiki’s “limeworks severance” label have not been verified against the original documents.
Related identity test: a separate reported 6 November 1877 lease to John Williams remains unlocated. The inspected DBDT/79/1 instrument is a 2 May 1877 Cardiff lease, not a Llandough instrument; see SC-20. The identity of John Williams of Newport and the Great House Farm John Williams is unresolved.
See also: Master timeline · Main Page
Page version & change log#
Current version: 1.0.1
Version |
Date (UTC) |
Editor (human or agent name) |
Change |
Source / evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1.0.1 |
2026-10-21T11:06Z |
Sion’s Tab agent |
D153/4–8 entry corrected to the catalogue’s own wording (EV-0291); brickworks paragraph added (EV-0292). |
NLW catalogue D153/1-8, read 21 Oct 2026; EV-0291, EV-0292 |
1.0.0 |
2026-10-18T15:16Z |
Sion’s Tab agent |
Footer standardised; no content change |
Editing Protocol, 18 Oct 2026 |
Agents and editors: follow the Editing Protocol.