Welsh Journals

certainly guilty of apathy and injustice in their dealings with her, it appears that others, like John Courtenay, had supported her. Catherine Chichester had begun her quest for justice with such high hopes, but they all turned to dust. A letter, written from Rhoscellan to her son, gives a poignant glimpse into her private thoughts as she sat many miles from home: 'I wish you that happiness which I have been thus far of my life with many difficulties and labours pursuing without yet tasting' To her heavy heart even the future seemed bleak, for she continued sadly, 'and every day seems to bring new distance to my hopes'.40 JILL BARBER and DERRYAN PAUL Aberystwyth NOTES 1 The Chichester papers relating to north Cardiganshire and Montgomeryshire are catalogued in the North Devon Record Office (N.D.R.O.) from 50/11/45 to 50/11/123. Many numbers refer to bundles of documents rather than individual items. Most letters written by Catherine Chichester are draft copies of those she sent. Judith Russill first drew attention to these papers in 'A Cardiganshire connection with Arlington, Devon', Dyfed Family History Journal, III (April, 1989), p. 73. We are grateful to the staff at Barnstaple for their assistance, and to Gerald Morgan for allowing us to consult his photocopies of many items. 2The tithes of the church of Llanbadarn Fawr, which included many north Cardiganshire parishes, were granted to the monastery of Vale Royal in Cheshire in 1359. After the dissolution of the monasteries the tithes reverted to the Crown, coming into the hands of the Palmer family about 1640. For further discussion of the tithes in north Cardiganshire see Walter Morgan, 'The Diocese of St. David's in the Nineteenth Century: A. The Unreformed Church', Journal of the Historical Society of the Church in Wales, XXI (1971), especially pp. 6, 25-6. He uses the Chichester family to illustrate the depredations caused by lay impropriators. See also Jill Barber, 'A Fair and Just Demand?: tithe unrest in Cardiganshire, 1796-1823', Welsh History Review (forthcoming). 3N.D.R.O. 50/11/85 (1732) Opinion of Nathaniel Pigot. 4N.D.R.O. 50/11/85. 'N.D.R.O. 50/11/73. 6 The Cardiganshire tithes then passed to her son, John Chichester, remaining in the family until 1936. 7Hugh Owen (ed.), Additional Letters of the Morrises of Anglesey (1735-86), 1-2 (1947-9), pp. 108, 114-5, 119-20, 123. "N.D.R.O. 50/11/87 (17 April 1728) C. Chichester [to John Trevor]. 9 Ibid. 10N.D.R.O. 50/11/88 [1731/2] C. Chichester to George Jones. "N.D.R.O. 50/11/87 [1730/1] C. Chichester [to Smith].