Welsh Journals

description of the house published by the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales (Glamorgan: the Greater Houses, pp. 344-5). The photograph of Sketty Hall in 1995 (p. 115) shows what a superb job of restoration has been done; let us hope that it will soon be possible to rescue the derelict Ty Harry on the Mumbles Road, one of the many picturesque cottages and lodges built for the Vivians. It was probably designed by the architect of Singleton Abbey himself P. F. Robinson it certainly resembles a design published in one of his pattern books. It is impossible not to enthuse about this book. Mr Morris's research has been impeccable and the design and presentation are done to a standard that is rarely encountered in local history publishing. The printers, Dinefwr Press, of Llandybie, deserve hearty congratulations, and the West Glamorgan County Archive Service has added another significant volume to its growing list of new publications and reprints. At £ 15, this is the bargain of the year! A reviewer might feel that he had not justified his existence if he failed to offer some points of criticism, however trivial. J. H. Vivian was elected MP for Swansea in 1832, but it is misleading to say that his constituency 'covered an area roughly corresponding to the 1974 County of West Glamorgan' (p.23); it consisted of the five ancient boroughs (with some modification of boundaries) of Swansea, Loughor, Neath, Aberafan and Kenfig. Towards the foot of p.49 someone has forgotten to replace ??with the page number 122. These are patently trivial points. Brian Ll. James ABOUT ABERPERGWM. The Home of the Williams family in the Vale of Neath, Glamorgan, by Elizabeth F. Belcham. Heritage Ventures, Glynneath, 1993. 221 pp. Illustrated. £ 15.00 The aristocracy of Victorian Wales remain one of the most important but under- researched groups in Welsh history. Though they owned over 60 per cent of the land of Wales, possessed much of the capital in an otherwise poor country, dominated parliamentary politics until the 1870s, and ran local government through the petty and quarter sessions until 1888, the organisation of their estates, their attitudes, and their lifestyles have received very little attention. All this makes the appearance of a new book by Elizabeth Belcham on the Williams family of Aberpergwm a welcome and, it must be said at the outset,