Welsh Journals

EXTRACTS FROM DIARY OF THOMAS LYKE, 1697-1708. THE SOCIETY is indebted to Mrs. Coltman Rogers for the loan of a copy of this interesting diary, the original of which is among the old family papers at Stanage Park. Although the writer was not a Radnor- shire man, he lived near the Radnorshire border and sold his livestock at Knighton Market. He was, moreover, an ancestor of the Rogers family, who have been closely connected with the county for the last 150 years. The diary was transcribed by Mrs. Coltman Rogers, and we cannot do better than reproduce as an introduction some of the notes which she added to the transcription. A few entries in the diary which are of a purely personal character have been omitted. The notes to which Mrs. Coltman Rogers refers, relating to weather, crops and cattle, form a separate volume and are not printed below. They have been closely studied by the Meteorological Office, who found the notes of particular value, as they had no other weather records for the period covered. W.H.H. Notes made by Mrs. Coltman Rogers. The writer of this diary, Thomas Lyke of Whitcot Keyes, Shropshi,re was the second son of Thomas Lyke, born 16-(?), died 1720, only child of Richard Lyke of Shipton, in Corve Dale. Thomas, the father, was Coroner for the county, and, together with his younger son Thomas, farmed and owned a good deal of land between Bishop's Castle and the Longmynd. Thomas Lyke, junior, was born in 1670 and died in 1733. He began his diary in 1697, but made a quantity of notes relating to weather, crops, and cattle from 1691 to 1708 in addition. He seems to have had some training as a solicitor, but I cannot find out where he was educated. He was a shrewd observer of nature, and the diary contains copious entries relating to yields of corn and sales of cattle and sheep. Whitcot Keyes lies in a beautiful part of Shropshire, still untouched by modern restlessness. Thomas Lyke married first Miss Wellings, whose marriage, we read, was arranged by Mr. Edwards of the Comb," 24 Feb., 1707. She died without issue, and he married secondly Mary, daughter of John and Margery Clerke of Bleddfa, by whom he had two daughters (a) Mary,