Welsh Journals

Leet Proceedings of the Manor of Arwystli Uwchcoed at the National Library of Wales 1784 to 1800. The late Professor E. A. LEWIS, M.A., D.Litt., D.Sc. with INTRODUCTION By J. CONWAY DAVIES, M.A. INTRODUCTION. The Presentments of the Grand Jury of the Leet and those of the Petty Constables of the townships in the manor of Arwystli Uwchcoed were found by Professor E. A. Lewis while scheduling the Leet Proceedings in the Wynnstay Collection of manorial documents deposited at the National Library of Wales by Sir Herbert Lloyd Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., C.B., Wynnstay. For permission to reproduce them thanks are due to Sir Watkin Williams Wynn and to Mr. W. Llewelyn Davies, M.A., the Librarian of the National Library. The documents have been reproduced as transcribed by Professor Lewis and the present is the first instalment of the later Leet Proceedings of the manor of Arwystli Uwchcoed. Moreover they form but a very small proportion of a mass of transcripts of manorial and other records which Professor Lewis had prepared for the Powysland Club and other publications, illustrative of the history of his native county of Montgomery, for the elucidation of which he had done and, to the end, was engaged in doing such yeoman service. It is some slight consolation to know that for many years it will be possible for contributions from his pen, now unfortunately still for ever, to appear to throw further light upon that history. The present Leet Proceedings are of a later date than any which have hitherto been published for a Montgomeryshire manor, but they do not lack interest for that reason. They are not complete for the various townships in the manor, nor for the regular leets for the period covered, held twice yearly, near Easter and Michaelmas. They are, however, thoroughly representative of Petty Constables presentments for the period and area, and besides illus- trating the long continuance of local customs and activities, prove also the vitality of the leet, at a time when in many parts of the country it had decayed, and in some it had entirely disappeared,