Sub-fonds Uncatalogued - Uncatalogued material

Powis Castle Estate Records held at the National Library of Wales (NLW) which have not been arranged and remain uncatalogued. In particular, they relate to: the Irish plantation estate at Castleisland, co. Kerry, estates that were not part of the main Powis estate but which were closely connected to it (including the Herbert of Cherbury estates, the Clive estates and the Powis estates in Northamptonshire, Middlesex and Westminster); actions in Westminster courts; correspondence; rentals; manorial court records; surveys and maps; and papers of individual members of the Herbert families of Montgomery and Powis.

Volume 1: 1982 Deposit Volumes V1-V591, Boxes 23-33 and Boxes 90-95
Volume 2: 1982 Deposit Boxes 96-180
Volume 3: 1982 Deposit Boxes 181-283, 1979 Deposit Boxes 1-17, 1994 Deposit Box 1, 1996 Deposit Boxes 1-5, and 1996 Purchase Boxes 1-25, Rolls 1-9 and Volumes 1-8

Archival material from Powis Castle has been deposited regularly at NLW since 1932, and much of it is covered by the NLW online catalogue of Powis Castle Estate Records, which amalgamates the most recent schedules of Powis Castle Rentals, Powis Castle Maps and Powis Castle Deeds and Documents with earlier catalogues of Powis Castle Deeds, Powis Castle Correspondence, Powis Castle Manorial Records (I and II), Diocese of St Asaph and Bangor Letters and Documents, and Montgomeryshire Chartist Riots Documents. NLW catalogues of archival material received from Powis Castle also include the Edward Herbert of Cherbury Manuscripts and Papers and the Robert Clive Papers, as well as individual NLW MSS. Hard copies of these catalogues are available in the NLW Reading Room.

The NLW catalogue of the Powis Castle archive is not comprehensive, however. A catalogue of the John Carnac Papers, which were purchased with the Robert Clive Papers, is in preparation, but by far the greatest gap in the catalogue relates to the Powis Castle Estate Records. Of the 1982 Deposit, the NLW catalogue covers Boxes 1-22 and 34-89 but not Boxes 23-33 or 90-283. Similarly, although National Trust volunteers have listed Boxes 23-33 and 100-186 and approximately two thirds of the volumes in the 1982 Deposit, the list is incomplete and lacking in detail, it does not allow individual items to be located easily, and much of the information in it is now obsolete. Other uncatalogued Powis Castle deposits at NLW include those made in 1979, 1996 and 2014, and a box that was transferred from Shropshire Archives in 1994. Finally, when the Robert Clive Papers were purchased and catalogued in 1996, the accompanying material relating to the Clive, Powis and Cherbury estates and families (and known as the ‘Clive Papers’ because of their association with the Robert Clive Papers) remained uncatalogued. In total, this means that NLW holds 253 boxes, 1,036 volumes and 9 rolls of Powis Castle Estate Records - more than one third of the archive - that are not covered by NLW catalogues.

The present list is an attempt to alleviate this situation by listing or re-listing all of the Powis Castle Estate Records that are not covered by NLW catalogues. This material has not been arranged but described as found, often without individual call numbers, and many of the earlier documents have been transcribed. The list has been compiled by Murray Ll. Chapman and Dr Melvin Humphreys, with assistance from NLW archivists Dr David Moore and Lucie Hobson. It is the outcome of a project that was undertaken jointly by the Trustees of the Powis Castle Estates, the Powis family and the National Library of Wales in order to improve access to the Powis Castle archive and facilitate better understanding of it.