Start Here — Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr)

page · Updated 2026-10-20T03:22:44 · Original source

Evidence labels: PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD = the scan/copy is held and linked; PRESS REPORT = contemporary newspaper reporting; CATALOGUE ENTRY ONLY = a reference, not the underlying record; TESTIMONY = a named family member’s recorded statement, linked to their page under Testimony; SOURCE PENDING = no document or identified speaker yet; HYPOTHESIS = inference to be tested. Fraud and concealment are allegations under investigation; the pages show the evidence for and against them.

Testimony: what each family member has said or written on record, one page per person, with dates and references → Testimony.

What happened?

[PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD] Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough, was the subject of possession litigation after the Williams/Buckler family’s long occupation. The reported history includes a 1916 yearly tenancy of the farm, WGR’s acquisition of the reversion in 1938, possession proceedings affecting most of the farm in 1955, and separate proceedings concerning the farmhouse and garden in 1962.

[PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD: plan and page 2] 1939 WGR–John Williams agreement (DBDT123/7): plan shows Parcel B only, highlighted (Media item 88). Typed terms visible: monthly let, eight shillings a month, “as meadow or pasture land”; tenant John Williams; landlord Western Ground Rents Ltd (Glamorgan Archives catalogue) [EV-0023]. Page 1 (parcels, acreage): not held — PENDING. DBDT123/7 page.

[PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD; registration file incomplete] The HMLR application dates are 30 November 1982 (WA231076) and 23 February 1983 (WA240304). Mary (Nancy) Williams died on 26 March 1983. The 1988 possession and demolition sequence is recorded in contemporary press and official heritage/planning records; each type of record must be assessed separately.

Key dates

To 1938. The Williams family farmed Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough, as Bute estate tenants (tenancy 1916) [PENDING: EV-0014]. In 1938 the estate sold to Western Ground Rents Ltd (WGR) [PENDING: EV-0019]. [PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD]
1955–62. WGR obtained possession orders against Frederick Buckler, Mary (Nancy) Williams’s husband; neither was executed [PENDING: EV-0032; PENDING: EV-0041]. [PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD] Mary (Nancy) Williams’s c.1974 statement says the farmhouse, buildings and about 10 acres (“Parcel A”) were sold by the Bute Estate to Daniel Thomas, with the freehold to pass to her grandfather when quarrying ceased, separately from the Bute tenancy (“Parcel B”). [TESTIMONY: Mary (Nancy) Williams]
1958. As “Mrs. M D. Buckler”, Mary told the county planning committee that three councils and WGR had “walked in and taken” the family’s land. [PRESS REPORT: Western Mail, 20 Nov 1958, p.7]
1969–75. WGR conveyed to BP Pension Trust (31 Dec 1969). On 31 Oct 1974 BP’s agents wrote to “Mrs Buckler (Mrs Williams)” granting a licence; on 23 May 1975 the farmhouse passed to BP Properties Ltd [PENDING: EV-0050]. [PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD]
1982–83. BP applied to register the land (WA231076, 30 Nov 1982) and the farmhouse and garden (WA240304, 23 Feb 1983) [PENDING: EV-0066]. Mary died on 26 Mar 1983. [PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD: HMLR schedule]
1984–88. Writ 22 May 1984. Hollis J heard the case on 10 Jul 1986 and gave judgment for BP on 24 Jul 1986 [PENDING: EV-0074]. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on 31 Jul 1987; the House of Lords refused leave on 3 Mar 1988 [PENDING: EV-0076]. BP took possession on 29 Nov 1988 and demolished the farmhouse from 6 Dec 1988. [PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD; PRESS REPORT: South Wales Echo, 25 Jul 1986 p.3 and Nov–Dec 1988]

What did the 1987 Court of Appeal decide?

[PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD — BP Properties Ltd v Buckler [1987] EWCA Civ 2] On 31 July 1987 the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal about possession of the farmhouse and garden [EV-0080]. The judgment considered limitation and the legal effect of the 1974 licence letters. The High Court hearing took place on 10 July 1986, but judgment was given on 24 July 1986. Do not treat the appeal as deciding every later question about root title or the incomplete 1982–83 registration files.

Open questions and honest status

[HYPOTHESIS] Open question: whether the title deeds and plans supporting the registrations covered the land now called Parcel A, and whether the registration files properly record notice and the competing family interest. No lead yet proves dishonesty. The 1983 WA240304 certificate is the strongest current lead because its supporting file can be tested; the certificate alone is not proof of wrongdoing. Whether notice was sent, to whom and when remains open.

Five priority records and how to obtain them

[CATALOGUE ENTRY ONLY] HMLR WA240304, item 11, Form 1C: order an official copy of the document with HMLR Form OC2 (£11 per document), quoting the title number and item 11; the same form covers the items dated 8 and 12 April 1983 and the 1905 conveyance on WA231076.
[CATALOGUE ENTRY ONLY] The WA240304 file items dated 8 and 12 April 1983: request full copies, enclosures and notice/service records from HMLR.
[CATALOGUE ENTRY ONLY] The 23 February 1905 conveyance on WA231076: request the deed and plan from HMLR; cross-check Bute estate material at Glamorgan Archives.
[PRIMARY DOCUMENT HELD] The 11 June 1965 Llandough school conveyance (EV-0042, read 18 Oct 2026): recites a 5 Mar 1962 WGR → Lakeside & Llandough Development Co conveyance “with other property” and a £75,000 charge; the 1965 contract names “a Conveyance on sale dated 25th December 1938” as the root of title (EV-0216). The site adjoins “Llandough Farm” (OS 57), not the farmhouse, woods or green. Next: the 1962 conveyance plan and the rest of Glamorgan County Council deed wallet 1756 (Vale FOI).
[CATALOGUE ENTRY ONLY] The VG41 register sheet, ownership section: ask the Vale as commons registration authority, and use Glamorgan Archives DCVG/C/7/9–10 as a finding aid.

For underlying documents and detailed analysis see the Evidence Library, The Two Parcels, the reported litigation, the Missing Records Register, the Evidence Register, the email threads with each institution (correspondence pages, e.g. Llandough Community Council, HM Land Registry), and the Master Change Log. New source leads are listed on Press and Archive Leads. Editing Protocol · Agent index.

Source screening: what has been ruled out and what remains open

Do not treat similarly named farms, Cardiff building leases, stale imported summaries or unsupported app wording as proof of Williams title or fraud. The Kissed Frogs screening register records each exclusion and its reason, while keeping potentially relevant survey, rate-book, title-file and public-authority evidence in separate tracks.

For the critical identity distinction, the NLW D 219 catalogue lists Cydfin / Tŷ Mawr Farm (107 acres) separately from Llandough Farm (166 acres): official catalogue.

E-book: this archive is also available as one searchable PDF, Great House Farm — The Evidence Archive (2,064 pages, £49.99).

Change history is maintained on the Master Change Log; no separate page-local version footer is maintained.