The Oakeley Dynasty
When Robert Griffith (1715-50) died, his lands
stretched from Pwllheli to Llanegryn. His son Evan
Griffith inherited all his possessions, and their only child,
Margaret Griffith married William Oakeley (1750-1811) of
Forton, Staffordshire in 1789. He was known as Oakeley
Mawr. He entered into partnership with Thomas Assheton Smith
and others in 1809 to run the Dinorwig Quarry. Oakeley Mawr
rebuilt the stables at Tanybwlch, as well as the church at
Maentwrog, a new road from Maentwrog to Harlech as well as
reclaiming a great deal of land from the sea. He was followed by
his son, William Griffith Oakeley (1790-1835) who in
1824-25 alone would receive royalties of twenty five thousand
pounds as his one-tenth share of the profits earned by the
selling of slate that year. At yet, it appears that he was also
strapped for cash, because in 1832 he was forced to sell a great
deal of land. Indeed, it could have been the law action he got
involved in with Nathan Rothschild, (the great Jew) and
the Crown, over the mining rights at Rhiwbryfdir, and the
subsequent removal of the action from Bala to London, that was
responsible for this sale. There were no children from his
marriage, and his heir was his nephew, William Edward
Oakeley, (1831-1912.) He was educated at Eton and Oxford
before marrying in 1860. However, he did not get his hands on the
Tanybwlch estate until 1868, and only then under very interesting
circumstances.
It’s mine, it’s all mine and I want it
It was his aunt, Louisa Jane Oakeley who had responsibility
for the estate not only during the minority of her son but
afterwards, indeed until 1868. She was not an easy lady to
handle, and by the 1860’s had turned into a recluse to all
purposes. She would not even answer or acknowledge any letter
sent to her by her nephew, William Edward Oakeley. Further
more, the slate business was crying out for much needed
attention. Then Louisa disappeared from Plas Tanybwlch and ended
up staying in a hotel at Shrewsbury with her maid. William Edward
decided to press his claims and employed a doctor to diagnose the
state of Louisa’s mental health. According to him she was normal.
The end of the matter was that she was asked simply to transfer
the inheritance to her nephew, to which she agreed readily!
Developing and entrenchment
He rebuilt the plas, took firm control of the quarrying side,
built new houses in Maentwrog village, as well as a new church
and a new school both at Maentwrog and Ty Nant. He served as High
Sheriff for the county in 1874 and was deputy lieutenant, a
justice of the peace, and both a member and alderman of the
Meirionydd County Council. He undertook the running of Holland
and Rhiwbryfdir Quarries and from 1878 until 1882 was solely
responsible for the quarry administration. In that year the
Oakeley Company was formed under his chairmanship. More quarries
were taken over including that of Cwm Orthin in 1900.
Spend, spend, and spend
But appearances can be deceptive. It was one thing to take
over quarries, but capital was also required to run them. The fly
in the ointment was that Oakeley had to borrow sixty thousand
pounds (about six million at today’s value,) for this express
purpose. But the rub was that the quarries taken over did not
produce enough slate to sell to pay the interest on the loans. By
the start of the twentieth century the situation was pressing
evermore especially when the quarry income fell from thirty two
thousand pounds in 1900 to only sixteen thousand pounds in 1904,
the last year the family lived at the Plas ‘Teddy’ the heir was
not perturbed in the least and was still spending money like
water on racing and at his club in London. The situation was
untenable and the estate was auctioned in 1910. However, only one
or two farms were sold in the end.
Going…going…gone
Edward de Clifford William Oakeley, (1864-1919)
inherited Tanybwlch in 1912, which was sold to his niece
Margaret Inge two years later. She however died within a
few months of her uncle in 1919 when her sister Hilda Inge
inherited. On her death in 1953 the estate reverted to her
mother, Mary Caroline Inge, (1865-1961.) Tanybwlch was
sold the following year and the links with the Oakeley family
were severed. One by one the quarries closed culminating in he
closure of the Oakeley Quarry itself in 1971.
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