Welsh Journals

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and in a haphazard manner, methods became more regular and, on the better-managed estates, an abstract of the accounts was drawn up every year for the landowner's approval. Nevertheless, due to the continuing use of the old Charge and Discharge system of accounting, it is possible to suspect that neither steward nor owner usually knew the financial position of the estate in any great detail. On the death of Pleydell Courteen in most respects one of the more capable stewards his accounts were found to be "Very irregular, confused and intricate"[51]. Until the latter part of the eighteenth century there was often considerable uncertainty about the boundaries of particular properties a problem which was gradually overcome as standards of surveying improved and many estates were mapped in detail for the first time. Administration was probably least effective on the larger, older estates, which tended to be very scattered, with large numbers of tenants holding their land on three-life leases. In addition to such practical problems, the fact that the greater landowners were more likely to be at least partly non-resident than were their lesser neighbours increased the chances that their properties would be managed inefficiently or dishonestly. The greater landowners of Glamorgan seem generally to have been reluctant to spend money on tenanted property in this period and this fact, combined with their reliance on stewards and agents to manage their affairs, tended to nullify the advantages that they should have derived from the greater financial resources and expertise which were, in theory, at their disposal. Perhaps lolo Morganwg should have the last word on the estate stewards. He wrote that "The land stewards [of Glamorgan] are in general such, with respect to knowledge and honesty, as their employers seem to be satisfied with"[52]. The administration of an estate was, after all, ultimately the landowner's responsibility; if he demanded only that his steward should concern himself with collecting rents, drawing up leases, keeping accounts and holding the manorial courts, who was the steward to argue? An estate- owner such as Herbert Mackworth of Gnoll, who took a personal interest in the running of his estate and wished to make the most of its resources, would make sure that he employed a steward who would carry out his wishes. One who wanted only his rents would be less particular.