The Ladies of Llangollen

by Elizabeth Mavor

Eleanor Butler's family wanted her to enter a convent. Sarah Ponsonby was fending off the unwanted attentions of her guardian. All that both women wanted was to live together and devote their lives to each other, and in 1778 they ran away from their aristocratic homes in Ireland to settle in Llangollen, Wales, to devote themselves to 'delicious seclusion' and 'romantic friendship'. Their chosen path was not an easy one: their families disowned them, and, accustomed to a comfortable life, they were soon in debt. This did not stop them transforming Plas Newydd, the little cottage they chose, into the Gothic residence of their dreams, complete with well-stocked library and extensive gardens, while dabbling in genteel farming, and carrying out a rigorous programme of correspondence and self-improvement. Their determination to live private lives away from the glare of society was compromised by their growing celebrity, and prominent members of the intelligentsia and the literary and political circles of the day found their way to Plas Newydd to enjoy their company and wit and to admire their achievements. The Ladies lived into devoted old age, caring for each other to the last, and became a local legend.
Elizabeth Mavor brings these two characters vividly to life: Eleanor with her forceful personality, French education and crippling migraines, and Sarah, much younger and more retiring, but quietly assertive as well as caring. This well researched and beautifully written account examines the nature of their intimate relationship, the relevance or otherwise of the term 'lesbian', and the notion of 'romantic friendship' in the eighteenth century and later. She takes an often humorous look at their tempestuous relations with family, friends, servants, neighbours and the polite society that they rejected in favour of the very special world they created for themselves.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian, Biography Memoir

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
The Blurb from the back of the book: “Lady Eleanor Butler was 29 when she first met Sarah Ponsonby, a sensitive retiring girl of 13. Ten years later the two ladies eloped. Amid scenes of scandal and havoc they settled in an idyllic cottage in Llangollen where their unorthodox relationship blossomed, and their generous, civilised way of living became a legend.” They lived together for over 50 years and were only parted by death.
The story of Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby has long been one that has fascinated and Elizabeth Mavor has done a good job of cutting through all the myths and telling their story in a competent and scholarly way. Both women were members of the Anglo-Irish upper class. Both were women and therefore not going to inherit and so a good marriage was what was expected of them. Eleanor was bookish and was interested in literature and language (much to the annoyance of her family) and as she was 39 in 1778 and was now unlikely to marry her family planned to place her in a convent. Sarah was 16 years younger and had been friends with Eleanor for ten years; they lived only two miles apart. Sarah was orphaned and living with her guardian Sir William Fownes and his family. Sir William’s wife was ailing and he saw Sarah as a ready-made replacement and Sarah was suffering from his unwanted intentions. Both had good reason to want to be somewhere else. They hatched a plan to live together in England and dressed in men’s clothing they set out for Waterford and the ferry. They were captured and endured a period of detention by their families. Eleanor escaped again and was hidden in Sarah’s bedroom for ten days. Eventually and reluctantly the families gave way and the two women left Ireland and settled in Llangollen in Wales in a cottage called Plas Newydd. Here they lived for over 50 years.
The story of their elopement and their new way of life became well known. They developed their cottage and their garden, kept a very detailed journal, corresponded voluminously, studied literature and languages and very rarely spent time away from their retreat (two nights in 17 years according to Mavor). Their fame spread and their list of visitors is impressive: Wordsworth, Southey, Byron, Shelley, Sir Walter Scott, the Duke of Wellington (a longstanding friend), Josiah Wedgwood, Lady Caroline Lamb, Dr Johnson, various assorted members of the royal family and several continental princes and princesses. Their fame has continued and they influenced the suffragettes; one suffragette, Mary Gordon wrote a biography of them based on the new psychotherapeutic ideas. Colette wrote about them in Ces Plaisirs in 1932 and Simone de Beauvoir mentions them in The Second Sex.
Inevitably people have speculated about their relationship; they shared a bedroom and a bed; their relationship was private and its nature is not really known. There was a tradition of romantic friendships between women in the eighteenth century with novels like Millennium Hall by Sarah Scott portrayed a feminine utopia. This sort of literature was almost certainly known to both women. They referred to each other as My Beloved (shortened to My B) or my Better Half and often entwined their signatures. They created scandal in some circles, but were accepted by most. They were rather traditional in their political views, quite conservative, worried by the French Revolution and the spread of radicalism (and Methodism, which also worried them).

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book about the lives of Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby. Two 18th Century aristocratic Irish women, who ran away to Wales because they wanted to live together. They were both disowned by their families. The two women lived at Plas Newydd, Llangollen and transformed the place into the home of their dreams. Despite wanting to live quite a reclusive life, the women became quite well known and very often had visitors such as Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott etc., from the literary and political circles, all of whom admired the achievements of the two women.

Plas Newydd, Llangollen is now a museum https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/vi...

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love queer love. A year in the idyllic lesbian cottage life of Eleanor Butler & Sarah Ponsonby, who escaped from Ireland together in 1778 to rural Wales and had a sequence of dogs named 'Sapho'.

These are all the terms of endearment they use for each other in the journal & letter extracts: 'my Beloved', 'my love', 'my B', 'Better half', 'delight of my heart', 'Joy of my life', 'sweet love', 'Most Angelic of Friends', 'my hearts darling', 'Beloved of My heart', 'my Tender, my sweet love', 'my dearest', 'my kindest love', 'My Beloved'.

Even more moving that everyone adored these two eccentrically-dressed 'inseparable inimitables', and the world flocked to visit them (some of whom they refused to admit). Anne Lister visited them and dreamed of such a life.

I think the 'Year' structure for this edition is a creative one, and provides a sweet insight into the daily life of the Ladies, but I'd like to edit an edition which was more chronological in its selection. 5* for the content rather than its arrangement -- though I also enjoyed the list of characters at the beginning that included one for 'Enemies'.

[Rosemary Atwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the year grows stranger, I find myself pulling out titles that have managed to escape countless shelf purges. 'The Ladies of Llangollen' is one of them. Elizabeth Mavor's fascinating portrait of Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby is an elegant biography that delivers on a range of levels - a penetrating and perceptive dissecting of morals, manners, agricultural practices, architectural and horticultural fashions and more.

This is rich and rewarding reading that really brings the late 18th and early 19th centuries to life - a period of political and social unrest with a seemingly inexhaustible cast of eccentrics and larger-than-life characters. Highly recommended as an antidote for these unsocial times.

[Marguerite Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this, but to be perfectly honest, I found The Ladies rather tedious.

I first read about them in a book about canal journeys and was intrigued - two women who gave up the world to set up house together, and who became sort of mini Georgian celebrities. I was instantly on their side - to eschew marriage and family for independence at the time took some guts and determination. And they did indeed have guts and determination, and some ingenuity too, in actually eloping from Ireland all the way to Wales. But sadly, there my admiration ended.

The ladies had a very, very strong sense of entitlement that quickly riled me. Though they had given up their families, they expected their families to support them, and when the funds were insufficient for their aesthetic needs, they turned to the state. And unbelievably, they got a pension. For me, there were far too many inconsistencies in their ethos. They claimed to have run away from the world, but were happy for the world to come and visit - though not happy when the world judged. Their 'small' needs were not small at all. Their little 'cottage' was constantly upgraded and embellished with funds they didn't have, and their collections, in particular of books, were constantly augmented. They were quick to judge and came over as rather up themselves, frankly - so that by half way through, I heartily disliked them.

This was a well written and researched book which was definitely not a hagiography. The ladies were criticised and analysed, but ultimately, it felt like a book that simply ran out of subject matter, for there was nothing much to say of them, in the end, I'm afraid.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed and informative, but strangely structured and focuses too much on less interesting detail. | Throughout the book, the author references people chapters before she introduces them, so the reader is constantly getting quotes from and information about people with no idea who they are or how they were connected with the ladies. She also seems to expect that every reader is fully conversant with not just the European history of the late 18th century, but with every single person of note from the time. She regularly references people by just their surname or title, without background, and assumes the reader will know if they were an artist, a politician, a writer, etc. The book really gets into the weeds when it's reporting every single charitable thing the ladies did, every letter asking for money, every falling out, every visitor. It became quite repetitive. All that said, there couldn't be better scholarship on the subject, simply because nobody could be more comprehensive.

[Becka · Rating 3 out of 5]

For over 50 years “they were able to create a peaceful Eden apart from the ordinary world.”

Well researched, written and documented about these two women who chose each other. In a time where women had to financially be dependent on men and benefactors, they managed to create a simple life and lasting legacy.

“True friendship is a divine and spiritual relation of minds, an union of souls, a marriage of hearts, a harmony of designs and affections, which being entered into by mutual consent, groweth up into the purest kindness and most enduring love, maintaining itself by the openest freedom, the warmest sympathy, and the closest secrecy.”

[Susan Baranoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

By God I finished it! I started reading this book in December of 2022. It is not an easy read and there is no audiobook so it became my "waiting room book". I was interested in the story, but found the language and verbosity pretty thick. I appreciate that the "closer to the truth" story of these two women has finally been published. Their home still stands in North Wales and is open to the public. The truth of the physical intimacy of the relationship or lack thereof remains shrouded in time. What we do know is these two women made a life and a home together in a time when women did not do those things. Their relationship was deep, romantic, and devoted. It matters not what they did or did not do in private, what matters is they were for each other family.

52BookClub 2025 Reading Challenge
Prompt # 22: Found family trope

[Sharon Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Elizabeth Mavor is probably the most exhaustive treatment in existence of the once-famous "Ladies of Llangollen" - two women who battled their families to allow them to escape the normal upper-class feminine fate of either marriage or a convent. They lived in the late eighteenth-early nineteenth century, the privileged offspring of two families of the Irish Protestant Ascendancy. Lady Eleanor Butler was the elder and more dominant of the two. She was regarded by her family as an over-educated bookworm and was sometimes characterised as "satirical". What this probably means is that she was a bit too intelligent and forceful in personality to be happy in a conventional marriage! Sarah Ponsonby's personality is harder to bring into focus; she seems to have been gentle and compliant, which would have suited Eleanor.

In 1778, deciding they wanted only to live together in "romantic friendship", the two women made a break for it, dressing in men's attire and taking a boat to Wales. They were soon hunted down and returned to their families; however, their absolute determination to be together caused the families to finally relent and they were allowed to leave.

After hunting for a place to stay, they leased a house which they named "Plas Newydd" (New Hall) in the small town (or large village) of Llangollen. Here they settled down to occupy themselves reading, writing, drawing and building a much-praised garden. Their lives were uneventful and their days almost rigidly structured, judging from the entries in Eleanor's journal. They were accompanied by a sympathetic housemaid, Mary Carryll, for cooking and basic chores. They also employed other "help", about which they complained much, in the habit of the upper classes. The odd thing is that they managed to do all this in a constant state of financial hardship. They had been allocated a niggardly allowance by their wealthy families, but eventually, through influential contacts, managed to secure pensions. These, however, were often months in arrears - in part due to the Napoleonic wars - so the ladies existed on loans from generous friends. Despite these circumstances, the ladies continually overspent: if the garden needed treatment, or the rooms needed painting, they went right ahead and got it done!

As time went by, they became a kind of tourist attraction: many famous names of the day visited them, including poets Wordsworth, Shelley and Byron and the novelist Sir Walter Scott. They also kept up a voluminous correspondence with their growing list of friends. They became firm favourites in their neighbourhood and regularly gave whatever they could spare to the needy.

Eleanor Butler, predictably, died first, reaching the age of 90. Sarah Ponsonby, who had cared devotedly for Eleanor into her dotage, died only two years later; although only in her seventies, perhaps she did not want to go on living without Eleanor.

This absorbing account of their lives cannot tell us whether they had a sexual relationship or not, but it hardly matters: their partnership was fulfilling for them both and better than many marriages.

[Julie Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting insight into the life of the Ladies.

[AmyH · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ladies of Llangollen follows the lives of Sarah Ponsonby and Eleanor Butler, with a mostly chronological journey through their early years and family dynamics, how they met and ultimately eloped together in the 1770s, followed by their settling in the small Welsh village of Llangollen. Living a (fairly) secluded life together focussed on personal betterment they became mini celebrities of the day, being viewed as models of a life of 'retirement', and sometimes as eccentrics. We follow their growing fame, being visited by and corresponding with many names of the day including royalty, interspersed with chapters focussing on particular topics, and finally their failing health and their legacy up to the time of publication.

Given that The Ladies were famous due to their elopement and living together for over 50 years, it feels harsh to say that the most interesting parts of the books were before this occurred. Their elopement is genuinely exciting, full of disguising themselves as men, brandishing pistols, flights across the countryside and recapture by scores of angry relatives.
Mavor is an engaging author, using a variety of sources such as letter and journals to give direct quotes from the participants and build up a really strong sense of the characters of everyone involved. Her writing is also interspersed with plenty of wry observations and jokes, she is clearly dedicated to her subject matter but not above poking fun and some of the Ladies more ridiculous foibles. The Ladies can certainly come across as entitled (particularly to other people’s money), and on Eleanor’s part prone to falling out over the smallest slights. Whilst there shouldn’t be an obligation to make people, particularly real people, likeable, this could have been balanced out by more examples of their supposed charity, though perhaps the small list of examples given were the only ones available.

Unfortunately, Mavor's writing is let down by what made Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby famous in the first place. From the start of their retirement they had a strict 'System' to keep them occupied with reading, learning languages and generally bettering themselves. It's all very commendable but ultimately becomes very repetitive as the years tick on, with several chapters endlessly cycling through their System, money worries and petty squabbles with their friends and families.

Thankfully, there are several chapters following specific topics rather than the stricter chronology of the rest of the book to give some variety. Some, like the chapter on their correspondences simply rehashes information from the previous chapters, but others offer welcome depth. The discussion about female relationships is a particular highlight, as it helps to put Eleanor and Sarah in their wider social context of the types of relationships between women, and the ideal lives that they aspired to. Whilst Mavor doesn’t rule out that they may have been lesbians, and there were several suggestions that they were in their own time, there are some phrases and words like ‘romantic friendship’ and elopement used to describe them which didn’t have the romantic-couple meanings they have today. Other aspects like their ‘men’s’ haircuts and clothing were as much outdated female fashion trends and practical countryside clothing items respectively, rather than simply ‘dressing like men’. Again, exactly where their relationship would fall on a contemporary platonic-romantic scale isn’t determined, and unless secret diaries a la Anne Lister are discovered we will never know for sure, with Mavor wisely leaving it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Despite the slight slog in the middle, the book ends on a touching emotional note. The story of their relationship must include its ending, and a relationship as dedicated as that between Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby could only be ended by death. Again, Mavor’s writing is allowed to shine, this time with a simple but incredibly moving touch that definitely made me shed a tear.

Despite my issues with the book, I’m still glad to have read it. Eleanor and Sarah were such unusual characters that it was fascinating to read about the kind of lives that women could forge for themselves at that time, even though this was undoubtedly only possible because of the funding of their aristocratic families, even in their estrangement. Elizabeth Mavor’s writing helps to add both wit and warmth to her impressive research, even if the repetition of the Ladies lives and the endless lists of their many acquaintances occasionally overwhelm the text. Thankfully there’s an index, but perhaps a set of family trees and a dramatic personae type list at the front would be helpful for a future edition!

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

täielik nišilugemine nišiteemal - mind isiklikult on Llangolleni daamid huvitanud sellest ajast peale, kui ükskord sattusin vihmasel päeval Llangollenis olema ja otsisin meelelahutust siseruumides ja leidsin Lonely Planeti abil leedide maja. mis osutus jäneseuruks, kust ma pole aastaid päriselt välja saanud - kogu see lugu tundus nii uskumatu ja veider ja seejuures päris keerukas oli mingit adekvaatset infot leida selle kõige kohta. nii otsisingi lõpuks välja raamatu, mida ka lihtne leida ja hankida ei olnud - mitu aastat on see teema mu aju tagasoppides tiksunud. isegi maja käisin teist korda veel vaatamas vahepeal.

et see lugu siis - aastal 1778 põgenesid kaks iiri naist kodust, reisisid Walesi ja seadsid end ühes kauges külakeses sisse, et elada loodusega harmoonias ja maailmast eraldatult. järgnes 50 aastat suhet, mida ilmselt ikkagi võiks tänapäeva mõistes kutsuda õnnelikuks abieluks/kooseluks. spekulatsioone selle suhte seksuaalse osa kohta on levitatud kakssada aastat, aga Mavori raamat võtab kena diskreetse joone ja ütleb: täpset infot meil ei ole, aga äkki pole eriti meie asi ka. või umbes niisuguse tooni ma sealt välja lugesin.

raamat põhineb hästi selgelt kirjalikel allikatel - leedide enda kirjavahetused sõprade, sugulaste ja tolle aja tuntud inimestega; nende päevikud ja arveraamatud; kaasaegsete memuaarid.

võibolla nende arveraamatute tõttu on päris suur rõhk kogu selle loo finantsilisel küljel ja järele mõeldes see ongi väga huvitav osa kogu loost - see tollaegne... vaese aadliku privilegeeritustunne? kuidas prouadel ei tule hetkekski pähe selline idee nagu endale ise elatise teenimine või ka näiteks kokkuhoid teenijate ja majapidamise arvelt (neile hirmsasti meeldis oma maja ümber ehitada); ja kogu nende elu keerleb ümber selle, milliselt valitsuselt õnnestuks mis ettekäänetel pension välja kaubelda (hämmastaval kombel õnnestus ka, nii iiri kui briti omadelt, kuigi maksed hilinesid alailma ja kogu aeg tuli tagant torkida), millised sugulased võiksid rahaliselt toetada ja kelle pärandusest on midagi juurde loota. elu lõpupoole nad vist ikka väikses plaanis põllumajanduslikku äri pidasid, st müüsid oma talu kartuleid ja muud pudipadi. aga ega nad neid ise ei kasvatanud, tööjõukulud olid ikka. üks hämmastavamaid fakte nende finantside kohta on see, et kui suri nende kauaaegne teenija, siis tema pärandas neile tüki maad, mis tal oli õnnestunud oma palgast kõrvale pandud raha eest ära osta!

teine läbiv teema on nende seltsielu, kui nii võib öelda - hoolimata sellest, et nad elasid eraldatuses eikuskil ja kodust väljas tõesti suuremat ei käinud (ehkki müüdiks on tunnistatud väited "ei ööbinud 50 aasta jooksul ühtegi ööd kodust eemal"), olid nad siiski väga... tuntud. neil käis päris palju kuulsaid külalisi ja suur osa ajast kulus neil kirjavahetustele, mh jällegi tolleaegsete tuntud kirjanike, väiksema kaliibri kroonitud peadega (no mingid printsid ja vürstid, nii briti, prantsuse kui vene omad). nad lugesid palju, õppisid omaette selgeks itaalia ja hispaania keele... mõlemad olid tolleaegsete naiste kohta väga haritud algusest peale. nii et tundub, et tegu oligi huvitavate vestluskaaslastega, kellega kohtumise nimel tasus reisida kohta, kuhu isegi praegu on kohutavalt aeganõudev ja keeruline reisida, ma tean, sest ma olen käinud :)

raamatu lõpupeatükis käiakse läbi ka kõik nendega seotud müüdid-kuulujutud, mis annavad jälle pildi sellest, kui palju huvi nad oma eluajal tekitasid ja kui erilised ja veidrad tundusid. (veidrusest rääkides, nad elasid oma elu enamvähem meesteriietes, lõikasid juuksed lühikeseks ja puuderdasid neid veel aastakümneid pärast seda, kui ülejäänud maailm oli juustepuuderdamise kombest loobunud. ja nende maja Langollenis tasub külastad ajuba selle nimel, et näha juustepuuderdamiskappi!)

ühesõnaga, minu ootusi täitis see teos täiesti, ma sain teada täpselt neid asju, mida ma teada tahtsin, ja kuigi see lugemine oli kohati pingutav (kõigil nende sõbrannadel-korrespondentidel oli päris raske vahet teha), olen ikkagi rahul. tühja koha pealt seda lugema hakates võibolla nii põnev ei ole.

[Karen Levi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1970, with an afterword from 2011, this scholarly work could have been written in a more straightforward manner. I applaud the writer's research, but the writing style was flowerly and circuitous due to the use of embedded quotes and many references unknown to the typical person. Thankfully, I had a broad understanding of European history; however, other than experts in 18th century British events, readers are bound to be confused. I enjoyed reading about upper class English (and Irish Loyalist) life during this period, known as The Regency.
The notion of romantic frienships has interested me. Romantic meant fanciful more than sexual during those times. It is understandable that intelligent, independent women found their fates frightening. We do not know the number of women who "ran away."
Whether these two women were lesbians is unclear precisely because of the period. Admitting this identity would have been dangerous. Certainly, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby could have been heterosexual, rebellious, and intellectual women who had great affection for one another. The specific identification does not matter, as it should not today.
Given we are tied up in knots over labels proves we have not attained equality. Lesbian or not, sexual or not are semantic considerations. And now they are political designations which have been advantageous given the rights homosexuals have obtained. Hopefully, in the future men and women can choose to live together and be sexual--or not--and omit designations. We are observing this trend now with young people, for example binary/nonbinary, etc.

[The Idle Woman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The elopement was an immediate scandal. On the night of 30 March 1778, Sarah Ponsonby – then aged 23 – climbed from the window of her guardians’ house near Inistioge, County Kilkenny, dressed as a man and carrying a pistol and her pet dog. In a nearby barn, her dear friend Eleanor Butler – aged 39 – was waiting for her, having likewise escaped from her family at Kilkenny Castle. The two women were tracked down by their panicking relatives two days later at Waterford, on the brink of boarding the ferry to England. Swept back home in disgrace, Sarah promptly fell desperately ill, while Eleanor was threatened (not for the first time) with dispatch to a French convent. As the locality buzzed with rumours, the two friends were driven by desperation to another madcap act, and Eleanor managed to evade her family once again in order to join Sarah at her guardians’ house. After ignoring all appeals of propriety and ‘reason’, the two women announced that they were determined to go away and make a life together. By early May, their exhausted families had accepted this decision and, in early May, they once again travelled to Waterford and thence to Wales. An initial tour of the country led them to the pleasant vale at Llangollen in northern Wales, where they rented a cottage which would remain their home – and bring them increasing notoreity – for the next six decades...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/03/16/t...

[Piret Dahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sain lõpuks läbi. Iseenesest ei olnud eriti mõnus lugemine, aga ma ikka tahtsin teada, et mis edasi saab... no midagi eriti ei saanud. Täitsa tavaline elu, rahamured, aga need lahenesid alati kuidagi, tähtsad külalised, aga neist midagi eriti ei kirjutatud. Võibolla natuke huvitavamaks läks selles kohas, kus leedid juba mõlemad surnud olid, ja et mis siis nende majast edasi sai ja mis nende kohta (valesti) räägiti ja kirjutati. Seda raamatut lihtsalt ei ole osatud huvitavaks kirjutada.
Ainus asi - nüüd ma tahan sinna Plas Newyddisse tagasi minna ja põhjalikumalt vaadata. Ma tahan näha kogu aeda, ja ma tahan majja sisse saada ja näha seda puuderdamiskappi. Ma tahan Llangollenis ringi kõndida. Raamat esmailmus 1971. aastal. Oi, sellest on ju juba pool sajandit möödas! Autor ütleb, et maja on "külm ja tühi", aga eelmisel aastal oli seal igatahes külastuskeskus (no see oli jõulude puhul kinni) ja ilmselt seal enam nii külm ja tühi pole, kui 1971. aastal. Samas jälle, kui see maja peale leedide surma oksjonil tühjaks müüdi, siis päris autentselt pole ilmselt taastatud...
Kahtlemata olid need leedid ühed kangekaelsed ja kanged naised, kuigi võibolla mitte kõike seda, mida nende kohta aja jooksul kirjutatud on.

[Kathy Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in a period when women had very limited options to choose their own path, and support themselves, these two upper class Irish ladies set off to establish their own home and garden in Wales. In doing so they actually become quite famous. Reminded me of how many restrictions society placed on women during that age.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the definitive biography of the two ladies. There are plenty of quotes from their own writings or contemporaries about or to them. I wish the quotes in French had been translated.
Whether you're interested in Llangollen, history, LGBTQI+ there's something to inspire everyone.
Like the property itself it will be worth revisiting to glean some new anecdote afresh.

[Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atque qui non. Blanditiis officiis pariatur quod voluptas nisi et est. Sit porro occaecati dolor maxime voluptatum. Officia commodi perferendis sint. Culpa fuga cupiditate aut velit aliquam unde ea.

[Laura]

Whether or not they were lesbians is not the hill I would die on, but how and ever it seems to be so for this author. We will never know and it hardly matters.

[Gail Holman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough slog. Lots of names I didn't know or care to know but the big picture was delightful to take in and I one day hope to visit Plas Newydd. It looks beautiful.

[Irram Irshad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really funny, moving, educational. Visited Plas Newydd, very interesting. Llangollen is a lovely town.

[Jane Vulcu · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In 1778, to the fury of their aristocratic families, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby eloped and fled to North Wales, to LLangollen." Safe from the threat of arranged marriages, the two women spent the next fifty years together on a small farm near a sleepy village. Though there was no lack of speculation at the time, to this day no one knows whether their relationship was sexual or not. While they had disregarded the demands of the upper class by eloping, they were extremely conservative in other respects and remained very conscious of their place in the social hierarchy. Famed for their eccentricity and their gardening, visitors and correspondents included the Duke of Wellington, Wordsworth, Byron, Sir Walter Scott, and Edmund Burke. In this book, selections from their letters, journals, and account books provide a view of their everyday life and the mores of their social class. Unfortunately, the editor (Elizabeth Mavor) chose to organize her material by month, regardless of the year. Each chapter begins with the earliest material and ends with the latest material for that particular month which has a jarring effect as the ladies are suddenly 40 years younger at the start of each chapter. The inevitable changes in the two women and in society over time are obscured by this format. However, the book is still an entertaining read, and I was left wanting to find more excerpts from their journals.

[Hannah Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're going to reject men in the late 1700s you might as well do it in a fun way by escaping your aristocratic families and moving to a remote house in Wales, where people will speculate about your lesbianism for centuries to come.
Found this on a bookshelf in my girlfriend's family house in Llangollen and the lesbian override kicked in so I had to read as much of it as I could before we left (I couldn't finish everything).
Shoutout to the section at the beginning which listed "ENEMIES."
The writing from Sarah and Eleanor is lovely but the editing is... interesting. I would love a chronological edition! For that reason I am giving it 3 stars, but please know I would give our ladies themselves 5.

[Grimmthorny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating source material, rendered frustrating by the editing.

The book comprises excerpts from: the journal of Eleanor Butler; the household accounts & recipe book; letters to/ from the Butler & Ponsonby household; and letters between various contemporaries commenting on the ladies. Not only are the journal entries and letter excerpts 1778-1828 grouped by month, the source of the entries is noted at the end of each entry, which for the longer entries means that one first has to guess the writer and addressee.

[Gina Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my most favorites

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12769479

[Meg Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the lives of the ladies of Plas Newydd, free from embellishment or speculation about their relationship, based on their correspondence and diaries.

[Graham S · Rating 2 out of 5]

could not get that interested in the 2 ladies however unconventional their lives.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

My copy is a different edition and is liberally sprinkled with engravings by Thomas Bewick. The diary entries are fascinating/annoying in equal measure. The ladies are incredibly snobbish but have a lot of prejudice heaped upon them as well.