The Ormsby-Gores
Sir Robert Owen's heir was William Owen, who was still a teenager when his father died prematurely, leaving considerable debts. William's financial position was much improved by his marriage in 1730 to Mary, daughter of Dr Henry Godolphin, Dean of St Paul's and Provost of Eton. William then extensively renovated Porkington (Brogyntyn).
The Brogyntyn estate
(left)
descended to the eldest surviving son, Robert Godolphin Owen (1733-1792), who remained a bachelor. In the absence of
male heirs the estate was inherited by Robert's sister Margaret (1736-1806), who in 1777 married Owen Ormsby of Willowbrook,
co. Sligo. It is said that John Owen of Moynes Court had hoped to marry their daughter and heiress to Brogyntyn, Clenennau,
Glyn and her father's lands in Ireland, Mary Jane Ormsby (1781-1869). Despite the fact she chose to marry in 1815 William
Gore, another Irish landowner, who assumed the additional family name of Ormsby, John of Moynes Court bequeathed his house
and estates to her when he died s.p. in 1823; they were, after all, cousins. Unfortunately she lavished attention on
Porkington, completely renovating it, and neglected Penrhos Hall which fell into disrepair and was demolished in the 1880s.
Mary Jane's son, John Ralph Ormsby Gore (1816-1876) was created the first Baron or Lord Harlech in 1876, shortly before he died and the title has remained in the family ever since.