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You will no doubt be familiar with the blue plaques dotted all around the United Kingdom, which commemorate a link between a place and a famous person, event or former building. While there are an estimated 250 blue plaques in Wales, only a handful of these record the achievements of women. Launched on International Women’s Day 2017, is a volunteer-led campaign which awards purple plaques to remarkable women who were Welsh, lived in Wales or had strong links with Wales, many of whom were previously uncelebrated or ‘left out of the history books entirely’. To date, they have awarded 26 plaques, to a range of campaigners, authors, sportswomen, and pioneers in their field, thereby ‘cementing their legacy in Welsh history’. You can see a complete list of purple plaques .

The latest purple plaque is of particular interest to us at the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates, as it commemorates the achievements of a gentlewoman who is closely associated with the Coed Coch estate in Betws-yn-Rhos, in the historic county of Denbighshire. Known as the ‘mother of mycology’, Mary Lloyd Wynne (née Haggitt; 1813–1895) is considered the first female fungi expert of Wales. She was recently the subject of an excellent by Dr John Edmonson, who was one of the people who nominated her for a plaque.

Mary’s interest in fungi began in the 1830s, when she moved from Cambridgeshire to Coed Coch following her marriage to the major Flintshire and Denbighshire landowner John Lloyd Wynne (1807–1887). With its extensive woodland and high rainfall, the Coed Coch estate was the perfect environment for the growth of mushrooms. Mary carefully recorded the species she encountered at her new home in detailed illustrations, and started publishing her findings in the 1850s. She discovered at least five new species here, which were subsequently named after her, including Marasmius wynneae (Pearly Parachute), with ‘Wynneae’ referring to her marital surname. Thanks to Mary’s activities, Coed Coch came to be regarded as the richest mycological site in the whole of north Wales.

One fascinating aspect of Mary’s work in the field of mycology is how she used her elite status and aristocratic circles to her advantage. For example, she used her husband’s contacts as a Justice of the Peace to facilitate the first visit of Miles Berkeley (1803–1889), one of the founders of British mycology, to Coed Coch. In fact, Mary organised many ‘fungus forays’ for her fellow mycologists at Coed Coch, continuing the long-standing tradition of hospitality practiced by Welsh gentlewomen. She used the same networks to organise foraging trips all over Britain and Europe, in places such as France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. Mary was actively involved in the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club, the naturalists society formed in Hereford in 1851, including providing prizes for competitions. As Dr Edmonson has pointed out in his paper, the participation and patronage of an elite member of society helped to ‘validate the activities’ and ‘contribute to the prestige’ of the Woolhope Club.

Mary became internationally renowned in the field of mycology, which is evidenced by the fact that her albums and samples are preserved in the Archives of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.  However, she did not always receive the acknowledgement she deserved. She was rejected from several scientific organisations and prevented from presenting at conferences, on account of her being a woman. In 1860, Berkeley dedicated his book Outlines of British Fungi to Mary, and listed thirty-two species observed at Coed Coch, but he did not name her as collector. As recently as 1996, she was omitted from the list of ‘British Mycologists’ in Webster and Moore’s Brief Biographies of British Mycologists.

Thankfully, steps are now being taken to ensure that Mary’s immense contribution to the field of mycology is formalised. Only recently, the names of the species of fungi she discovered were amended from wynnei to wynneae to reflect that they are named after a woman. The purple plaque, which was unveiled in a special ceremony on 24th September, represents an important step in bringing her achievements to wider public attention in Wales. The chosen location for the plaque was St Michael’s Church in Betws-yn-Rhos. Although Mary died and was buried in Bienne, Switzerland, the church holds significance as the final resting place of her husband and the wider Wynne family. For ISWE, Mary provides an excellent case study of how a country estate could shape an individual’s interests and pursuits, enabling her to make a significant contribution to an entire field of scientific study.