Manorial documents noted in the Manorial Documents Register include ‘court rolls, surveys, maps. Terriers, documents and books of every description relating to the boundaries, wastes, customs or courts of a manor’. Manorial documents are documents generated through the administration of a manor.
A manor was the administrative unit of a landed estate which could cover a few acres of land, encompassing more than one parish, or cover many miles encompassing several parishes.
Manors were administered by the Lords as a single unit, regardless of their size. Many tenants could live on the land owned by the manor, paying rent to the Lord of the manor. To stay on the land, a tenant had to abide by the terms set down.
The landed families held land in many areas of the country. The head of the family could have been the Lord or Lady of the manor.
A prime example of a manor encompassing several parishes was the Grafton Estate in Northamptonshire, for which the Lord of the manor was the Duke of Grafton.
The Estate encompassed several parishes, including Ashton, Blakesley, Blisworth, Cold Higham, Furtho, Grimscote, Greens Norton, Hartwell, Heathencote, Passenham, Paulerspury, Potterspury, Roade, Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger (sometimes referred to Shittlehanger), Whittlebury and Yardley Gobion, all of which are villages in Northamptonshire.
What Records Are Included In Manorial Documents?
The Grafton Estate Catalogue includes farm leases, estate maps, court papers, family deeds, wills and indentures.
Records included in manorial documents can also include:
- Accounts – Accounts were kept by the steward or bailiff of the manor, and may include rents, expenditure, or fines.
- Court Rolls – a record of the legal proceedings of a manor. Court Rolls can include minute books, which may provide genealogical information about new tenants.
- Custumals – lists of tenants who resided in the manor
- Estreat rolls – estreat rolls contain details of fines issued during a court session, and give information regarding the offence your ancestor may have committed.
- Maps – maps can show the extent of the land displaying topographical features.
- Rentals – The rentals contain details of the rents paid by the manor’s tenants, and can include details of goods due to the Lord of the manor as rents could be paid in ways other than by cash.
- Surveys – surveys can be used to link a tenant to the land they occupied. Surveys can show where a tenant held land, and detail land holding. They can be a great way of seeing if your ancestor was included.
What Can Manorial Documents Tell Us?
Manorial records are unusual because they are one document that contain information about ordinary people and how they lived, even in the earlier centuries.
Some documents can date from the 11th century, making it one record that can take you back further than the advent of parish registers in 1538.
Manorial records are especially important because they contain many lists of names, sometimes including occupations and family relationships.
Some documents can even include the age of an individual, which is helpful if you are looking in a period where age was not noted in a parish register. Some wills and mortgages are also contained within the records.
These documents can also help to give an idea of what life would have been like for our ancestors, giving an idea of what people did and why. It is also possible to discover what constituted a crime centuries ago.
The records of most use to family historians are the records written by the court baron, who dealt with the manor’s day to day activities.
You can even break down a genealogy brick wall using manorial documents. I was unable to determine the parentage of my ancestor Joseph Scrivener, who was born in Potterspury, Northamptonshire in approximately 1733.
Unfortunately, the records held by Northamptonshire Record Office for the nonconformist chapel where my ancestor worshipped do not begin until 1739, so I have no way of determining who my ancestor’s parents were through the registers.
On looking at an indenture from 1808 included in the Grafton Estate Catalogue which referenced a Joseph Scrivener, I was able to determine that Joseph Scrivener’s father was Richard.
The indenture included a pedigree, where it was stated that Joseph Scrivener was the son of my Joseph Scrivener, and that he, in turn, was the son of Richard. I had finally broken down my brick wall!
Some marriage settlements are also included in these records. When Richard Scrivener married Mary Dayrell in 1655, the indenture stated that Blackwell End Hall should be given in settlement of the marriage.
It is therefore also possible to trace the history of a house using these documents.
If a tenant died, the land was given back to the Lord of the manor, and a new tenant admitted.
As the new tenant was usually the next of kin of the previous tenant, it can be possible to trace family history back through the generations. The details of the new tenant were usually written in the court rolls.
You may be able to trace your family through manorial documents because many rolls contain a surname index from the 18th century, making it possible to follow a tenancy through the generations.
Difficulties Using Manorial Documents
As with any document, manorial documents are not without their problems. Prior to 1733, many manorial documents were written in Latin, and the handwriting was unclear, making them difficult to read.
In order to make full use of manorial documents, it is helpful to know the name of the manor and the parish and the county.
If you have an idea of your ancestor’s name, however, it is always possible that an estate catalogue has been indexed, that index being made available online or in the record office.
The Grafton Estate Catalogue has been indexed, and this index is available both online and in Northamptonshire Record Office. Some names included in these documents are also included in the main card index in the record office.
Where Are Manorial Records Held?
Manorial records are usually held by record offices, usually being included within family and estate collections.
Some records are only available at the National Archives in Kew, which include Land Revenue, Crown Estates and Duchy of Lancaster (dating from the 11th century to 1956).
You can also search through Discovery, the National Archives’ online catalogue, for records in Office of the Auditors of the Land Revenue (LR), Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments (LR), Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments (LRRO), Crown Estates (CRES), Duchy of Lancaster (DL) and Special Collections (SC).
Court Rolls are held in many different record series.
Court Records include court rolls, later books, estreat and suit rolls, steward’s papers, admissions and surrenders.
Assessment records include surveys, extants, custumals, accounts, rentals and quit rents.
The Manorial Documents Register
You can also trace the location of manorial documents using the Manorial Documents Register, which was established in 1926.
The Register was created so that a document’s location could be recorded, enabling it to be traced if required. The types of manorial records recorded in the register are court records and assessment of land and financial records.