| Document reference | ZEW |
| Title | FEVERSHAM/DUNCOMBE OF DUNCOMBE PARK, HELMSLEY RECORDS |
| Description | Title Deeds relating to purchases in the North Riding 1214-1915 including Sproxton, Beadlam 1755-1840, Bransdale 1621-1902, Harome, Bilsdale 1718-1851, Kirkdale, Kirby Misperton, Nawton, Kirby Mill 1720-1736, Welburn, Pockley, Farndale water corn mill, Kirkbymoorside, Newton Grange, Fadmoor 1626-1865, Gillamoor 1626-1865, Skiplam 1626-1865, Rutland-Buckingham estates 1397-1695, Helmsley 1346-1879, Appleton le Street 1668-1801, Sheriff Hutton 1668-1801, Wombleton, Nunnington, Muscoats, Lastingham, Keldholme, Scawton, Butterwick, Normanby; exchanges in the North Riding 1740-1879; miscellaneous North Riding deeds 1515-c.1767; purchases in the West Riding 1742; East Riding properties 1551-1758; Middlesex properties 1807-1876; estates of junior members of Duncombe family 1840-1861; sales 1791-1912; abstracts of title 1695-c.1850.
Family settlements, wills and mortgages 1708-1884.
Manorial records including Kirkbymoorside court rolls 1589-1925, original surrenders 1581-1736, court papers 1602-1873; Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside, Wombleton, Harome and Rievaulx court books 1697-1834, call rolls 1702-1835; Helmsley and appurtenances court papers 1670-1873; Rievaulx and appurtenances court papers 1670-1873; Nawton court books and call rolls 1727-1873; perambulations 1642-1895 for Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside, Westerdale, Danby, Bransdale, Farndale and others; Wombleton court papers 1669-1865; Harome court papers 1669-1856; Cold Kirby court papers 1793-1801; Spawnton court papers 1811; Strensall court papers 1634-1636; miscellaneous 1730-1838.
Estate surveys 1569-1843 for Kirkbymoorside, Helmsley, Bilsdale, Farndale, Bransdale, Gillamoor, Fadmoor, Pockley, Beadlam, Sproxton, Harome, Carlton, Rievaulx, Skiplam, West Newton Grange, Wombleton, Welburn; field books 1728-1898 for Beadlam, Bilsdale, Carlton, Cold Kirby, Fadmoor, Gillamoor, Great Habton, Harome, Helmsley, Keldholme, Kirkbymoorside, Muscoates, Nawton, West Nawton, Normanby, Nunnington, Pockley, Riccal, Rievaulx, Scawton, Skiplam, Sproxton, Stonegrave, Welburn and Wombleton; valuations 1868-1874; schedule of lands 1908-1918; rentals 1567-1915; accounts 1696-1922; leases and agreements 1665-1939; tillage records 1830-1900; Land Tax redemption 1799-1815; petitions c.1800-1900; officials 1671-1902; markets and fairs 1595-1903; mining 1715-1915; schools 1890-1903; sales catalogues 1896-1929; Greenwich Hospital estates 1805-1815; Badsworth (West Riding) 1871-1933; Adwick le Street (West Riding now South Yorkshire) 1760-1799; Stockerston (Leicestershire) 1738-1762; Duncombe Park estate rentals 1567-1915, vouchers 1717-1918, schedules of lands 1908-1918; Labourers wages accounts 1828-1863; Pay book 1832-1836; Quarry account of material sold 1922; Duncombe estate tenants' petitions 18th-late 19th century; Duncombe estate stewards' deputations 1671-1902; miscellaneous 1727-1813.
Enclosure Acts 1766-1817; enclosure awards for Wombleton, Fadmoor, Gillamoor, Beadlam, Kirkbymoorside, Helmsley 1671-1819; agreements for Wombleton 1753; minutes for Cold Kirby 1789; miscellaneous 1731-1800.
Legal cases and disputes settled by arbitration 1614-1883.
Ecclesiastical records for Kirby Misperton rectory 1825-1885; Holtby and Full Sutton 1800; Kirkbymoorside 1685-1865; Hawnby 1764-1803; West Newton Grange (Oswaldkirk) 1838; Bilsdale 1874; Helmsley 1695-1865.
Tithe records including copy apportionments for Bransdale, Fadmoor, Helmsley, Bilsdale, Farndale, Gillamoor, Kirkbymoorside, Nawton 1844-1849; Commissioners confirmed awards 1844-1847; rent charges 1848-1926; miscellaneous statements relating to tithe rents 1780-1817.
Duncombe family letters and papers relating to personal, political, official and estate affairs 17th century-20th century.
Communications records including highways c.1740-1877; bridges 1790-1827; railways 1858-1930.
Household records including recipe sheets c.1729-c.1747; receipts and receipt book 1728-1762; accounts 1784-1809; inventories 1626-1880; plate books 1828-1876.
Maps and plans including estate maps 1763-1870; Farndale and Westerdale boundary dispute plans and paper 1790-1894; mining maps 1876; Badsworth, West Yorkshire map 1845-1886; railway plans 1884-1876; glebe records Kirby Misperton rectory n.d.; plans of farms and townships 1850-1890; architects plans 19th century; Duncombe Park estate maps covering Beadlam, Bilsdale, Bransdale, Carlton, Fadmoor, Farndale, Gillamoor, Harome, Helmsley, Kirby in Cleveland, Kirkbymoorside, Nawton, Oswaldkirk, Pockley, Rievaulx, Scawton, Skiplam, Sproxton, Welburn, Westerdale, Wombleton 1763-1891; Blakey ironstone mines 1876, n.d.; Badsworth in West Yorkshire maps 1854-1862; House and site plans by RP Brotton and others, late 19th century; Lands in Harome and East Newton for proposed exchange 1870; Adwick maps 1760-1789; plan of Lowesby estate in Leicestershire 1948 |
| Date | 13th century-20th century |
| Level | Collection |
| Catalogue status | Catalogued |
| Administrative history | The documents of Lord Feversham deposited in the North Yorkshire Record Office, relate to the principal Yorkshire estate owned by the Duncombe Family, that of Helmsley - Kirkbymoorside (the Duncombe Park Estate) in North Yorkshire. The family also owned property in West Yorkshire, notably Badsworth, Adwick and Copgrove, and certain archives pertaining mainly to Badsworth and Adwick, appear in Section IV 17 of the present list. Of the Duncombes' other properties, such as the Manor of Langdale in Nottinghamshire, which passed to Thomas, a younger brother of the first baron, and the Stockerston Estate in Leicestershire, one stray document for the first (IV 17/6) and one stray bundle for the second (IV 17/4) have survived here. The archives of the Bedfordshire Cambridge Huntingdonshire border properties of the family, purchased in the nineteenth century by Octavius, youngest son of the first baron, have been deposited at Bedford County Record Office, where they are catalogued as DDFE.
As it can be seen, the Feversham collection at Northallerton forms only a part of the Duncombe family archives and it is to be regretted that although there are many records of the Duncombe Park Estate surviving, much was burnt at Helmsley Gas Works in 1919; it is very likely that all the Helmsley Manorial Rolls perished then. However, one survival of the fire was a 1647 survey and rental of Helmsley, which was rescued by a Mr Peter, sold by him to Captain Foott, who in turn deposited it at this office in 1951. It has now been reunited with the Feversham Collection (IV 1/6)
The nucleus of the Kirkbymoorside - Helmsley records were received at this office in 1956, while those relating to Adwick, Badsworth, Stockerston and Bedale came in 1965. A further deposit of field books valuations, tillage records, among others, came from the Helmsley Estate Office in 1969. The present list takes account of all three deposits.
Concerning the collection itself, the title deeds show that Helmsley was once the property of the Earls of Rutland in the 16th and 17th centuries, and then passed to the Duke of Buckingham, whose trustees sold it in 1695, along with the manor of Kirkbymoorside, to Charles Duncombe, a London banker, to pay off Buckingham's debts. Charles Duncombe's first purchase in North Yorkshire however, was property at Appleton le Street in 1681 (I.1)
For reasons already stated, the manorial aspects of Kirkbymoorside - Helmsley estate lie heavily in favour of Kirkbymoorside; the long series of court rolls begins in the reign of Elizabeth I, when the manor was held of the Queen by one Ralph Bowes, farmer, and continue to 1925, although the last manorial court was actually held in 1912. There are also a large number of original surrenders of copyhold property for Kirkbymoorside, with their symbolic knots of straw still attached. The other manors of Helmsley, Rievaulx, Wombleton, Harome, Pockley, Beadlam are represented only by an incomplete series of jury presentments, verdicts, court books and other court papers.
The estate papers are one of the most important classes in the collection, and are remarkable in containing an extensive series of surveys and field books, mainly of late 18th and early 19th century date. These records appear to cover every part of the Duncombe property in the Helmsley Kirkbymoorside areas, and provide a detailed history of tenancy, field names, value of property and acreages owned in each township at that time. Moreover, from 1763 onwards, they are backed up by a fine set of estate maps drawn mainly by Tukes and Ayer, who also undertook their own remarkably detailed survey of the townships on the Duncombe Estate between 1820 1831. This survey takes the form of 12 leather bound, manuscript volumes, containing individual plans for every tenants holding, and summaries of the acreages occupied in each township by each tenant (IV 13/1 - 12). The amount of work done by Tukes and Ayer for the Duncombes suggest a happy working relationship between employer and surveyor. This was not always the case, for Joseph Foord, who surveyed the glebe lands of Helmsley vicarage in 1780 for Charles Slingsby Duncombe, later became embroiled with him in a legal dispute over payment for similar work he had done on the family estate.
With regard to estate management, the collection contains details of expenditure and income in rentals, agents' accounts, vouchers etc. while tillage records provide examples of 19th century agricultural methods. The "New System of Cropping" of 1845 illustrates the operation of a four year crop rotation being practiced at Carlton, Helmsley, Harome, Rievaulx, Sproxton and Grange (IV 8/10). The information provided by documents of this type and the extensive nature of the other estate papers mentioned above, make the Feversham archive one of the most important estate collections (particularly for the period 1750 1850) in the County Record Office.
A section of letters and papers (ZEW X) includes political, household and public office papers as well as family and personal letters. It includes a list of livery attendants of Thomas Duncombe, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, and personal papers of Charles Slingsby Duncombe (died 1803), Charles Duncombe, first Lord Feversham (died 1841) and William Ernest Duncombe M.P. for the North Riding (1859-1867) afterwards first Earl of Feversham (1868). Also listed here are miscellaneous items including a manuscript flute tutor, a love letter of 1672, and a letter of 1680 from the Quaker William Tomlinson to George Parish. |
| Access conditions | Open |
| Copies | Parts of this collection have been microfilmed [MIC 0652, 0694, 1023, 1024, 1302, 1307, 1309, 1346, 1411, 1412, 1413, 1416, 1417, 1418, 1425, 1426, 1427, 1428, 1523, 1552, 1566, 1567, 1568, 1569, 1599, 1600, 1617, 1671, 1682, 1683, 1684, 1711, 1910, 2218, 2288, 2451, 2721, 2787, 2788, 2789, 2956, 2958, 2959, 2972, 2973, 2975, 2977, 2981, 3005, 3006, 3028, 3330, 3508, 3858]. |
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