| Description | Snape and Well manorial records including court rolls 1378-1793, accounts 1457-1505, miscellaneous court papers 1378-1793; Newsham manor court book 1830-1835; Watlass manor court book 1811-1832.
Leases and counterparts of leases granted by or relating to the estate of the Hospital at Well 1566-1748; letters and notes relating to the leases of the Hospital at Well 1636-1795; miscellaneous leases 1637-1802 including those of the manor of Thorp 1637, glebe lands in Thornton Watlass 1701-1749 and the manor of Barningham 1727.
Rentals of Snape and Well 1500-1889; Barningham rentals and accounts 1796-1801.
Plans 1719-1801 covering Thornton Watlass 1719, Snape 1772, Barningham 1776-1855, Thorpe Perrow 1783-1800, Newsham 1810-1855, Leeming 1820-1853, Bedale and Snape 1820, Well 1868, Firby 1904.
Surveys and valuations including a survey of the manor of Barningham taken for Mark Milbank by John Newsham 1726; a survey and valuation of Snape by John Humphries showing parcels of land, state of cultivation, owners, occupiers, acreage and value 1839; book giving details of the reletting of the estate at Well purchased by the trustees of the late Charles Chaplin esquire by FA Milbank esquire 1861; a survey of tenants' holdings at Firby, Watlass, Snape, Well and Thorp Perrow 1880.
Legal papers 1585-1798, mostly relating to Danby v Danby.
Enclosure award of Exelby 1629 (copy on parchment of 1712).
Barningham records 1698-1875 including wills, letters, settlement certificates, petitions, terrier of the glebe land at Barningham, apprenticeship indentures, bonds, marriage settlements, receipts, a list of the poor of Barningham benefitting from the late Mark Milbank's donation of £20 and others.
Newsham records 1624-1863 including tithe rental of Newsham and Barningham, settlement certificate, list of freeholders in Newsham Pasture and others.
Snape records 1757-1890 including accounts, order book and letter book of Snape Vestry, rules of the Snape Cow Club and others.
Various townships 1699-1889.
Photographs 1870-1950 of Thorpe Perrow house, Well Church and Well village.
Miscellaneous 1680-1912.
Durham coal mining lease 1692.
Newcastle upon Tyne title deeds 1670-1700.
Northumberland 1635-1802 including North Charleton Manor, West Whelpington, Ray and Blackhall. |
| Administrative history | This collection of documents represents part of the archives of the family of Milbank of Thorpe Perrow. Manuscripts relate to Well and Snape; Barningham and Newsham; and the counties of Northumberland and Durham.
The manor of Well belonged to the Latimer family until 1577 when Dorothy wife of Sir Thomas Cecil received the estate as one of the heirs of John Lord Latimer. The Cecils, Earls of Exeter held Well until 1793. Not until the middle of the 19th century did the Milbanks purchase the manor. The descent of Snape followed closely that of Well but the Milbanks purchased the township about 1798.
Thorpe Perrow was the seat of the Danby family until 1688. Sir William Blackett a merchant of Newcastle upon Tyne, purchased the manor in that year but did not enjoy the porfits for long. In 1699 his mortgagee sold out to John Milbanke, younger son of Sir Mark Milbanke of Halnaby.
The Milbanks acquired Barningham early in the 18th century and made their home at the hall. Neighbouring Newsham came to the family only in 1830.
Perhaps the most important section of this collection is that of manorial records of Snape and Well. Court rolls, that is, records of the administrative and criminal proceedings in the manor court, stretch from 1378 to 1793 (the year when Milbanks acquired Well). There are records of only eight courts (1378-1381) prior to 1501 when the main series starts. After 1727 the rolls are composed of four documents each: rolls of suitors, verdict sheets, and jury lists. Then accounts of the reeves or bailiffs for 1457-1505 provide a good basis for research into the finances of a 15th century manor.
Leases and counterparts of leases granted by or relating to the estate of the Hospital of St Michael at Well cover the years 1566-1748. This series of 164 documents is important in providing the historian with terms, conditions, and costs of leases over nearly two centuries. The local historian can get to know when houses were built, how farms grew or declined, why families moved into or out of Well.
Rentals relate to two estate: Snape with Well and Barningham. Snape rentals though mainly dating from 1866-1889 do stretch back to the sixteenth century. Barningham rentals and accounts begin only in 1796 and end in 1801. After the middle of the nineteenth century, Milbank family rentals relate to two separate estates. One estate belonging in 1866 to FA Milbank included Well and Newsham. The second estate belonging in 1866 to Mark Milbank consisted of land in Barningham, Newsham, Snape, Well, Watlass, and Firby.
Maps and plans relate to Snape, Well, Leeming, Thornton Watlass, Firby, Bedale, Thorpe Perrow, Barningham and Newsham. The earliest, 1719, was produced to illustrate certain points in a legal dispute. The most detailed and accurate is probably that by Richard Binks concerning Hagthwaites and Scaleknowl in Barningham in 1776. A number of plans show commons and enclosures from commons. Surveys and valuations are only four in number but these are very detailed. There is, for example, John Newsham's exact survey of the manor of Barningham taken for Mark Milbank in 1726.
Legal records are voluminous. This section begins with three important documents about the partition of Barningham town fields in 1608-1610. The main portion concerns Danby family estates in Yorkshire which were subject to a dispute in 1687-1688. Lawyers copied out older documents of the family dating from 1585 so that what survives illustrates one family's legal problems over a whole century. In 1718-1721, John Milbank disputed with the Honorable Charles Cecil the ownership of part of Watlass moor. Documents include a plan of the moor in 1719.
Perhaps one of the most important single documents is the enclosure award without plan of Exelby, 1629. This survives in a somewhat decayed copy on parchment of 1712.
A small collection of Barningham township documents survives. These are not the formal accounts of officers but odd papers like settlement certificates, lists of pewholders, removal orders, apprenticeship indentures, commons administration documents and surveys.
Not many Milbank family settlements or letters have found their way into this collection. A number of wills and similar documents dating from the 17th century do survive but are by no means representative. One document of note is an agreement between Ralph Milbanke of Newcastle upon Tyne and two other men, one a goldsmith, the other a barber surgeon, concerning the extraction of silver from lead. This is dated 1700.
A very useful booklet, published in 1912, lists all the private Acts of Parliament relating to Yorkshire.
Finally, there are parcels of papers concerning estates in County Durham, Northumberland, and Newcastle upon Tyne. |