| Description | Title deeds relating to Nutwith Cote in Burton on Ure 1659-1786; Pott and Pott Grange, Kirby Malzeard and Masham deeds Henry VIII-1631; Colsterdale deeds 1334-1567; Healey cum Sutton, Ellington, Ellingstring, Masham, Fearby and Swinton deeds 14th century-1594; abstracts of title to Swinton Park estates 1859-1885.
Manorial records including Ellington and Healey manor presentments and byelaws 1602-1781; Masham manor court rolls 1518-1768, estreat rolls 1684-1737, call rolls 1659-late 18th century, Healey pains 1723; Masham manor court books 1559-1877, verdict papers, estreats etc c1600-1619, court papers 1662-1797, miscellaneous papers 1638-1830; Masham prebend court rolls 1577-1585, extracts of court rolls 1580-1683, surrenders, presentments, court papers 1501-1724, court book 1717-1724, rentals 1705-1724, legal papers c1681-1725, papers 1705-1777, surveys and rentals 1563-1607, York deed c1200, copy crown grants 1540, 1546, copies of court roll late 17th-early 18th century; Grewelthorpe boundary papers 1688-1770; Grewelthorpe manor court papers 1635-1777, call rolls 1706-1772.
Maps and plans including Swinton Park plans 1790-1821, Swinton estate farm plans n.d; Healey cotton/saw mill deeds and drawing 1802-1815; Chambers' survey and plans of Mashamshire 1778.
Personal papers relating to the Danby and Cunliffe Lister families 16th-18th century, including papers of Mr Christopher Danby (d.1624) and his mother Elizabeth Danby; Sir Abstrupus Danby, correspondence, political papers, accounts etc, late 17th-early 18th century; papers of William Danby (d.1781); papers of William Danby (d.1833) including Mashamshire volunteer papers 1798-1815 and letters from Julius Caesar Ibbetson 1802-1805; copy will of William Danby (d1833); Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 1st Lord Masham papers 1842-1906; volunteer papers 1745.
Swinton estate records including Swinton estate household accounts 1736-1818; rentals and accounts of Danby Wiske, Dinsdale Over, Driffields Ambo, Ellingstring, Ellington, Farnley, Fearby, Gargrave, Grimscar, Healey, Heworth, Hilton, Hutton Magna, Ilton, Langton Great and Little, Leeming, Lilling West, Lutton West, Masham, Milthorpe, Okenshaw, Potterton, Roomer, Scab Newton, Scruton, Sutton, Swinton, Thrintoft, Thornton Watlass, Thorpe Perrow, Wadermarske, Whitwell, Yafforth, York, Durham 1547-1690; Chambers' survey and plans of Mashamshire 1778; Danby and Scrope family accounts and rentals 1436-1485; Volunteer papers 1745; Thirsk-Masham turnpike road papers 1756-1949; Healey Church letters from architect EB Lamb to Captain Harcourt 1845-1849; Harrogate and Leeds water supplies, reservoirs on the Swinton estate 1901-1932.
Mining papers covering Colsterdale mines, accounts, letters and papers c1622-1734, lead and colliery papers and accounts 1690-1843.
Middleham estate records including deeds 1594-1896; Middleham leases 1649-1889; surveys 1618-1866; boundaries 1618-1836; rentals and accounts 1671-1834; tithes 1799; estate papers 1663-1786; manorial papers 1751-1855; legal papers 1650; Caldbergh deeds 1251-1788; Middleham legal papers 1777-1838, Lord Bruce v Thomas Wood, Braithwaite manor 1766-1767; purchase of Caldbergh tithes 1772; account of cattlegates on Middleham Moor and the Busks 1798; Farnley estate papers early 16th century-1800; Nevill and Langton families medieval deeds; maps and plans. |
| Administrative history | Danby, William (1752-1833), writer, was the only son of the Reverend William Danby DD of Swinton Park, Yorkshire, and Mary, daughter of Gilbert Affleck of Dalham, Suffolk. From 20 September 1763 to 1770 he had a private tutor at Eton College. On 24 October 1770 he was admitted as a fellow-commoner to Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1784 he served the office of high sheriff of Yorkshire. He was twice married: first in 1775 to Caroline (d. 1821), daughter of Henry Seymour, and second on 5 January 1822 to Anne Holwell, second daughter of William Gater. Danby almost entirely rebuilt his mansion of Swinton from designs by James Wyatt and John Foss of Richmond. It included a handsome library and a richly furnished museum of minerals. Describing a tour which he made in 1829, Southey remarked: 'The most interesting person whom I saw during this expedition was Mr. Danby of Swinton Park, a man of very large fortune, and now very old' (The Life and Correspondence of the Late Robert Southey, ed. C. C. Southey, 1850, 6.78). He was an accomplished scholar and wrote some works of interest on moral philosophy. His works include: Thoughts, Chiefly on Serious Subjects (1821), Ideas and Realities, or, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1827), Extracts from and observations on Cicero's dialogues De senectute and De amicitia, and a translation of his Somnium Scipionis, with notes (1829), and Thoughts on Various Subjects (1831). Danby died at Swinton Park on 4 December 1833. He left no children. |
| Copies | Parts of this collection have been microfilmed [MIC 1107, 1116, 1222, 1261, 1274, 1345, 1523, 1559, 1560, 1731, 1732, 1747, 1982, 2018, 2023, 2087, 2088, 2106, 2181, 2185, 2187, 2195, 2209, 2290, 2291, 2598, 2599, 2967, 2983, 3009, 3129, 3130, 3153, 3162, 3206, 3301, 3307, 3960, 3935, 3936]. |