Cambridgeshire Archives is working with The National Archives to make information for the manorial history of the historic counties of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire accessible online.
As part of a larger project to completely computerise the Manorial Documents Register (MDR), maintained by The National Archives on behalf of the Master of the Rolls, Cambridgeshire Archives’ project will revise and update the entries relating to Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in order to make the information available in a searchable electronic version at the MDR’s website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/mdr
Copyhold tenure and the origins of the MDR
The MDR is the official record of manorial documents for England and Wales, created in 1926 following the abolition of copyhold tenure by the Law of Property Act, 1922.
Copyhold was a kind of customary tenure which originally involved the tenant of a manor supplying various services to his or her lord in exchange for the right to possess a piece of land or other property.
Its most distinguishing feature came to be that any transfer of ownership of copyhold land had to be conducted by the process of ‘surrender and admission’ in the court of the relevant manor. The property would be formally ‘surrendered’ into the hands of the lord and then the new tenant would be ‘admitted’ into possession of it, receiving a copy of the formal record of admission which was written onto the court roll or book. The original and the copy together served as his or her proof of title.
Medieval manors originally transacted a wide range of business regulating the lives of their inhabitants, including agricultural customs, inheritance of property, the appointment of local officials and the resolution of disputes, but by the eighteenth century their most important (and sometimes only) function was the administration of copyhold surrenders and admissions.
With the abolition of copyhold from 1 January 1926 (the date the 1922 Act came into force), it was felt necessary to create an official, statutory register to safeguard the preservation of manorial records and to facilitate their use by lawyers and landholders wanting to prove title to property. Consequently, manorial records are almost unique in being a class of non-public records granted statutory protection.
The current project: locating manorial records
Although the MDR was initially established for legal purposes, today it serves as an invaluable guide to the location of manorial records wherever they may be found. The records of many Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire manors are now kept at the two historic counties’ respective Archives, but many others are scattered amongst a large number of repositories including The National Archives, colleges of the University of Cambridge and the University Library, the British Library, various county record offices and also several specialist archives and private owners. When the current project is complete, researchers will have instant access to the details of all the known surviving manorial records for the two counties.
Can you help?
If you have come across records, particularly in uncatalogued or under-catalogued collections, that you believe should be considered for inclusion in the current project please let us know. In accordance with the Manorial Documents Rules devised by the Master of the Rolls, manorial records are defined as:
● court records (court rolls, books and minutes)
● surveys of manors (custumals, rentals, extents, terriers, maps etc.)
● accounts
Specifically excluded are:
● title deeds
● individual copies of sections of court rolls, such as admissions and surrenders
For further information or advice please contact:
Aaron Hope, Manorial Documents Register Project Officer aaron.hope@cambridgeshire.gov.uk