Medieval source material on the internet: Manorial records

Manorial records

For a brief guide to manorial records, click here

For some medieval records in Ancestry's UK and Ireland Collection, click here

• Manorial Documents Register (Royal Commission on Historical Documents)
  Currently searchable online for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cumberland, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, the Isle of Wight, Lancashire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Surrey, Warwickshire, Westmorland, Yorkshire and Wales.
• Examples of English Manorial Documents (Nicholas Pappas, Sam Houston State University, Texas)
  A selection of English translations, from the 11th to the 14th centuries, from E.P. Cheyney, ed., English Manorial Documents (1907)
• English Manor Rolls Collection (Harvard Law School Library)
  Handlist to a collection of 170 parchment rolls, including records of the manors of Moulton (Cheshire), Odiham Hundred (Hampshire), Herstmonceaux (Sussex), Chartley (Staffordshire) and Onhouse (Suffolk); the descriptions include some names of lords of the manors and manorial officials.
• Manors of the Abbey of Bec: 1246-1247, 1248, 1249, 3,4 Edward I 1280-1281 (Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University)
  The manors include Wantage [Berkshire], Bledlow [Buckinghamshire], Povington [Dorset], Ruislip [Middlesex], Weedon Beck [Northamptonshire], Cottisford, Swincombe [Oxfordshire], Blakenham [Suffolk], Tooting [Surrey], Preston [Sussex], Atherstone [Warwick], Deverill, Ogbourne [Wiltshire]
  English translations, from F.W. Maitland, ed., Select Pleas in Manorial and Other Seignorial Courts: Volume 1--Reigns of Henry III and Edward I (1889).
• Survey of Brydithfield, in the manor of Brandon, Suffolk (University of Kansas) [see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from April 2003]
  Latin text of a 16th-century survey, from Kenneth Spencer Research Library MS E112
• Manorial and franchisal courts: Extracts from court rolls: Brigstock [Northamptonshire] court rolls (David Postles, Leicester University)
  Extracts from Latin text, 26 Edward I
• Survey of the manor of Brinkworth [Wiltshire] 1587 (Clive Henly, GENUKI)
  Transcript; later manorial documents are also available.
• The Abbot of Battle's Court at Brithwaltham [Berkshire] (1293-1296) (Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University)
  English translation from F.W. Maitland, ed., Select Pleas in Manorial and Other Seignorial Courts: Volume 1--Reigns of Henry III and Edward I (1889)
• Ernest Straker, ed., The Buckhurst [Sussex] Terrier 1597-1598 (1929) (The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex)
  Extracts from a survey of landholders, from the Sussex Record Society edition of 1933, covering the manors of Alchornes, Birchden, Blackham, Bolebrooke, Broome, Buckhurst, Collingherst, Buckhurst, Fiskeridge, Framfeild, Munckloe, Sheffield and Torringe Peverell. Scanned images (rather slow on a dial-up connection)
• Bridgett Jones, The Kilwardby survey of the archbishop's manors in south-east England, 1273-4 (2007) (Kent Archaeological Society)
  PDF file (1.5 MB). Parallel Latin transcript and translation.
• [List of names from] Court Rolls of the manor of Curry Rivel 1348-9 (Paul Mansfield) [not available, 4 November 2007; see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from February 2007]
  From Rev. J. F. Chanter, Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (1910)
• Court rolls and rentals of the manors of Ulveston and Sackville, in Debenham, Suffolk [Tudor] (Historical Manuscripts, Kenneth Jacob)
  Images of original documents in Latin, in PDF format.
• Sample manorial account: Deverill [Wiltshire] (David Postles, Leicester University)
  Brief extract, Latin text and English translation
• Estate Records (The Records of Earls Colne; Cambridge University)
  Transcripts and abstracts of accounts, surveys, and records of copyhold and freehold tenure, relating to the manors of Earls Colne and Colne Priory, Essex, 14th century and later
• Emmison's Elizabethan Life [Essex]: Home, Work and Land (Mike Foster, GENUKI)
  Index to names from F. G. Emmison's Elizabethan life: Home, work & land: from Essex wills and sessions and manorial records (1976).
• C. J. Elton, ed., Rentalia et Custumaria Michaelis de Ambresbury, 1235-1252, et Rogeri de Ford, 1252-1261, Abbatum Monasterii Beatae Mariae Glastoniae ... (1891) (Internet Archive - Text Archive)
  Somerset Record Society, volume 5. Latin transcripts.
• Joan Thirsk, ed., Hadlow [Kent]: Life, Land and People in a Wealden Parish, 1460-1600 (2006) (Kent Archaeological Society)
  PDF files (13 and 0.8 MB). Study of the manor, based on a recently discovered survey of 1460. The Latin text of the survey and a translation are available in a separate file.
• A.T. Bannister, ed., A transcript of "The Red Book", a detailed account of the Hereford Bishopric estates in the thirteenth century. (Mel Lockie)
  Transcript of edition published in Camden Miscellany, volume 15 (1929). Introduction, Latin text and index.
• Hinderclay [Suffolk] court roll: frames and non-frames versions (David Postles, Leicester University)
  Short extract; Latin text and English translation
• William Farrer, ed., Some court rolls of the lordships, wapentakes, and demesne manors of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in the county of Lancaster, ... A.D. 1323-4. (1901) (Internet Archive - Text Archive)
  Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society, volume 41. English translations.
• Survey of the manor of Somersham, [Huntingdonshire] 1222: frames and non-frames versions (David Postles, Leicester University)
  Latin text and English translation
• Stubbington [Hampshire] manorial records (David Postles, Leicester University)
  Material mainly relating to the estate of Southwick Priory at Stubbington, 13th to 16th centuries, with some records of land in Portsea and Portsmouth.
• Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, 1274-1297 (Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University)
  English translation, from the edition of William Paley Baildon, in Yorkshire Archaelogical Society, Record Series vol. 29 (1900)
• The 1585 Walkhampton [Devon] Survey (ed. Peter R. Hamilton-Leggett) [formerly at http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/hamleg/wsur.html; not available, 6 April 2002; see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from February 2002]
  English translation
• Names from article on the Manor [of] West Monkton, (Paul Mansfield) [not available, 4 November 2007; see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from April 2007]
  From E.E.Trotman, Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1944
• Manorial documents from Whitby, Yorkshire (Charles Russell)
  • Rental record of Mitten Hill Farm (extract from 16th century rental of Whitby Abbey)
    Images of document, with transcript and translation
  • Hawsker rentals from the Whitby Abbey Cartularium
    Image of printed Latin text
  • Extracts from the Court Rolls of Whitby Lathes, 1533-1551
    Images of documents, with transcript and translation in progress
• Wotton Project (Kent Archaeological Society)
  Draft transcription of a survey of the lands of Thomas Wotton, 1557-1560, with supporting material to follow.