Langdon Cheshire Deeds

A large collection of deeds chiefly concerning properties in Cheshire, particularly townships on the Wirral such as Higher and Lower Bebington, Bromborough, Eastham, Hooton, Mollington, Storeton and Tranmere. There are also handfuls of items relating to properties in Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, County Durham, Flintshire, Gloucestershire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, London, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, the Isle of Man and Ireland. Many of the deeds relate to the Stanley family of Hooton. There is a large number of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century deeds, and a few earlier documents include charters of the Earls of Chester (RYCH/1436, /1783 and /1807, with medieval copies of two further charters, RYCH/1274 and /1274a).

A number of items were stored in small boxes with labels written in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The labels were lettered A to Z3 (RYCH/1263-1525), and there was one box without a letter (RYCH/1526-1532). It was decided not to disperse and rearrange these, although the labels on the boxes are not always correct. The remaining items relating to Cheshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire are arranged alphabetically by place-name (RYCH/1533-1856). Finally there are items relating to outlying counties, arranged alphabetically by place-name, and miscellaneous items (RYCH/1857-1942).

Rylands accession no. R72927. Purchased by the John Rylands Library from the Reverend P.G. Langdon of Orkney House, Bedford, for £35 in July 1933.