Estate papers for the Nottinghamshire estates of the Pelham-Clinton Dukes of Newcastle, 1753-1952, in the Newcastle (Clumber) Collection

The collection consists predominantly of estate papers, although some personal/family papers and genealogical records are also included.

Accounting records for the estates include ledgers, cashbooks and two registers of mortgages, as well as a series of annual accounts in 34 leather bound volumes entitled 'Amalgamated Income Account and Auditor's Report on the Accounts' (1889-1925). There are volumes of general estate papers such as labour accounts, lists of tenants and copyholders, and 'cultivation books' providing details of tenants, their land holdings and the type of cultivation practised on them. A series of inventories gives details of plate belonging to the Dukes of Newcastle, of beer and ale consumed and of pictures and paintings. There is also a series of yearly rentals for the Nottingham county estates, the Newark estate, the Clumber estate and for other 'large holdings'.

Of particular interest is the series of surveys relating to the Nottinghamshire estates. These include surveys of Newark dated 1762 and 1790 and a report and survey of the churches on the Nottinghamshire estates carried out by George Gilbert Scott, architect, in 1853. In addition, there is a significant number of maps included in the collection. These date between 1689 and 1931, with the main concentration being nineteenth century. They relate to individual Nottinghamshire estates and whilst some are annotated Ordnance Survey maps, many are original works by local surveyors.

The personal/family papers consist of a number of appointments to offices and grants of honours, such as letters patent for the appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire or as Keeper of the Rolls for Nottinghamshire. An important series of genealogical and historical papers relate mainly to the Clinton family and the Earls of Lincoln, including letters and notes concerning the research undertaken on their behalf by T.D. Fosbroke. A miscellaneous section of papers includes items such as illuminated addresses to various Dukes of Newcastle.

This group of manuscripts is closely related in its creation and content to other sub-groups within the large family and estate archive of the Pelham-Clinton Dukes of Newcastle under Lyne (See description of archive at Ne and other sub-groups.)

The Nottinghamshire holdings formed the core of the extensive ducal estates. They had been inherited through the Holles, Clare and Cavendish lines of the family. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries some of the Newcastle landholdings in other parts of the country were disposed of, but the Nottinghamshire estates were extended through, for example, the purchase of Worksop Manor in 1839 and by the marriage of the 4th Duke to Georgiana Mundy (1789-1822).

By the twentieth century, however, the Nottinghamshire focus of the Newcastle estate was steadily weakening. The family left Clumber, moving south to new interests in Wiltshire, and in 1946 the Clumber estate was sold to the National Trust. By the 1950s any remaining Nottinghamshire properties were being administered from the new estate office based in Wiltshire.

The items are arranged into form series, within which they are listed in chronological order.

Accessible to all readers.

Copyright in all Finding Aids belongs to the University of Nottingham.

In the Reading Room, King's Meadow Campus:

Draft typescript catalogue available on application to archivists, 24 pp

Online:

Catalogue available from the website of Manuscripts and Special Collections, Manuscripts Online Catalogue.

Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk).

Photocopies and photographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

After the move to Wiltshire, the vast Newcastle archive which at one stage had served a working estate became increasingly an historical record. At various points, as volumes and series were considered to be no longer of current value, they were passed from the Estate Office to the University. The current papers, a sub-group of the Newcastle (Clumber) Collection (Ne), were retained until 1990 when the remaining estate records were being surveyed before transfer to a records depository. Overlapping in interest with earlier deposits, and no longer relevant to the workings of the estate, they came to Nottingham in October 1990.

See the fonds level record for the whole Newcastle collection (Ne), the other constituent parts of the Newcastle Collection (Ne A-X; Ne C; Ne 2F; Ne 3; Ne 4; Ne 6), and related collections (NL; NS; NPE; NPC; NN)