Yarburgh Muniments

Family papers, comprising accounts, 1686-1810, including Thomas Yarburgh’s accounts as Receiver of Rents and Revenues for Queen Catherine of Braganza, 1690-1700, account books, 1682-1828, family deeds, 1570-1803, marriage settlements, 1634/5-1782, probate documents, 1558-1856, legal papers, 1639-1822, correspondence, 1672-1918, genealogical and historical notes, n.d., memoranda books and other personal papers, 1750-1835, including catalogue of books of Charles Yarburgh at Heslington, n.d., letters patent (barony of Deramore), 1885-1892.
Vanbrugh papers, 1689-1775, including account books of Sir John and Lady Vanbrugh, 1715-1757, correspondence, 1731-1775, and papers concerning Charles Vanbrugh, c.1724-1745.
Estate records, comprising bonds and assignments, 1527-1819; tenants’ leases and agreements, 1756-1861; estate books, including Balne, Pollington, and Kirk Smeaton, 1620-1853, and papers, including deeds, rentals, terriers, receipts, memorandums, correspondence and other papers for Carlton Chapel, c.1772, Langwith, 1773-1856, Sowerby Chapel, 1602-1778, and Whitgift, 1699-1729; deeds relating to Askerne, 1332-1794, Balne, 1377-1872, Campsall, 1312-1873, Deighton, 1713-1810, Dowthorpe, 1556-1836, Fangfoss, 1683-1777, Fishlake, 1375-1767, Fulford, 1583-1870, Hatfield, 1376-1818, Hayton, 1602-1698, Hensall, 1580-1650, Kirk Smeaton, 1552-1790, Langwith, 1753-1854, Ousefleet, 1518-1591, Pollington and Whitley, 1330-1871, Reedness, 1571-1873, Wheldrake, 1776-1868, Womersley, 1529-1622, and York, 1466-1562; papers relating to Lancashire properties, 1785-1862; papers relating to Lincolnshire properties, 1723-1846; material relating to Snaith and Cowick, including manor court rolls, 1468-1469, admissions of manor of Snaith and Cowick and of Augmentation, 1731-1870, manor of Augmentation papers, 1757-1870, miscellaneous documents relating to the manor of Snaith and Cowick, 15th century-1768, Snaith Priory deeds, 1537-1637, estate books and papers, 1626-1860, legal papers, 1567-1743; material relating to Heslington, including manor court rolls, c.1498-1925, deeds, including Castle Mills, York, 1562-1873, estate papers, 1776-1868, papers relating to restorations of Heslington Hall, 1798-1890, sale brochure for sale of Heslington estate, 1964; maps and plans, including Snaith, Heslington Hall and estate, 18th century-19th century.

The Yarburgh family’s connection to Heslington originated with the marriage of James Yarburgh to Anne Hesketh, the co-heiress of Thomas Hesketh of Heslington Hall, in 1692. The Heslington lands were based on the estate of the dissolved Hospital of St Leonard, York.
The Yarburghs' ancestral lands were in Yarborough in Lincolnshire. They had also acquired lands in Yorkshire, including Balne Hall, lands at Pollington, and the ecclesiastical peculiar of Snaith, through the 1611 marriage of Edmund Yarburgh to Sarah Waller, the granddaughter and co-heiress of Nicholas Waller of Sykehouse who owned these and other properties in the county.
The family also held a number of prominent public offices. Sir Thomas Yarburgh, father of James, was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1673 and MP for Pontefract in 1685 and 1688, as well as Receiver of Rents and Revenues for Queen Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II.
His daughter, Henrietta Maria, served as Maid of Honour to the Queen and his son and heir, James, was godson to James II and became a Lieutenant Colonel of Horse and an aide to the Duke of Marlborough.
On the death of Thomas Hesketh in 1708 Heslington Hall and manor, together with Hesketh lands in Lancashire, passed to James and Anne and thereafter descended through the Yarburgh family with their lands at Snaith, Balne, Cowick, and elsewhere.
In 1719 James and Anne’s daughter, another Henrietta Maria, married the architect and dramatist Sir John Vanbrugh. Her brother Charles inherited the Heslington estate and at his death in 1789 it passed to his sons Henry, and then Nicholas Edmund who died without issue in 1852.
The estate then passed to the nephew of Nicholas Edmund, Yarburgh Greame of Sewerby House in the East Riding, who subsequently took the surname Yarburgh. At his death in 1856 it passed to his nephew George John Lloyd of Manchester, who also assumed the Yarburgh surname.
In 1875 the estate passed to George’s daughter Mary and her husband George William Bateson. In 1876 George took the additional surname de Yarburgh and in 1892 he formally changed his name to de Yarburgh-Bateson. In 1890 he inherited the Baronetcy of Deramore from his elder brother Thomas, becoming 2nd Baron Deramore.
The de Yarburgh-Batesons, Barons Deramore, continued to occupy Heslington Hall until the middle of the twentieth century. During the First World War the Hall became a convalescent home for wounded soldiers and during the Second World War it was taken over by the Royal Air Force.
In 1956 the 5th Baron Deramore sold the Hall, together with 17 acres of land, to the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust Ltd. In 1962 the site was acquired by the new University of York which had already purchased 165 acres of the estate the previous year. Heslington Hall was subsequently converted into the university’s administrative headquarters.

The archive has been divided by topographical area and then arranged alphabetically by place name or record type.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws.

The archive was deposited at the Borthwick Institute by Baron Deramore in 1962. A further addition was made to the archive in 1990 and 2012.

The Yarburgh family’s connection to Heslington originated with the marriage of James Yarburgh to Anne Hesketh, the co-heiress of Thomas Hesketh of Heslington Hall, in 1692. The Heslington lands were based on the estate of the dissolved Hospital of St Leonard, York.
The Yarburghs' ancestral lands were in Yarborough in Lincolnshire. They had also acquired lands in Yorkshire, including Balne Hall, lands at Pollington, and the ecclesiastical peculiar of Snaith, through the 1611 marriage of Edmund Yarburgh to Sarah Waller, the granddaughter and co-heiress of Nicholas Waller of Sykehouse who owned these and other properties in the county.
The family also held a number of prominent public offices. Sir Thomas Yarburgh, father of James, was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1673 and MP for Pontefract in 1685 and 1688, as well as Receiver of Rents and Revenues for Queen Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II.
His daughter, Henrietta Maria, served as Maid of Honour to the Queen and his son and heir, James, was godson to James II and became a Lieutenant Colonel of Horse and an aide to the Duke of Marlborough.
On the death of Thomas Hesketh in 1708 Heslington Hall and manor, together with Hesketh lands in Lancashire, passed to James and Anne and thereafter descended through the Yarburgh family with their lands at Snaith, Balne, Cowick, and elsewhere.
In 1719 James and Anne’s daughter, another Henrietta Maria, married the architect and dramatist Sir John Vanbrugh. Her brother Charles inherited the Heslington estate and at his death in 1789 it passed to his sons Henry, and then Nicholas Edmund who died without issue in 1852.
The estate then passed to the nephew of Nicholas Edmund, Yarburgh Greame of Sewerby House in the East Riding, who subsequently took the surname Yarburgh. At his death in 1856 it passed to his nephew George John Lloyd of Manchester, who also assumed the Yarburgh surname.
In 1875 the estate passed to George’s daughter Mary and her husband George William Bateson. In 1876 George took the additional surname de Yarburgh and in 1892 he formally changed his name to de Yarburgh-Bateson. In 1890 he inherited the Baronetcy of Deramore from his elder brother Thomas, becoming 2nd Baron Deramore.
The de Yarburgh-Batesons, Barons Deramore, continued to occupy Heslington Hall until the middle of the twentieth century. During the First World War the Hall became a convalescent home for wounded soldiers and during the Second World War it was taken over by the Royal Air Force.
In 1956 the 5th Baron Deramore sold the Hall, together with 17 acres of land, to the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust Ltd. In 1962 the site was acquired by the new University of York which had already purchased 165 acres of the estate the previous year. Heslington Hall was subsequently converted into the university’s administrative headquarters.

A typescript finding aid, to file level, is available for consultation in the searchroom of the Borthwick Institute. This includes all material received up to and including 2012.

2015-07-06

A reprographics service is available to researchers subject to the access restrictions outlined above. Copying will not be undertaken if there is any risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute for Archives' terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

Further accruals are not expected.

Futher records relating to Heslington Hall are deposited at the Borthwick Institute as part of the James Hornby Archive (a gardener at Heslington Hall) and the Lady Violet Deramore Archive.

Published

GB 193