Court book recording proceedings at the court baron for the manor of Kirkby lreleth in the Furness district of Lancashire. The volume follows the usual format of court rolls, with a formal heading, a list of jurors and a series of presentments. The business of the court included the payment of customary rents, the appointment of manorial officials, fines for infringements of commoning rights and other misdemeanours, and fines for unpaid rent from deceased tenants.
Court Book for the Manor of Kirkby Ireleth, Lancashire
This material is held atUniversity of Manchester Library
- Reference
- GB 133 Eng MS 1100
- Dates of Creation
- 3 May 1757-19 June 1821
- Name of Creator
- Language of Material
- English
- Physical Description
- c 320 x 200 mm. 1 volume (103 folios); Condition: damp-affected, fragile; leaves detached from binding. Conservation: all leaves have been laminated with tissue.
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
The manor of Kirkby Ireleth in the Furness district of Lancashire (now Cumbria) was anciently held of the abbey of Furness. The manor descended through the Kirkby family to Colonel Roger Kirkby, who was living in 1719, by whom it was mortgaged to a banker, the agent of Catherine Duchess of Buckingham. When the banker became insolvent, she received the manor in part payment of debts. The Duchess left it to Constantine Phipps, Lord Mulgrave, who sold it in 1771 to Lord George Cavendish, from whom it descended to the Duke of Devonshire. The Duke paid chief rent to the Duke of Buccleuch. A court baron was held in the week after Whitsun-week. Source: Baines's History of Lancashire (see below).
Access Information
The manuscript is available for consultation by any accredited reader.
Acquisition Information
Donated to the John Rylands Library by Edward Walker esq. of Sale, Cheshire, on 12 May 1944.
Note
Description compiled by Jo Humpleby, project archivist.
Other Finding Aids
Catalogued in the Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, 1937-1951 (English MS 1100).
Alternative Form Available
A typescript transcript of the entire volume is kept with English MS 1100 and will normally be made available to readers in preference to the original.
Custodial History
Formerly in the possession of Edward Walker esq., who stated in 1944 that he had purchased it 75 years ago, i.e. around 1875.
Bibliography
See Edward Baines, The history of the county palatine and duchy of Lancaster, revised and improved edition edited by John Harland, 2 vols (London: G. Routledge and Sons, 1868-70), vol. 2, pp. 663-6.