DUNSFORD MANOR

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 ACC/1720
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: DUNSFORD MANOR
Date(s)	: 1680-1889
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.76 linear metres.
Name of creator(s)	: Manor of Dunsford | Wandsworth

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Manor of Dunsford developed out of lands held at Dunsford in the parish of Wandsworth by Merton Priory. According to the Victoria County History of Surrey, "by 1535 the possessions of the house {i.e. the Priory} in Wandsworth and Dunsford formed an estate of considerable value".

At the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538 the Manor passed to Charles Duke of Suffolk, who sold it in 1539 to Thomas Cromwell. When Thomas Cromwell was attainted, the Manor passed, in 1540, to the Crown, which held it until 1563 when it was granted to Lord Robert Dudley. Dudley sold it in the same year to Sir William Cecil, who in turn sold it in 1564 to John Swift (see E/BER/S/T/II/B/1/2). John Swift sold it to Thomas Smith in 1569 (see E/BER/S/T/II/B/1/3), and it stayed in the possession of his descendants until 1664 when it was sold to Sir Alan Brodrick. It passed in 1730 to his great nephew, Alan 2nd Viscount Middleton, and remained in the Middleton family until it was apparently sold to James Clark in 1851 (see ACC/1720/011 and ACC/1720/023).

As the title deeds in this collection show, a process of enfranchisement (that is, the process whereby copyhold tenants of the Manor bought the freehold to their property) had got under way by 1800 and continued throughout the century (see ACC/1720/023), leading to the disintegration of the Manor. This process is also indicated by the cessation of Courts Baron and Leet soon after James Clark bought the Manor.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Manor of Dunsford, Wandsworth, including court books, conveyances, declarations, mortgages, enfranchisements, maps and plans.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

ACC/1720/001 to 025.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Records deposited in December 1981, with the exception of ACC/1720/025 which was purchased in July 1991 with the aid of the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, see http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/puchase-grant-fund/.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Records of the Manor of Dunsford, Wandsworth, held at Lambeth Archives Department: court rolls and rentals 1559-1761. Records of the Manor of Dunsford, Wandsworth, held at the Surrey Record Office: 1579-c.1850.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Records prepared May to September 2011.