One deed was added to the West Sussex Record Office’s collections and the other eight were donated to archive services around the country. FNL is happy to respond to applications for grants which employ this sort of collaborative approach.
Wendy Walker, County Archivist, writes: Mixed lots, such as this one, present a real challenge when they come up for sale, particularly when time is a factor as it often is with auctions. Whilst repositories may be very interested in a single document relating to their area of collecting, they often cannot justify bidding on the whole lot in order to secure the object of their interest which can result in significant documents passing into private hands instead.
When we were alerted to the auction of these deeds by a member of the public we knew how significant they were, given the early date, and how important it would be to secure this lot for West Sussex Record Office and the other local record offices the deeds related to. Two other county record offices were also aware of the lot and its importance.
The National Archives Sales Monitoring Team put the three record offices in touch and recommended approaching the Friends of the National Libraries. After liaising with Friends of the National Libraries and securing an extremely generous grant to cover the purchase of the deeds, transport (as the auction was taking place in Malaga), and distribution of the deeds to the appropriate record offices if the purchase was successful, it was agreed that West Sussex Record Office would bid on the lot. It was an exciting moment when we were notified that ours was the winning bid.
The deed for West Sussex, dated 24th May 1336 provides a wealth of information about property owners in Worthing at this time. The two main parties are William le Metere and his wife Emma and Herric de Heen (Heene being the name of a manor and parish outside Worthing) but in a detailed description of the location of the messuage the grant identifies six owners of parcels of adjacent land and the names of six witnesses.
The other eight deeds contain a similar level of invaluable information (including names of female property owners) and comprise:
Donated to Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies: Grant from Robert son of John de Gravele to Laurnce del Broc of all his wood called Linethegrave in the vill of Chesfield [Graveley, Hertfordshire], c1250.
Donated to the South West Heritage Trust: Grant and quitclaim from Philip, son of Henry Simond, to Christine, daughter of Sybil, daughter of Henry Simond of a messuage in the vill of Shipham, Somerset, c1290.
Donated to Hampshire Archives and Local Studies:
- Grant from Avice, widow of Thomas le Hore of Ashley [Hampshire] to her son Nicholas of the whole tenement and land which she has in the vill of Ashley, 25 Nov 1307.
- Letters of attornment and fealty from Margaret, widow of Henry Popham, lady of Buckland near Lymington [Hampshire], to John Fromond, lord of the manor of Fernhill [Milton, Hampshire] of lands and tenements in Arnwood [Hordle, Hampshire], 8 Sep 1419.
Donated to Essex Record Office: Grant from John Breed of Great Waltham [Essex] to John Hamund, John Hultynge and John Claver, all of Great Waltham of property in Great Waltham, 16 Dec 1385.
Donated to Royal Berkshire Archives: Grant from John Taylour of Ascot in Winkfield to Williame atte Hatche and his brother Richard Atte Hatche of Ascot of a cottage, garden and a croft of arable in Ascot, 16 Jun 1405.
Donated to West Yorkshire Archives Service: Quitclaim between William Spark of Hook [West Riding of Yorkshire] to William Reder of Thorne of his right in lands in Hook, moor in Incklesmore, and moor in Morehampittes, 30 Apr 1446.
Donated to Suffolk Archives: Letters of attorney from Thomas Denys and John Draill to Ralph Wuff and Thomas Gate to deliver seisin to Bennet Caldewell of their manor called Blomviles in Monk Soham, 1 Jun 1463
West Sussex Record Office and all of the other services that benefitted are extremely grateful to Friends of the Nations' Libraries, not only for such a large grant, but also their swift response to the application and their advice. Thanks to this generous grant, these nine rare medieval deeds have been saved and can be made available to researchers at local record offices around the country.
