Londonderry Estates
Reference: D/Lo/D Catalogue Title: Londonderry Estates Area: Catalogue Category: Estate and Family Records Description: Deeds (part 1)
Covering Dates: 1283-1865
Catalogue Index
Use and to reveal/hide the structure of the catalogue index (requires Javascript to be enabled in your internet browser options). Click to jump directly to information at a specific level of the catalogue.
- Londonderry Estates
- DEEDS (Ref: D/Lo/D)
- THE TEMPEST-WHARTON INHERITANCE (Ref: D/Lo/D 1-620)
- Barmston (Ref: D/Lo/D 1-41)
- Durham: Gilesgate (Ref: D/Lo/D 42-60)
- Durham: Silver Street (Ref: D/Lo/D 61-93)
- East Murton and Dalton-le-Dale (Ref: D/Lo/D 94-123)
- Kelloe (Ref: D/Lo/D 124-131)
- Penshaw (Ref: D/Lo/D 132-170)
- Rainton, East and West (Ref: D/Lo/D 171-247)
- Redmarshall, 1610 - 1759 (Ref: D/Lo/D 248-294)
- Stainton, Great (Ref: D/Lo/D 295-319)
- Sunderland (Ref: D/Lo/D 320-374)
- Swainston and the Isle (Ref: D/Lo/D 375-390)
- Thorpe Thewles (Ref: D/Lo/D 391-423)
- Wynyard (Ref: D/Lo/D 424-620)
- THE VANE INHERITANCE (Ref: D/Lo/D 621-677)
- Long Newton, 1628 - 1750 (Ref: D/Lo/D 621-677)
- LONDONDERRY PURCHASES (Ref: D/Lo/D 678-849)
- Elwick Hall, 1821 - 1834 (Ref: D/Lo/D 678-698)
- Moorsley (Ref: D/Lo/D 699-708)
- Newton Hanzard (Ref: D/Lo/D 709-712)
- Seaham (Ref: D/Lo/D 713-735)
- Seaham: Rectory and advowson, 1731 - 1847 (Ref: D/Lo/D 736-764)
- South Biddick (Ref: D/Lo/D 765-777)
- West Herrington, 1810 - 1839 (Ref: D/Lo/D 778-796)
- Wolviston, 1824 - 1852 (Ref: D/Lo/D 797-849)
- COLLIERY DEEDS (Ref: D/Lo/D 850-916)
- Hetton, 1816 - 1820 (Ref: D/Lo/D 850-861)
- Pittington, 1825 - 1830 (Ref: D/Lo/D 862-870)
- Rainton and Moorhouse, 1683 - 1835 (Ref: D/Lo/D 871-908)
- Stoney Gate, 1823 - 1839 (Ref: D/Lo/D 909-916)
Catalogue Description
Accepted by HM Government in Lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to Durham County Record Office, 2016MUNIMENTS OF TITLE
Bearing in mind the ancient lineage and extensive estates of the Vane and Tempest families there are surprisingly few early title deeds and with the exception of the Wynyard group and three items relating to the Heath property in Durham there is nothing before the 16th century and very little before the 17th century. This is no doubt due in part to the fact that so much of their estates were acquired by marriage rather than by direct descent or by purchase.
The deeds have suffered from frequent resorting and many of the traces necessary for restoring correct archival grouping have been lost, so that in some cases the arrangement has had to be conjectural. In the nineteenth century the deeds were bundled up and scheduled by the Londonderry's solicitor. Several inventories exist (all listed under D/Lo/L) but very few of them bear any relation to the numbering of the documents when they arrived in the County Record Office. An additional misfortune occurred in the 1860's when what were considered to be the more 'interesting' items were sent to the Public Record Office in London for cataloguing. These deeds had, of course, been selected solely on the basis of their date or illegibility and the Public Record Office, apparently unaware of the existence of two separate lines of inheritance, simply calendared and numbered them in chronological order without reference to place or origin. Considerable time has had to be spent therefore in attempting to restore the original 'fonds' but even so a few items have remained isolated and the placing of others has had to be purely conjectural.
Partly in order to facilitate this work and partly in order to produce a more intelligible list it was decided to catalogue under this heading only title deeds relating to properties which were inherited by Lord Stewart in 1819 or which were subsequently acquired by purchase (Seaham is the most important of these). All other deeds, settlements, mortgages and leases are listed under the Estate and Family sections. (For the methods employed in compiling the catalogue entries see the General Introduction, section IV)
Although there are few items of individual interest mention may be made of the Inspeximus of 1337 which served as a kind of cartulary for the Hospital of St. Giles (D/Lo/D 42), the court roll of 1376 (D/Lo/D 43), a quitclaim of 1630 containing a description of Wynyard Hall (D/Lo/D 608) and a lease of 1580 in which service in Border Wars is one of the conditions of tenancy (D/Lo/D 601). The collection includes the 17th century deeds of Rainton Colliery (D/Lo/D 871-72) and the Vane title to Long Newton, part of the Neville Lordship of Barnard Castle acquired from the Crown by Sir Henry Vane the Elder in 1635 (D/Lo/D 621-677). There are however no early deeds relating either to this estate or the Milbanke property at Seaham.
Catalogue Contents
See also D/Lo/D 917, 918
Ref: D/Lo/D 42-60The manor was divided from at least the early 15th century into three parts. One of these moieties was in turn divided and came into the respective possessions of Sir Francis Blake, Sir John Thorold and Sir Ralph Milbanke
Ref: D/Lo/D 778-788