Catalogue

Registers in which the Clerk of the Peace copied miscellaneous documents enrolled with Quarter Sessions

Many commons or open fields were enclosed by authority of local acts of Parliament between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries. The acts usually required a copy of the enclosure award (the formal document which set out the provisions for division and enclosure) to be deposited either with the clerk of the peace of the county or with one of the courts at Westminster, or, in the case of the County Palatine of Durham, in the Palatinate chancery. These documents which usually, but not invariably, have a large scale plan attached, provide information on land ownership, types of land tenure and also highways, footpaths, watercourses, drains, and the responsibility for upkeep of these; also quarries, gravel pits and other features.
Much enclosure had, of course, been carried out in the Tudor period and earlier by private agreements between owners so that often only comparatively small areas were divided under enclosure acts. The plans sometimes show old enclosures, however.
Enclosure acts were usually passed at the instigation of the chief land-owners. The act named a number of commissioners to make a survey of the land and to re-allot scattered holdings fairly according to the value of the lands.
The award, or the engrossed copy of it for deposit, was a long imposing document on parchment. The plan, usually drawn on a large scale, also on parchment, shows all the allotments (with reference numbers as in the award) and other features mentioned in the award, as re-arranged.
The original award was usually left in the custody of the incumbent of the parish or the lord of the manor. The engrossed copy was deposited with the clerk of the peace or as directed by the act. The majority of Durham enclosure awards, were, in fact, enrolled in the Palatinate court of chancery. A number of seventeenth century enclosure agreements were also confirmed by the chancery court. A complete list of Durham enclosure awards and agreements was compiled by W.E. Tate, 'A Hand List of Enclosure Acts and Awards' in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne , 4th series, X, no.3 July 1943.
In 1721 a successful petition against the enclosure of Lanchester was addressed to the House of Lords in 1721 (House of Lords Record Office). Lanchester was enclosed later between 1773 and 1781 and although the award is not in the Record Office, awards of compensation for damage to certain allotments by mining operations were granted at Quarter Sessions between 1881 and 1903 (Q/D/EC)
The awards for Crawcrook and Whickham include plans showing the strips and commons as existing before the enclosure, and the award relating to Cockfield Fell, 1868, was of regulated stinted pasture. The Middleton-in-Teesdale award was also partly concerned with stinted pasture. The awards and plans include some of the detached area of North Durham in Northumberland. A copy of some awards was also entered in special enrolment volumes, usually without the plan (Q/D/B).
For some awards only the enrolled copy survives.

Enrolled Enclosure Awards:
Bolam, 1786, Q/D/B 5, p.113
Boldon Fell, 1859, Q/D/B 7, p.825 (also plan)
Greatham Marsh, 1807 - 1809, Q/D/B 5, p.485
Middleton-in-Teesdale, 1816, Q/D/B 7, p.1
Harperig, 1784, Q/D/B 5, p.103
Horncliffe, 1778, Q/D/B 5, p.78

Palatinate Enrolments:
Photocopies of a few earlier enclosures enrolled in the Palatinate entry books have been acquired (D/Ph 1). See the 'Photocopies' catalogue.

Awards, with plans where stated, exist for the following parishes (the date is that of the sealing of the award).

In 1430 only men owning freehold property worth 40s. p.a. could elect members of parliament to represent counties.
From 1710 only those assessed for taxes for freehold property (i.e. land tax) could vote.
Acts of 1744 and 1780 required the assessors of land tax to send duplicate copies of the annual assessments to the clerk of the Peace to serve as a register of parliamentary electors. More survive from 1780 onwards as a fine was imposed for non-compliance.
Memorials of deeds establishing annuity payments of 40s. if giving a right to vote, were also registered under an act of 1782.
In 1798 redemption of land tax by a money payment was allowed. This also made the tax permanent instead of the annual tax it had been since its first imposition in 1692. The series of land tax assessments finishes in 1831. Thereafter the right to vote was recorded in the registers of electors. After the Reform Act of 1832 registers of electors were prepared by the Clerk of the Peace to whom lists were sent by Overseers of the Poor. In 1832 the franchise was extended to holders of copyhold land worth £40 p.a. and to tenants with leases for 20 years or more of property worth £50 p.a.
The land tax assessments record names of proprietors, names of occupiers, and sums assessed. 'Occupiers' refers to chief leaseholders not to the tenants who actually lived on or worked the property. The 'occupier' might hold on a long lease several properties which were let on shorter tenancies.
The forty shilling freehold was not the actual (sales) value of the land which would normally be much higher. Nor does the assessment give a true guide to the value for it was rarely reassessed.
Returns were made annually for each constabulary or township and arranged by ward division.
For a detailed list of land tax assessments arranged by ward and giving a list of townships in each division see the Q/D/L detail catalogue.

Certificates or memorials of annuities charged on freehold land also had to be registered with the Clerk of the Peace, if giving a right to vote under an act of 1763. Declarations, or memorials, written on parchment and signed by the annuitant, were filed and copies entered into a volume. Enrolment of copies of memorials of annuities and assignments with rough name index: Q/D/B/1 pp. 1-379

Certain duplicate copies of assessments were deposited with Quarter Sessions to assist in assessing the number of soldiers who could be recruited.
A special return was requested from farmers near the coast during the Napoleonic Wars.

Land tax could be redeemed for a money payment by contracting with the tax commissioners, under an act of 1798. Sometimes part of the land was sold to raise the money. This could, however, be done only with the approval of the tax commissioners and, in the case of ecclesiastical land, with the agreement of the bishop. Consent was given provided the sale did not materially affect the remaining property.
A register was kept of those contracting to redeem land tax.
Copies of conveyances were enrolled with the clerk of the Peace.

After the Reform Act, 1832 (2 William IV c.45) the Clerk of the Peace prepared registers of electors from lists returned by parish overseers and corrected by revising barristers. The registers were printed and record the surnames and forenames of each voter, his place of abode and the nature of his qualification for the franchise.
After the Reform Act of 1832 the franchise was extended to holders of copyhold land worth £40 p.a. and tenants with leases for 20 years or more of property worth £50 p.a.
After the Reform Act 1867 those qualified to vote were freeholders, copyholders, and life tenants of property worth £5 p.a. and occupiers of property worth £12 p.a. paying poor rates.
The Reform Act of 1884 gave the vote to all rate payers (owners or tenants of property paying poor rates) and lodgers in lodgings worth £10 p.a. (the latter had applied in boroughs since 1867).
The Representation of the People Act, 1918, gave the vote to all men over 21 with a six months residence qualification and to women who were over thirty years of age and were householders. A second vote was allowed to owners of business premises and to university graduates, (this was abolished in 1948).
In 1928 women were given equal rights with men.
In 1970 the voting age was lowered to 18.
Since 1892, after the establishment of the County Council, responsibility for electoral registers has been exercised by the Clerk to the Council or his registration officer.
For electoral registers 1833 - 1892 see Q/D/PV detail catalogue.
For electoral registers 1893 -1974 see CC/Cl catalogue.
For electoral registers 1975 - 2008 see DC/Cl catalogue.
For electoral registers from 2009 onwards see DCC/RES catalogue.

SOCIETIES AND MEETINGS
Societies, clubs and meetings were controlled by several acts of Parliament. The Friendly Societies Act, 1793 and the Seditious Societies Act, 1799 and later acts required societies to be registered at Quarter Sessions.
Acts of 1817 and 1828 limited sums of money which might be deposited with savings banks and required copies of rules and any alterations to rules to be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace for public inspection.
An act of 1836 required benefit building societies, provident and friendly societies to be registered.
In 1874 responsibility for records of friendly societies was given to the Registrar of Friendly Societies. Rules deposited with the Clerk of the Peace were, therefore, transferred to the Registrar, except for a few duplicate copies.
Rules and alterations were laid before the court of Quarter Sessions for approval and the order was usually noted in the Order Book. Copies of the rules were registered and filed by the clerk of the Peace.
A new numbered series was started in 1829 following the 1828 Act.
No returns of freemasons' lodges survive for County Durham before 1916 although they were required under the Seditious Societies Act, 1799.

Rules of Savings Banks, Building Societies, Friendly and Provident Societies
Engrossed copies of rules. Dates noted are the dates of deposit with the Clerk of the Peace. Numbers in brackets are the original registration numbers.

Annual returns made by each lodge in County Durham listing names of members, their addresses and occupations. They are printed forms of return, arranged in annual bundles.

PLANS OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
A standing order of the House of Commons made in 1792 and confirmed by an act of Parliament of 1837 required proposed schemes for commercial and other developments of a public nature, such as new roads, canals, railways, and gas works, to be deposited for public inspection with the clerk of the Peace of the counties concerned. All such shemes were authorised by a private act of Parliament. It was intended that those who considered that they or their property might be adversely affected by the scheme could raise objections. Claims for compensation were sometimes decided by juries. Schemes subject to these provisions included those which could alter land use, such as canals, railways or gas pipes.
In addition to drawings of the proposed works, including sections and elevations where appropriate, there were always plans showing the extent of the site and land adjacent. These plans were drawn on a large scale and show the plots of land near the proposed works marked with a number referring to the list of owners. Sometimes only the immediate neighbourhood was shown, but some plans cover a fairly large area. The list of owners gives the reference numbers of the properties on the plan, names of the owners, names of the occupiers (chief leaseholders) and a description of the property, such as 'arable field', 'private road', (the description does not always appear in the earlier ones).
The plans are of proposed schemes only and were deposited prior to the authorising act. Not all the schemes were carried out, nor did those that were, necessarily follow the form of the original deposited plans. Altered plans or plans of extensions of a scheme might be deposited in succeeding years but there was no provision for the deposit of a final plan in the authorising act.
A standing order of the House of Lords in 1843 required the deposit of a sealed duplicate copy. These do not survive as a series in County Durham but second copies exist of many plans.
An Act of 1845 required copies of the act authorising each scheme to be deposited but these too are not now with the Quarter Sessions records.
Plans relating to North Durham, that is Islandshire, Norham and Bedlington were deposited with the Clerk of the Peace of the County of Durham until 1844.
When schemes overlapped county boundaries, plans were deposited in both counties.
A detailed list of deposited plans arranged chronologically may be found in appendix 4. A card index to the plans exists.

VERDICTS OF JURIES ON COMPENSATION, 1837 - 1869

Many of the acts authorising public works include provision for setting disputes over compensation for the purchase of land or for damage arising from the proposed works. Under the Land Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 a jury from the neighbourhood of the works could make inquiry into and settle disputes concerning claims of over £50. Such inquiries were usually initiated by the company concerned rather than individual claimants. The jury was summoned by the sheriff and made its inquisition before him, or sometimes, after 1870, before the coroner. Copies of the verdict of the jury assessing the sums to be paid in compensation had to be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace together with the warrants to the sheriff to summon the jury. Records usually refer to the plot reference marked on the deposited plan.