Winslow Manor Court Books, Part I: 1327–1377; Part II: 1423–1460

Abstract

mines in the manor of Mold in north Wales. He suspected that, although the evidence was so contradictory, there may have been some truth in what both sides said. Until mining began, the wastes were used only for low-value activities such as cutting peat and heather, grazing cattle and sheep, and (in Swaledale) fishing. It is likely that at that time landowners did not enforce their rights consistently, nor see that boundaries were well defined. When the lead mines began to make substantial profits, boundaries became really important. The editor states in his preface that his interest in the dispute dates from 2007, when he bought an undated map of the manor of Grinton, which is now in the North Yorkshire County Record Office. Enquiries soon showed that it was made by order of the court of Exchequer, and related to this case. The Manorial Documents Register on the National Archives website revealed that there was another map with the same title, dated 1708, in the archives at Alnwick Castle. When compared side by side, both maps proved to be identical in scale and content, but dissimilar in appearance, as they used different colour schemes and means of portraying relief. They are believed to be the earliest maps of upper Swaledale in existence. Both are reproduced in the volume, but unfortunately at too small a scale to be read easily. Only on the front cover is a detail from the Alnwick map shown at a reasonable scale. The editor has provided a simple location map as a fold-out, but this could have been reproduced on a single page, leaving the fold-out for a better reproduction of the 1708 map. The records transcribed are from the class of Exchequer: King’s Remembrancer Bills and Answers (E 112). Although almost 100,000 equity suits were litigated in the Exchequer between the mid-sixteenth century and 1841, the records have been little used by historians. Their contents are not included in the National Archives online Catalogue, but only in contemporary calendars. It is believed that this is the first time that all the records of a single case have been published in their entirety. This excellent edition should encourage others to follow its example.