| History | In the Domesday survey in 1086 Eckington belonged to Ralph Fitzhubert. The Norman Stoteville family gained Eckington through Ralph’s daughter Matilda who married Edward de Salisbury and inherited half the Fitzhubert Barony. They held it until Sir John Stoteville forfeited the manor in 1340, although there were several occasions before that when it appears to have been temporarily taken away. It was granted next to Sir John Darcy, steward of the King’s household. After the death of Sir Philip Darcy in 1418, it passed, via his daughter Elizabeth’s marriage to Sir James Strangeways, to the Strangeways family who held until 1540, when another Sir James conveyed the manor to his cousin William Lord Dacre. William’s son Leonard Dacre held it next but on his attainder in 1570, the manor was forfeited to the Crown. Lordship of the manor from then remained in the hands of the Crown until c1837. There were, however, many leases from the Crown, often very short term in nature, particularly after the Restoration. They included the first lessee, Sir Henry Carey Lord Hunsdon, cousin of Elizabeth I (1571), the Carey family (until about 1640), Parliamentary trustees (1649-1660), John Wroth esquire and his wife Anne (1653-1655 and 1667), the Duke of Albemarle (1660), the Earl of Sandwich, Sir Edward Montagu (1661-1662), Sir John Frechville (1667-1682), his widow Lady Anne Charlotte (1682-1717), her friend Hanna Lowther (1718-1719), James Lord D’Arcy and William Jessop (1720-1733), William Jessop alone (1733-1734), Hon. Mary Jessop (1735-1736), Nathaniel Payler and John Dossie (1737-1748), trustees of John Dossie’s settlement (1766-1771), William Dossie (1771), and Rev. James Wilkinson (1771-1804). In 1804 the Rev. James Wilkinson assigned his lease to Sitwell Sitwell, Esq. Sir George Sitwell purchased the manor outright in 1837 and it has remained with the Sitwell family at Renishaw Hall ever since.
Nature of Jurisdiction
View of frankpledge, great court baron and small court |
| Source | Magna Britannia: Volume 5: Derbyshire by Daniel and Samuel Lysons (1817) pp.142-143
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50728&strquery=eckington
Tales of my native village by Sir George Reresby Sitwell (1933), chapter 1 “The Lord of the Manor”, pp. 54-98
Eckington The Court Rolls, Vol. III, 1506-1589, calendared by H.J.H. Garratt (2003)
Eckington The Court Rolls, Vol. IV, 1633-1694, calendared by H.J.H. Garratt (2000)
Eckington The Court Rolls, Vol. V, 1694-1804, calendared by H.J.H. Garratt (1997)
A Brief History of Eckington: An Ancient Derbyshire Parish by G. Shaw (Eckington & District Preservation Society 1978) |