| Entry Type | Corporate |
| Corporate Name | Manor of Bonsall |
| Parent Body | Honour of Tutbury |
| Place | Bonsall |
| Epithet | Manor |
| History | At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086 Bonsall was an outlying part of the manor of ‘Mestesforde’ (possibly known later as Matlock Bridge), which was part of the King’s lands. In 1296, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, died possessed of the manors of Upper Bonsall (formerly belonging to the Crown) and Nether Bonsall (parcel of the Honour of Tutbury). The two manors were united and annexed to the Earldom, later the Duchy, of Lancaster, belonging to the Crown. In 1630 the manor of Bonsall was granted to Charles Harbord and others, who sold it in 1632 to Henry, Earl of Dover, who sold it in 1633 to the copyholders of Bonsall subject to a fee-farm rent to the Crown. Trustees were appointed by the copyholders to transact the business of the manorial courts. Manorial administration was concerned with several aspects of village life, including the regulation of bylaws, appointment of officers and management of common land well into the 18th century, after which time it was almost exclusively concerned with the registration of copyhold land.
Geographic Extent
Co-extensive with the parish of Bonsall |
| Notes | Manor Court books 1665-1935 are held by Derbyshire Record Office, along with a small number of other items.
Court rolls, ministers' accounts and other records 1359-1632 are held in the Duchy of Lancaster archive (reference DL) at The National Archives. Other records are also held in other collections at The National Archives (reference SC 6/825/5, MAF 9/49/55-75 and MAF 13/4) as well as the following repositories
- Nottinghamshire Archives (reference DD/325/1/11)
- British Library (reference Add MS 6668 f.426)
- Haddon Hall archives of the Duke of Rutland (private collection)
- Sheffield Archives (reference ACM/S/116)
See the Manorial Documents Register, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/manor-search, for further information about records held elsewhere. |
| Source | Bonsall – A Village and its History by Bonsall Village History Project (2006)
Magna Britannia: Volume 5: Derbyshire by Daniel and Samuel Lysons (1817) pp. 56-57
The History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby, by S. Glover, Vol. 2 p. 127 (1833)
The History, Topography and Directory of Derbyshire by T. Bulmer (1895) p. 325 |
Court rolls (14th-17th cent) at The National Archives
Court books (17th-20th cent) at the Derbyshire Record Office |
| Authorised Form of Name | Bonsall; Manor of Bonsall; Manor |
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