MIDDELTON OF STOCKELD, FAMILY AND ESTATE RECORDS
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: MIDDELTON OF STOCKELD, FAMILY AND ESTATE RECORDS
Classmark: YAS/MD59
Original reference: MD59
Date(s): 12th century -19th century
Language: English; Latin
Size and medium: 35 boxes
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/446541
Collection group(s): Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society
Description
The collection contains many deeds relating to the properties in Yorkshire held by the Middelton family. There are also deeds relating to properties outside Yorkshire.
The Middelton family held the lordship of several manors. The collection includes documents relating to the manors. There are also estate records.
The collection contains a few family papers, financial and legal documents.
When requesting documents please quote the old and new reference numbers (in the form MD59/10/Hab/77 and MD59/1/2)
Physical characteristics
Measurement details: YAHS Survey: Outsize measurements not taken as part of survey. REB 15.10.2018 repack estimate equiv 105 green boxes.
Biography or history
The family were well-connected socially, having alliances with the Plumptons, Vavasours, Calverleys, Eltofts, Towneleys, Ingilbys of Ripley, Constables, Stricklands and Haggerstons, among others. As Catholics and Royalists they suffered for their recusancy in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the papers reflect the difficulties which arose from the sequestration of their estates, and subsequent long-term debts. The collection contains a relatively small proportion of personal material, but there is interesting correspondence from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and a number of personal and household accounts, particularly for clothing supplied by the best makers in the earlier 17th century. Many accounts and receipts relate to the funeral of Mrs. Mary Middelton, 1644. Cultural references are few, with the exception of a library list compiled in 1718, which notes 342 books in the library at Stockeld.
The collection contains only a few maps and plans, although the surveyor Salomon Swale carried out work for the Middeltons in the early 17th century. A plan of an unidentified house of similar date also survives. The bulk of the collection dates from the period before 1763, when the male line of the Middeltons came to an end.
Material from the collection has been published in: Yorkshire Record Series 65, 69, 76 and 120 (Yorkshire Deeds IV, V, VI and X), YRS 161, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 72 (2000) and 75 (2003). See also R. Collyer and J. Horsfall Turner, Ilkley: Ancient and Modern, 1885 and D. Carpenter, The Road to Ruin: the Middeltons of Stockeld 1763-1947, 1999
System of arrangement
Arrangement:
In the mid 18th century the archives were arranged in one purely alphabetical sequence into 24 bags. When given to the Society in 1920, they were still contained in bags, numbered 1 to 24, of which number 2 was missing. There was also a bag without number which was then labelled 25. Lists were made, retaining the bag, and later box, number. It is clear, from endorsements on deeds, for example, that this was not the original order, at least for the deeds, and in 2000-2001 they were sorted and listed on more meaningful principles. The 18th century arrangement can also be followed in the schedule dated 1757. See YAS/MD59/5/5/28 'Schedule of deeds, writings and instruments belonging to Marmaduke Middleton of Stockeld in the County of York Esquire' [1757].
Access and usage
Access
This material is not subject to restrictions under Data Protection or other relevant legislation that might limit access. However, other protections, such as donor conditions or conservation considerations, may still apply where advised.