Healaugh and Muker Manor Court Books

Healaugh and Muker Manor Court Books



The Swaledale & Arkengarthdale Local History Group and North Yorkshire County Record Office have embarked upon a project to make the content of the Healaugh and Muker Manor Court Books fully searchable via the SWAAG website. These Court Books are an invaluable source of information for local and family historians. They record all transfers of copyhold land within the manors, identifying the transferor, transferee and the property; for example At the Manor Court held on 27th October 1686 we have: “William Coates eldest son & heir of Adam Coates Deceased is Admitted Tennant of the Moiety of a Messuage & tenement with the appurtenances Scituate in Ravenswate [Ravenseat] ……” At the same Court, the property of one Charles Wensley, deceased, was divided up between Dorothy, presumably his wife or daughter, and four sons, Ralph, Robert, Anthony and Charles. Intriguingly, these entries also refers to “Mill Close, Feetham”; presumably a reference to an as yet unidentified mill of some sort. The project is in two phases. The first phase is to take the first five books, transcribed by the late Dr. Timothy Bagenal, and scan them as fully searchable pdf files. These will then be made available on the SWAAG website. Tim Bagenal transcribed Books A – E, covering the periods 1686-1701, 1700-1731, 1733-1738, 1739-1743 and 1744-1753; a mammoth task amounting to over 750 pages in total. His work will be much appreciated by many. Once the first phase is complete the Local History Group intends to transcribe the remaining books so that they too will be fully searchable as a pdf download. Alan Mills 8^th July 2016 N.B. as of August 2023: books F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, V, W and Z, are available. View how to search the books... Go straight the book downloads...
Last Manorial Court at Muker June 1924 Photographs courtesy of the Swaledale Museum Digital Archive

Healaugh	Muker