Land Indenture Buckinghamshire, England 1660 MSS 1779 Box 14, Folder 1, M23 Report

CONDITION OF THE DOCUMENT

The document was found in good condition and the entirety of the documents

comprehension was not disturbed by any damage produced from age and time. On the creases

there is slight water damage, but the letters are still legible.

DESCRIPTION OF THE HAND

This document was created the 27 April 1660. It is a land indenture between Hugh Read

and Richard Blackhead. This document is written in secretary hand, or the court hand that lasted

in England from 1500-1750. To the untrained eye, this writing style could be challenging, but

through alphabet charts and accurate transcriptions the document will become easier to read.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS (Taken courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary)

Administrators: “A person appointed to administer the estate of a deceased person in default of

an executor.”

Aliened: “Transferred to the ownership of another; diverted to other uses.

Appurtenances: “A thing that belongs to another, a ‘belonging’; a minor property, right, or privilege, belonging to another more important, and passing in possession with it; an appendage.”

Arable: “Capable of being ploughed, fit for tillage; opposed to pasture- or wood-land.”

Assigns: “One who is appointed to act for another, a deputy, agent, or representative.”

Assurances: “The securing of a title to property; the conveyance of lands or tenements by deed; a legal evidence of the conveyance of property.”

Enfeoffed: “To invest with a fief; to put (a person) in possession of the fee-simple or fee-tail of

lands, tenements, etc.”

Entail: “The settlement of the succession of a landed estate, so that it cannot be bequeathed at

pleasure by any one possessor; the rule of descent settled for any estate; the fixed or prescribed

line of devolution.”

Executors: “A person appointed by a testator to execute or carry into effect his will after his decease.”

Hereditaments: “Any kind of property that can be inherited; anything, corporeal or incorporeal, that in the absence of testamentary disposition descended to the heir at common law.”

Messuage: “A portion of land occupied, or intended to be occupied, as the site for a dwelling house and its appurtenances.”

Tenement: “The fact of holding as a possession; tenure.”

ABBREVIATIONS

‘mm’ (abbreviation mark over the ‘m,’ transcribe with two ‘m’s)

ex. Com[m]oddities

‘pre’ (‘p’ with an abbreviation mark connected to the letter itself)

ex. p[rese]ntes

‘per’ (‘p’ with an abbreviation mark connected to the letter itself)

ex. person

ex. permits

‘par’ (‘p’ with an abbreviation mark connected to the letter itself)

ex. p[ar]cell

ex. p[ar]ish

ex. p[ar]te

‘superscript letters’ (Indicates that letters have been taken out. Fill in letters accordingly)

ex. administrat[ou]rs

ex. executo[ur]s

ex. interupc[i]on

ex. menc[i]oned

‘cion’ (abbreviation mark over the ‘c,’ transcribe accordingly) ex. considerac[i]on

‘w[i]th’ (the word is usually written as ‘wth’ in the documents)

ex. w[i]th

& (Transcribed as ‘and’)

ex. and

‘missing letters’ (Indicates that letters have been taken out. Fill in letters accordingly)

ex. sev[er]all

ex. Sov[er]aigne

ex. Coven[an]ted

ABSTRACT

This land indenture was written 27 April 1660.1 It is held in Brigham Young University’s

Special Collections in Provo, Utah. The indenture recorded the transfer of property belonging to

Hugh Reade who was a yeoman from Shenley, Buckinghamshire. Reade had acquired the land

from John Mansell of Northamptonshire, but was selling the land to Richard Blackhead.

Blackhead was also a yeoman from Shenley, Buckinghamshire.

The land being transferred was described as being located in Over Shenley, which was

likely historic boundaries surrounding Shenley. The land was referred to as the “east greene” and

was located west of Humphrey Norman’s property, and north of the property owned by John

Fortescue. The sale, which totaled £458, included not only the land, but all buildings, houses,

meadows, outhouses, barns, and pastures associated with the property. This property totaled to

about six acres of land.

ANALYSIS

This land indenture followed precisely the pattern of indentures found in Old Title Deeds:

A Guide for Local and Family Historians.2 It shadowed the standard “lease and release” practice which became very common after the Statute of Enrolments was established in 1535.

The Stature of Enrolments was not widely accepted due to the inconvenience and publicity associated with registering the land transfer. Many people tended, instead, to lease and then release their property. Lawyers would draw up lease papers, which would lease the land to for six months to a year for a certain amount of rent to an intended purchaser. The very next day the owner would release his freehold reversion to the purchaser for the mixed property value.

1 Land Indenture Collection. BYU Special Collections. Provo, Utah. Call number, MSS 1779, Box 14, Folder 1, M23.

2 Alock, Nathaniel Warren. Old Title Deeds: A Guide for Local and Family Historians. University of Michigan: Phillimore, 1986. © 2013 Center for Family History and Genealogy at Brigham Young University.

The lease and release method and the enrolment method were both valid means by which to

transfer property. 3

It is also interesting to note that the town of Shenley is now included in the town of

Milton Keynes. This merge of towns was part of the New Towns Act of 1946 that authorized the

creation of new cities after the effects of World War II. Shenley, though it was its own parish and

place up until the twentieth century, is now considered to be part of Milton Keynes.4

3 Anthony Camp, “Land Owners and occupiers in England and Wales.” Family Tree Magazine (UK: http://www.family-tree.co.uk) vol. 16, no. 3 (January 2000): 19-21; no. 4 (February 2000): 27-28; and no. 5 (March 2000): 27-28. Herber, 659-660.

4 Smith, P. J. "CHANGING OBJECTIVES IN SCOTTISH NEW TOWNS POLICY." Annals Of The Association Of American Geographers 56, no. 3 (September 1966): 492-507. Religion and Philosophy Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed April 2, 2012). © 2013 Center for Family History and Genealogy at Brigham Young University.

Bibliography

Alock, Nathaniel Warren. Old Title Deeds: A Guide for Local and Family Historians. University

of Michigan: Phillimore, 1986.

Camp, Anthony. “Land Owners and occupiers in England and Wales.” Family Tree Magazine

(UK: http://www.family-tree.co.uk) vol. 16, no. 3 (January 2000): 19-28.

Herber, “Land Owners and occupiers in England and Wales.” Family Tree Magazine (UK:

http://www.family-tree.co.uk), 659-660.

Land Indenture Collection. BYU Special Collections. Provo, Utah. Call number, MSS 1779, Box

14, Folder 1, M23.

Smith, P. J. "CHANGING OBJECTIVES IN SCOTTISH NEW TOWNS POLICY." Annals Of

The Association Of American Geographers 56, no. 3 (September 1966): 492-507.

Religion and Philosophy Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed April 2, 2012).

Additional Links and References

For more information on the localities mentioned in the document, see these resources:

Shenley, Buckinghamshire: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Shenley,_Buckinghamshire http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62612

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Milton_Keynes,_Buckinghamshire