MS 1613 YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY COPY ABSTRACTS OF TITLE RELATING TO THE ‘DENISON HOUSE’ ESTATE, LEEDS, 1709-1824, AND A SALE PLAN OF THE CLAREMONT ESTATE, 1894 These abstract of title and estate plan have been copied from originals at the Nottinghamshire County Archives Office and the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds Archives, but there is no indication of which of the copies came from which office, nor the document reference which they have there. It is likely that the abstracts derive from Nottingham and the plan from Leeds archives. The copies were deposited by Professor M. W. Beresford, formerly of the University of Leeds, in 1997. The first abstract of title was complied to show the title of John Denison to an estate that he had bought of John Elam. This comprised a mansion house in Little Woodhouse and nine (named) closes of land was passed through inheritance through members of the Dixon family from at least 1709 until on 23-24 Jan 1772 it was sold to John Elam of Leeds merchant by an agreement by deferred purchase. Elam was to pay £1,389 immediately and a further £2,000 in five years’ time, and a mortgage for the outstanding sum between Elam and Rev. Benjamin Tideswell of Chapel Allerton and his wife Catherine (a descendant of the Dixon family) was arranged at the time of the conveyance. The mortgage was finally redeemed on 23 May 1777. The estate comprised the mansion house which occupied the site of ‘Claremont’, the present home of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, and land to the west on which Denison House and Hanover Street and Square were subsequently built. On 15 and 16 Aug 1786, Elam sold his estate to John Denison of Leeds, a cloth merchant for £8,500. The considerable appreciation in the price of the estate over what Elam had agreed to pay for it only fourteen years earlier was presumably to be accounted for by his building activity. The estate is described as having three parts, and comprised a total of 22 acres of land. The first part was a mansion house and six acres of land were then occupied by a Rev. Simpson on a lease with three years then unexpired. It is possible that this was a new house (now known as ‘Claremont’) which replaced the former house that the Dixon family had owned there since at least the beginning of the century. The second part of the estate was on its southern boundary, where Elam had also built a house in Park Lane with warehouses, dressing shops, packing shops and chamber and other buildings. These were occupied by held by Messrs. Elam, Buck and Jowett, together with two adjoining crofts called the Park Lane closes, which were 4 acres in area. These partners had a lease which had at that MS 1613 time five years still to run. The third part of he estate was an additional 12 acres of land, divided into named closes, that were in the occupation of Denison at the time of the conveyance. The second abstract here relates to the history of the Woodhouse (later Denison) House estate, formerly the third component of the Elam estate. The western portion of the estate was the site of the mansion that Denison himself had built and described as ‘new erected’ in the abstracted deed of 15-16 August 1786. In the abstract this is called Woodhouse House, but is now known as Denison House in Hanover Square. The estate was included in Denison’s marriage settlement of 1-2 May 1786, by which time Denison had acquired an estate in Ossington, Nottinghamshire as his new home. On 15-16 August 1786, he and his trustees sold the Woodhouse House estate to Lucas Nicholson for £13,000. On 29-30 September 1807, Nicholson sold it for £12,800 to Harry Wormald, the partner of Benjamin Gott, who together owned Bean Ing, a woollen mill on the River Aire, whose building influenced the subsequent history of the Georgian west end of Leeds. (See M. W. Beresford ’Prosperity Street and Others’ in M. W. Beresford and G. R. J. Jones, Leeds and Its Region, (Leeds, 1967), especially pages 191-6.) The Wormalds sold the Woodhouse House estate to George Rawson on 1-2 April 1824, for £11,137.10s., less than had been paid for it in 1807. The new purchaser, as the titel of his printed abstract declares, had the intention of selling of the land for building new houses in a new development called Hanover Street and Hanover Square. The third item catalogued here is a photocopy of plan of property to the east of the Woodhouse House estate. This was the Claremont estate, part of the undivided Elam and then Denison estate up to 1796, whose history from 1879 can be followed in the deeds and associative documents in MS 366. 25 Jan 1772 Mortgage for £2,000 by Elam to Benjamin and Catherine Tideswell 23 May 1777 Indenture. (1) Thomas Tidswell of Wakefield cloth dresser (brother and administrator of Benjamin Tideswell deceased) (2) John Elam (3) George Lapage Recites that mortgage and interest as specified in Deeds of 25 Jan 1772 has not been paid and therefore Benjamin Tidswell became owner of the property £1500 of the mortgage is now outstanding £1500 paid by John Elam to Thomas Tidswell to redeem the mortgage At John Elam’s appointment, the property is conveyed in trust to George Lapage West Riding Registry of Deeds ref. CB/48/88 15 and 16 Aug 1786 Lease and release John Elam of Leeds merchant (2) George Lapage tobacconist (3) John Denison of Leeds Esq. Recites deed of 23, 24, and 25 Jan 1772 John Elam conveys to Denison for £8,500 (saving the lease by John Elam to Messrs. Elam, Buck and Jowett, about five years of which was still to run) Capital messuage with coach house stable and other out offices, garden, orchards and appurtenances. Also paddock, close or parcel of meadow ground in front of the capital messuage formerly in two closes known as the Great Orchard and the Sun side close but now on one close called the Paddock containing six acres. The premises are held by Rev. Mr. Simpson on a lease with three years to run Also dwelling house in Park Lane with warehouses, dressing shops, packing shops and chamber an other buildings And also two crofts adjoining the last-mentioned dwelling house, called the Park Lane closes (4 acres) held by Messrs. Elam, Buck and Jowett And also four closes of meadow or pasture adjoining the before-mentioned premises called Park Lane Close, Pitt Close, Hall Croft, Middle Hall Croft, and the Laithe Croft containing twelve acres late in the occupation of Frederick Oates but now in the occupation of John Denison West Riding Registry of Deeds ref. CS/634/928 MS 1613 MS 1613 /1 Abstract of Title of John Denison to an Estate at [1709-1786] Woodhouse in the parish of Leeds purchased of him from John Elam, 9 manuscript pages Abstracts of deeds as follows: 5 Jan 1709 Indenture. (1)Thomas Dixon of Little Woodhouse gent and his wife Ruth (2) George Bannister of North Hall Leeds and Rachel Dixon relict of Bright Dixon late of Leeds clerk Agreement to lead to the uses of fine relating to a Mansion House in Little Woodhouse and nine closes of land there with the mansion house enjoyed then divided into ten closes known as the Sun side close, Great Orchard, Pitt close, Nearehall croft, Middle Hall Croft, Laithe croft, and the four Park Lane closes To the use of the heirs male of the Dixon family Hilary term 8th Anne Fine levied between these parties 28-29 June 1734 Lease and release (1) Josiah Ray of Tadcaster and Judith his wife sister an heir to Bright Dixon and heir of the body of Thomas Dixon (2) Thomas Barnard of Lincoln’s Inn (3) Timothy Smith of Leeds mercer Property in Leeds as above and 3 acres of ground in two closes of arable meadow at Purston Jacklin Conveyed to (2) in trust for (1) West Riding Registry of Deeds ref. BH/703/1007 Trinity term 7 and 8 Geo. II Exemplification of a common recovery 23-24 Jan 1772 Lease and release (1) Benjamin Tideswell clerk of Chapel Allerton and Catherine his wife only child of Josiah Ray late of Tadcaster clerk deceased (2) George Lapage tobacconist (3) John Elam of Leeds merchant Elam pays £1,389 now and £2,000 in five years’ time For a messuage and nine closes (only three Park Lane closes now), all in the occupation of William Sturdy Hilary tem 1772 Fine levied between these parties MS 1613 /2 Abstract of title of George Rawson to an estate 1766-1824 at Little Woodhouse in Leeds in he County of York Now laid out in building lots and called Hanover Square and Hanover Street, printed, 11 pages Abstracts of deeds as follows: 4 Nov 1766 Benjamin Tideswell clerk of Chapel Allerton and Catherine his wife and Richard Collins, mercer Deeds to lead to the uses of a fine Messuage in Little Woodhouse in the tenure of William Sturdy and nine closes, namely the Sunside Close, Great Orchard, Pitt Close, Near Hall Croft, Middle Hall Croft, Laithe Croft and three closes called Park Lane Closes on Park Lane 7 Geo III Michaelmas term Fine between Richard Collins and Benjamin and Catherine Tidswell 15 and 16 Aug 1786 Lease and release John Elam of Leeds merchant (2) George Lapage tobacconist (3) John Denison of Leeds Esq.