MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY Manorial Documents
Charters and cartularies
There are several original charters relating to properties granted to or by Westminster Abbey, some still bearing the seals of the parties involved. Many charters and other agreements were copied into the Abbey’s cartularies. The cartulary known as the Westminster Domesday (WD) has copies of several documents relating to Morden. As some of the original documents have been damaged by damp, and others have been lost, the cartularies are of great value to the researcher.
Documents relating to the Church and Clergy of Morden
The cartulary known as the Westminster Domesday (WD) contains copies of a collection of official documents relating to the abbey’s appropriation of the rectorial rights to tithes of the parish of Morden in 1301. Vicars were appointed to serve the spiritual needs of the parishioners, and agreements for the support of the vicars were recorded in 1331 and 1442/1443. 16th-century copies of these agreements survive at Surrey History Centre, as part of a fascinating collection of documents relating to a late 16th-century dispute over tithes between the vicar and the lord of the manor. Earlier documents relating to clergy also exist, and the Register Books also include some information on the appointment of clergy.
Manorial Documents
Translations of most of these Morden manorial documents, including court rolls and more than 100 account rolls are being added to this website and can be viewed or downloaded.
Medieval freehold properties in Morden
Surrey History Centre holds documents that trace the descent of some freehold properties in Morden from the mid-15th century until 1602. The earlier history of these properties can be discovered from entries in the manorial court rolls.
Morden Fee in Ewell
Ewell was a royal manor until granted to Merton Priory in 1121, but there were several small estates, some of them independent manors and some held from the other manors. Westminster Abbey claimed 2 hides of land in Ewell by right of a charter of archbishop Dunstan and king Edgar in 959AD, which exists only in a 12th-century fabrication This holding was not specified among the Abbey’s estates in 1086, but its estate in Morden, described in 969AD as 10 hides, was assessed at 12 hides in Domesday Book, suggesting that the Ewell lands were already part of the Morden estate. By the late 13th century, when the extant manorial court rolls and manorial account rolls begin, the tenants of these Ewell properties formed a separate tithing within Morden manor, with its own head tithingman [capitalis decennarius] and ale-taster [cervisie tastator] and, according to a survey of Ewell undertaken in 1408 by Merton Priory, Westminster Abbey’s holding there was called Morden fee.
Morden Manorial Account Rolls
A major source of information for the study of the manorial economy is the sequence of manorial account rolls that begins in 1280. Though there are many gaps – no accounts survive for the period 1359-1387 or from 1412-1440, and only a dozen thereafter – over 100 can be consulted at the Muniment Room (WAM), a dozen at the Society of Antiquaries London (SAL), and one at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Morden Manorial Court Rolls
A number of manorial court rolls survive, though many are missing. Those covering the period 1296-1300 and for 1327-28 are in the Muniment Room at Westminster Abbey, while the British Library has those for 1378-1422, 1435-58, 1461-1503, 1507-9, 1512-29, 1534-43, and 1655. Extracts and copies of entries from 16th-century court rolls can be found at the British Library, at Lambeth Archives and at Surrey History Centre, which also holds the court rolls from 1594 to 1901 and a 1535 Steward’s memorandum of the rents and other payments made at the manorial courts.
Morden Manorial Leases
From 1359 the abbey’s demesne at Morden was leased to tenant ‘farmers’. Unfortunately the early manorial leases have not survived, but the abbey’s Registers or Lease-Books, dating from 1485, contain copies of the last three leases of the demesne at Morden. The final lease of 1511 included the rectorial tithes of the parish, and the right to hold manorial courts, in addition to the lease of the demesne lands of the manor. It was for 60 years, and was subsequently assigned to other lessees. Surrey History Centre has two assignments of this lease, as well as sub-leases of the tithe corn.
Morden Manorial Records
Westminster Abbey had owned an estate in Morden (usually spelt Mordon) from before the Norman Conquest. It is fortunate that many of the medieval manorial records are still in existence, mostly in the Muniment Room at Westminster Abbey, though some documents have found their way into other archives. Translations of all the known documents have been added to this website and can be viewed or downloaded from these pages. Images of these documents have also been added alongside the translations, by courtesy of the various archives.
Praise for MHS Project
As a follow-on from the BBC series, there is a monthly genealogical magazine called Who Do You Think You Are? We are very pleased that the February 2012 issue contains a short piece on our ‘Medieval Morden’ project, which aims to publish on our website a photo, transcription and translation of every medieval record relating to Morden.
Sparrowfeld Common
There are several 14th-century sheriff’s writs and other documents dealing with disputes over common rights in Sparrowfeld Common, particularly with tenants in neighbouring Cheam.
Tax receipts relating to medieval Morden
There are several tax receipts, for both royal and ecclesiastical taxations, which include valuations of the manor and the parish church. Two examples have been transcribed and translated and the rest have been summarised.
The 1312 Extent
In 1312 a detailed survey was undertaken in the form of a valuation or extent, now in Cambridge University Library. As well as recording the tenants and their dues, the various parcels of demesne land were listed, and a value assigned to them. The labour services were likewise given a monetary value, ‘without deductions’ for the allowances of food and drink provided at the lord of the manor’s expense for those undertaking certain services.
The Custumal c. 1225
Two copies survive of a custumal of c.1225 which lists the tenants of the abbey’s manors, including Morden, and records the rents, in cash and in kind, and the customary services that each owed.
The manor of Morden
Westminster Abbey had owned an estate in Morden (usually spelt Mordon) from before the Norman Conquest. Domesday Book, a survey commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086, states: ‘The Abbey of Westminster itself holds Morden. TRE [In the time of King Edward] it was assessed at 12 hides; now at 3 hides. There is land [blank]. In demesne are 3 ploughs; and 8 villans and 5 cottars with 4 ploughs. There is 1 slave, and a mill rendering 40s. TRE it was worth £6; now £10, and yet it renders £15.’[1. Ann Williams & G H Martin (eds) Domesday Book: A Complete Translation (1992, 2002) 32b, 6 ]