LEGAL RECORDS

Close rolls

These form part of the Chancery records at the PRO and contain grants of the Crown (including enclosure awards, deeds poll, quit claims and pardons) closed with the Great Seal. They span the period from 1204/5 to 1903.

Feet of fines

These are copies of agreements made after disputes over land ownership, some of which were artificial and merely intended to officially register the ownership. They run from 1190 to 1833.

Transcripts of Yorkshire feet of fines from the time of King John (1199-1216) have been published by the Surtees Society. Abstracts (in English) for later dates were published by the YAS, covering 1218-1272 (YASRS 62, 67, 82), 1327-1377 (YASRS 42), 1486-1603 (a calendar, in YASRS 2, 5, 7, 8), and 1603-1625 (with supplementary notes, in YAS 53, 58).

Deed registration 1535-1736

The YAS published abstracts (in English) of a wide range of Yorkshire deeds (C12-C17) in YASRS 39, 50, 63, 65, 69, 76 (including corrections to the earlier volumes), 83, 102, 111 and 120. In addition, a selection of largely C14 North country deeds (with calendar) were published by the Surtees Society in Miscellanea Vol ii (1916).

Deed registration after 1736

After 1736 all transfers of title in Yorkshire were recorded at a centralised Deed Registry, which provides a very powerful resource for genealogists. Since transfers of title on death and inheritance are included, the Deed Registers can enhance information available from probate records, containing details of the property and all parties to the transfer. The registers, which are indexed by place and surname, are now held at NYCRO in Northallerton.

There is an online transcript of the alphabetical 1871 Return of Owners of Land in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

Quarter sessions records

The majority of the proceedings of the North Riding sessions (excluding several minor offences) from 1605-1716 were transcribed or abstracted by J.C.Atkinson, and published by the North Riding Record Society between 1884 and 1892. In addition, registration of papists' lands 1717-1782; oaths of allegiance in 1698-1716, 1778 and 1791; oaths of abjuration and supremacy 1766-1777; declarations by dissenting preachers 1791-1818; and a range of selected orders from 1717-1755 and minutes from 1769-1786 were published in the same series.

Manorial records

The Royal Commission on Historical Documents Manorial Documents Register is searchable online for Yorkshire.

This page was last updated on 24 May, 2002