Join us at the Manorial Documents Register Conference 2022 co-hosted by The National Archives and University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections, and sponsored by The British Association for Local History.

This conference will celebrate current and innovative research involving manorial records, and will reflect the diversity of current interdisciplinary research and educational activities. We aim to explore the current research potential of manorial records, their wider historical significance and the value of manorial records for the 21st century.

2022 marks the centenary of the Law of Property Act that abolished copyhold tenure, and, through subsequent legislation in 1924, gave the Master of the Rolls jurisdiction of manorial records. It also marks an opportunity to reflect on the completion of 30 years of work to make available online the Manorial Document Register for England and Wales.

Provisional programme

10.30-11.00 Registration & Refreshments

11.00-11.20 Introduction

• Baroness Lola Young, Vice Chancellor, University of Nottingham
• Jeff James, Historical Manuscripts Commissioner, The National Archives

11.20-12.10 Session 1

• [Chair] Mark Dorrington, University of Nottingham
• Professor Phillipp Schofield, University of Aberystwyth - Welsh manorial records and the Great Famine of 1315-22
• Dr Susan Kilby, University of Nottingham - Peasant perspectives on the English medieval landscape

12.10-12.20 Comfort Break

12.20-13.10 Session 2

• [Chair] Professor Caroline Barron, Royal Holloway, University of London
• To be confirmed
• Linda Bankier, Northumberland Archives - Everyday Life In A Northumbrian Manor - Community Engagement With Manorial Records
• To be confirmed

13.10-14.00 Lunch and networking opportunities, with poster presentations

14.00-14.30 Session 3

• To be confirmed

14.30-15.45 Session 4

• [Chair] Professor Angus Winchester, University of Lancaster
• Dr Stephanie Brown, Institute of Historical Research - Village violence: manorial amercements in fourteenth-century Yorkshire
• Murray Seccombe, University of Lancaster - A hidden history: highway presentments in the manor of Wakefield (West Riding of Yorkshire), c.1500-1700
• Dr Juliet Gayton, University of Exeter - Manorial records and their revelation of copyholder borrowing and lending in the seventeenth century
• Dr Frances Kerner, Open Spaces Society - From manorial record to public space - re-registration of common land

15.45-16.05 Refreshment Break

16.05-16.50 Session 5

• [Chair] Dr Leon Litvack, Queen's University Belfast
• Dr Gill Gookson, University of Leeds - Danby Court Leet: the history and endurance of a Yorkshire manorial court
• Introducing to Danby Court Leet - recorded manorial court sitting in 2008

16:50-17:00 Closing remarks

• Professor Mark Bailey, Chair of the Manorial Advisory Panel, University of East Anglia

There will be opportunities for Q&As throughout the conference.

A finalised programme detailing timings, speakers and their titles will be circulated closer to the event.

Additional Information

This event is free to attend with all refreshments and lunch provided, so please let us know if you have any dietary or access requirements.

Accommodation is not included, however, the following is available near the venue: Orchard Hotel and Restaurant.

Parking is available and further information about this will be confirmed shortly.

If you have any requests or questions please contact: MDR2022@nationalarchives.gov.uk

If you are unable to attend, please notify us so that we can release your ticket for other people.

Please note, the conference will be recorded.

Booking via Eventbrite

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/manorial-documents-register-conference-2022-tickets-365627641117