CITY OF LICHFIELD

Collection of 12 documents, 1764-1803, from the office of Thomas Hinckley, solicitor acting for the Prebendaries of Prees, Curborough, Weeford, and Sawley, and for the Sub-chanter and Vicars, concerning leases on the lands providing their endowments. The documents are as follows:
1. PREBEND OF PIPA MINOR OR PREES
Attested Copy of Indenture of 8th March 1736/7, reciting the lease by the then Prebendary on 3rd October 1707 of the Rectory of Tipton, Staffordshire, for 3 lives to the Revd. Michael Nickins senior, and the settlement in view of marriage of 11 March 1727 by his son, assigning the lease for a new term of 99 years to trustees to provide for his widow and family. Fine copy on 12 single sides 16½" x 13¼", examined by Arthur Hinckley and another, 12th May 1803.
2. SUB-CHANTER AND VICARS OF LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL
(a) Attested Copy from the Dean's Register of the Will, 20th October 1762, of John Norton, Tanner and Grazier, lately deceased, leaving £8 p.a. to his widow Ann and other family legacies, the copy made 22nd May 1764.
(b) Opinion by Thomas Sewell on Case stated, reciting an original lease of 21 years by the Sub-chanter and Vicars on 1st December 1751 to Mary and John Thropp, and the Thropps' assignment of 4 acres within the lease to John and Ann Norton on 25th December 1754. After 7 years, the lessors renewed the Thropps' lease except for the 4 acres, and the 4 acres separately to John Norton only, not Ann. Counsel thinks that Ann cannot now claim the benefit of the lease as against the executors, on the grounds that the assignment of 1754 was "voluntary and without consideration", but Hinckley notes that it is now clear that it was made in cancellation of a pre-marriage settlement, and that Counsel may now think differently. Together 4 sides 15¼" x 9¾", in Hinckley's hand, 7th June 1764.
3. PREBEND OF CURBOROUGH
(a) MS "Account of Lands [in Amington, near Tamworth] that pay tithe to John Bentley, tenant J[ohn] Levett", listing 15 occupiers and their properties, pencil notes of the annual value, column "A sixpenny levy" partly made out, signed by Levett with initials, 1 side 4to, title on fourth side, no place, 4th July 1767.
(b) Surrender of the Lease, for 3 lives from 19th July 1785, of one moiety of the prebendal lands, naming many fields and properties, to the Revd. Prebendary John Carver, in order to renew it for 21 years, the lease having been held, under John Levett's will of 13th December 1794, by the Revd. Richard Levett and Thomas Hinckley in trust for the Levett family. Among the revenues of the prebend are 5s p.a. from Matthew Boulton "of the Soho in ... Handsworth", then the greatest manufactory in Europe. For the Levetts see Burke's Landed Gentry, 'Levett of Wychnor'. Signed and sealed by the trustees, 3 sides folio, no place, 2nd September 1803.
(c) MS bill of costs to Thomas Levett on account of (b), including £164 fine on renewal, 1 side oblong 8vo, no place, September 1803.
4. PREBEND OF WEEFORD
Attested Copy, signed by Hinckley's clerk William Oakey and another, of the Assignment by George Hand, Esq., of the Cathedral Close, to John Swinfen, of Swinfen Hall in Weeford, near Lichfield, of the remainder of the 21-year lease of the prebend, lying in St. Chad's parish in the city, for £200 and a peppercorn rent. The southern boundary is "a close of land appropriated for the repairs of the Cathedral Church". 4 single sides 16" x 12¾", title on a 5th side, short central tears in folds without loss, no place, 4th October 1794.
5. PREBEND OF SAWLEY
(a) Opinion by Samuel C. Cox on Case stated by Thomas Hinckley, acting for the Prebendary, concerning the desire of all parties to renew a lease granted in 1745 for 3 lives (to Robert Holden of Aston, d. 17th June 1746), the lease being subject by Holden's will to detailed family trusts, and asking whether the present Prebendary may legally renew the lease on the same terms (but taking account of deaths since 1745), given that the Cathedral's local statutes now allow only leases for 21 years, so as to preserve the various family interests. Cox opines that if the lease was to trustees there is no problem, but otherwise the family must wait till the death of the third life. With Hinckley's annotations. 4 sides folio, Lincoln's Inn, 16th July 1801.
(b) Opinion by S.Y. Benyon on the same case as in (a). If the lease were surrendered and renewed, some members of the family might have a case against a later Prebendary who did not wish to renew. He recommends an Act of Parliament. With Hinckley's annotations. 4 sides folio, Stafford, 17th July 1801.
(c) Draft Surrender by surviving trustee Charles Rashleigh of St. Austell, the Revd. Charles Shuttleworth Holden, heir and tenant during the third life, and his infant son, of the lease of 18th July 1745, to the present Prebendary the Revd. Spencer Madan, Cathedral Treasurer. 3 single sides 15½" x 9½", title on fourth side, no place, no date, n.m., 1801.
(d) Draft of new Lease by Madan to the Holdens and Rashleigh of the prebendal lands, for £66 13s 4d. p.a. The Prebendary retains the right to appoint the Curate at Sawley, but the lessees, as receivers of the tithes, must pay his stipend of £70, keep the Chancel in repair, and pay £11 p.a. for other charges on the land, including 2 Divinity lecturers in the Cathedral. The Prebendary also retains all coals, mines and minerals (potentially very valuable in Staffordshire), timber and trees, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 14 single sides 15½" x 9½", title on 15th side, no place, no date, n.m., 1801.
6. AUCTION PARTICULARS, LICHFIELD
Attractively printed details of 8 lots, including the "modern and elegant Stow Hill House, lately occupied by the Countess Dowager of Carhampton", Stow House, "suitable for a genteel family", with grounds leased from the Cathedral Vicars, and other properties in Stow Street and nearby Wissage, all within "a short distance of Lichfield" and of "two packs of Fox Hounds". The present details have been completed on purchase of Lot 4, 5 acres for £520, by John Walker Wilson, and signed by him, by Thomas Hinckley and another, and witnessed by Hinckley's clerk William Oakey, 3 sides 15¼" x 9¾", Lichfield, 3rd May 1792.
Together 52 pages mainly folio, 1764-

At first the leases were granted for the lives of three named persons, but later in the 18th century local statutes for the Cathedral restricted leases to 21 years, commonly surrendered after 7 and renewed again for 21. The documents - chiefly drafts, attested copies and counsel's opinions, with one original surrender - illustrate the complexities when such leases were combined with family trusts or marriage settlements, and the problems attending renewal for a term of years before the lives were extinct. One is particularly interesting for the rights retained by the Prebendary, including valuable mineral rights and the presentation to the living, while the lessees become responsible for the parson's stipend and repairing the chancel. Several in Hinckley's clear hand are in large format on fine paper. Also present is a finely printed Auction Particulars of properties in Stow Hill and Wissage, incorporating the agreement of sale immediately after the auction, signed by Hinckley and the buyer.

Item Date:  1803

Stock No:  20206      £650

             Add to Wish List     Order/Enquire