The Search for Side Hill Close
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The Search for Side Hill Close
Information from the Barwick cum Scholes
Manorial Records Barwicker No. 118
June 2015
As land title is now registered electronically by the Land Registry the
need to keep huge bundles of old deeds relating to land and property
has disappeared. Many old deeds have been deposited in archives,
some are stored in lofts and at the back of cupboards, many have been
thrown away, sometimes they have been sadly turned into lampshades.
Occasionally they are sold for a few pounds for local history interest.
It was on this basis that about 10 years ago I came across and
purchased an old Barwick in Elmet deed dated 1869. The large deed
measures 55cm by 40cm (22 by 16 inches) and is a work of art which
is all hand written in black close written Victorian script, ruled red
lines and a two shilling and sixpence tax stamp saying paid at York.
The deed is now framed and takes pride of place on the wall in my
dining room.
The deed records that at the "Great Court Baron of Frederick Charles
Trench Gascoigne Esquire and Mary Isabella his wife, Lord and Lady
of the Manor of Barwick in Elmet and Scholes, that was held in the
Gascoigne Arms Inn in Barwick on 13th October 1869" and at this
Court Mary Ann Porter, a widow, of Barwick, John Wales Smith of
Leeds, a tailor, and George Parker, of Barwick, gentleman, sold for the
sum of £70 a small plot of land adjoining Potterton Beck called Side
Hill Close (Close: a small plot of land surrounded by a boundary of
some kind) to William Scriven, of Aberford, a veterinary surgeon.
There is no plan attached and just a list of names of people who had
previously owned it.
As the land was Manorial held under the Manor of Barwick with
Scholes the Lords of the Manor, the Gascoignes were entitled to a
"fine" for the sale and received £2-5s-0d from William Scriven. At the
time I purchased the deed, searched maps and many records I could not
find a reference to Side Hill Close. I thought the exact location was
lost in the midst of time.
I had come across William Scriven before, he inherited a part share in
the William IV Beer House on Aberford Road in 1854 which he then
sold onto his tenant, John PuIlan, but those records gave no clue to this
lands location. (see Barwicker No 93)
A few years ago I started systematic research into
the Barwick and Scholes Manorial Rolls. These are
preserved in Leeds Archives, and as these
voluminous records started to give up their
secrets information on Side Hill Close came to
light. From these I discovered that William
Scriven died on 5th March 1874 and his will left the property to his left wife
Mary and son Joseph Scriven. Mary died on the 1st December 1887 and the land passed fully to Joseph.
Joseph, a farmer, of North End House, Aberford, died on the 29th May
1900 leaving no will and by the laws of intestate the property passed to
his lawful sister Ann Mary Simpson (wife of William Simpson of
Gladstone Road, Scarborough). Ann died on the 24th February 1924
and the trustees of her will sold the land to James Francis Scriven
(likely a distant relation) of Tadcaster, a Hotel Keeper. All the records
continue to describe the land as in the 1869 deed but with no plan.
In the 1920s and 1930s the business of the Manorial Court was wound
up with the Gascoignes selling their manorial rights to the land. On
the 28th November 1935 James Francis Scriven paid the Gascoigne
family £16.4s to convert the land to freehold. This record however in
addition to the description of the land contains a plan. The land is on
the right hand side on Potterton Lane as you leave Barwick just before
the bridge across the beck currently entered by a galvanized gate.
The Manorial Records are filled with Parishes old field, land and
district names, randomly opening the volume covering the period
1746-1776 I found Richmond Field, High Field, Upper Garth, The
Croft, Townend Field, Manston Becks and Brown Moor mentioned:
some of these names are lost in the modern record and some are still
preserved.
DAVID TEAL
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