| Administrative History | Administrative History
William, 4th Earl of Dartmouth purchased the Patshull and Pattingham estates in South Staffordshire from Sir Robert Pigott in 1849. This collection of papers includes no manorial material other than one court book of Pattingham, 1740-1799, but there is a series of Pigott family settlements from the late 18th century, with one marriage settlement of the Pigott's predecessors, the Astleys. This is the marriage settlement of Sir Richard Astley and his wife Elizabeth in 1665 with a memorandum concerning Snowden Pool. These Staffs. title deeds relate chiefly to small properties in Pattingham and Patshull, but there are documents concerning Torque House in Pattingham 1811-1856. Shropshire deeds include the Whiston estate, 1839-1880 and out-county deeds include references to Blackheath property, 1700-1861 and a schedule of deeds of houses in The Minories in London granted by King Charles II to Capt. George Legge in the seventeenth century. The Sussex properties of the Earls of Dartmouth are represented by deeds of the Manors of Racton and Woodmancote with a fine volume of estate maps and surveys of Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Surrey estates in 1797. The connexion by the marriage of the 1st Earl of Dartmouth's son with Elizabeth Kaye of Woodsome, Co. Yorkshire is shown by the presence of Sir Arthur Kaye's mortgage of his Yorkshire properties to raise money for his daughter's portions, 1710. After the purchase of the Patshull and Pattingham estates in 1849, ownership of land in the Albrighton, Co. Salop area was rationalized between the two major landowners, the Earl of Dartmouth and the Earl of Shrewsbury and copies of various Shrewsbury estate Acts of Parliament are to be found in this deposit. A small group of documents unrelated to any other in this collection concerns Ordnance Office saltpetre accounts, 1683-1687. George, 1st Baron Dartmouth was Lieutenant General of the Ordnance from 1672 and promoted to Master General in 1682 and these papers should be consulted with the series of saltpetre accounts in another deposit D742/M/1. |