ASHLEY MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The TNA/MDR record F256013, authority GB/NNAF/M274054, registry location Ashley, Staffordshire, and the associated Staffordshire archive references all identify the medieval and later manor of Ashley in the historic parish of Ashley, now within Loggerheads, Newcastle-under-Lyme. The Staffordshire manorial-records guide independently lists the 1660 Ashley court roll and the Ashley rental under the supplied archive references.
Representative point: 52.9350, -2.3588
Basis: supported_manorial_centre — Approximate WGS84 conversion of Historic England NGR SJ 75760 37687 for Manor House Farmhouse, Park Lane, Ashley. The building is explicitly named Manor House Farmhouse and lies within the Ashley settlement area, but the available source does not conclusively prove that the surviving late-18th-century building occupies the medieval manor-house site.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval, with surviving general extent evidence from the Domesday period
Boundary confidence: low
Boundary basis: Staffordshire Past Track describes the Domesday manor of Ashley as two hides, approximately 240 acres, with woodland about one mile by half a mile. This establishes a historical territorial scale but supplies no recoverable perimeter. The available evidence does not justify substituting the former civil parish, modern parish, or any current administrative boundary for the manorial extent.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Ashley Manor, TNA/MDR record F256013: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F256013 — Registry record for the exact Ashley Manor entry and authority GB/NNAF/M274054.
- Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service, Guide to Manorial Records: https://staffordshirehistorycentre.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/guide-to-sources-no.7-manorial-records-2021.pdf — Lists Ashley court roll, 1660, SRO D1798/HM Aston 31/1, and Ashley rental, 1740/1742, SRO D240/E/R/1/8.
- Staffordshire Past Track: Ashley: https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/details.aspx?ExhibitionPage=2&ResourceID=15532&SearchType=2&ThemeID=750 — Identifies Ashley in north-west Staffordshire and records the Domesday manor as two hides, about 240 acres, with woodland one mile by half a mile.
- Historic England: Manor House Farmhouse, Loggerheads, list entry 1280633: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1280633 — Documents the Ashley Manor House Farmhouse location at NGR SJ 75760 37687 and provides the geographic basis for the representative point.
- Staffordshire Past Track: Ashley tithe map: https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?PageIndex=2&ResourceID=42302&ThemeID=774 — Confirms the existence of a 1838 Ashley tithe map resource, but the accessible evidence does not expose a manor-specific boundary that can safely be converted into a polygon.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The surviving evidence confirms the manor's association with Ashley but does not provide a documented or reconstructable manorial perimeter.
- The representative point is based on Manor House Farmhouse's location and name; a direct documentary identification with the medieval manor-house site has not been established.
- Do not use the former civil-parish or current Loggerheads parish boundary as the manor boundary.
- The Domesday area figures are descriptive historical extent evidence, not a polygon or proof that the manor remained unchanged through later centuries.