Duffield Fee

(Including registered manorial rights of mines and minerals - details upon request)

Duffield Fee was one of the most important manors in the North Midlands. It lies five miles north of Derby in an area known as the Amber Valley, on the banks of the River Derwent. The lordship was centred on Duffield Castle, erected to protect the royal hunting ground of Duffield Frith. It was known as a fee because within its control originally lay a number of smaller manors comprising Duffield, Alderwasley, Belper, Biggin, Hazelwood, Heage, Holbrook, Hulland, Idridgehay, Southwood, Turnditch and Windley. It appears that over time the sub-manors were subsequently sold away from the main manor. The area of the fee was roughly the same as the old, extensive parish boundary

The growth of Duffield can be attributed to the invading Normans. There was a small settlement here during the Saxon period, but after the invasion the area was granted to Henry de Ferrers, as part of the great Honor of Tutbury. Ferrers owned a huge amount of land in Derbyshire and Duffield Castle was erected to defend it. A settlement grew up around the castle. The original castle was destroyed in 1173 after William De Ferrers took part in the rebellion of the sons of Prince Henry again his father, Henry II. The family restored its position under the rule of John and a second castle was built on the same site, to the north of the village centre, on a prominence above a bend in the river.

In 1266 de Ferrers fought against Henry III in a rebellion against the king’s perceived favouritism towards foreigners. After a rebel defeat at Chesterfield, Duffield was seized and re-granted to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. The castle was destroyed, this time permanently.

Duffield remained a possession of the Duchy, and, after the succession of Henry IV, the Crown, until 1628 when it was sold by Charles I to the Corporation of the City of London. Within a year the Corporation sold its interest to Sir Edward Leche, keeping the sub-manors of Heage and Holbrook. Leche was appointed a Master in Chancery in 1619 and knighted in September 1621. He owned other properties in Derbyshire such as Hathersage, Over Padley and Nether Padley as well as land in Suffolk and his main residence at Squerries in Kent. During the Commonwealth period, Sir Edward seems to have benefited greatly as he rapidly acquired the wool and lamb tithes for a number of his Derbyshire parishes and amassed considerable wealth. He died in 1652.

After the death of Sir William Leech in 1673 there was a lengthy legal dispute with Sir Ambrose Philip being Lord of the Manor from 1674 to 1678 and then Philip Jodrell. His son, Paul, was recorded as Lord in 1696. The Jodrell family were members of the Derbyshire landed gentry and could trace their lineage back to the 13th century. The Duffield Jodrells were a cadet branch of the Cheshire family who lived at Yeardsley in Cheshire.

The manor remained with the Jodrell family for the next 200 years when it was sold to Sir Timothy White in 1891. Sir Timothy was the founder of the chemist chain “Timothy Whites” which was a high street staple until the 1980s. In 1976 Sir John White sold the manor to Anne Hayter. After her death it passed to Dr P Kist, who sold it privately some years later.

The area under the jurisdiction of the manor was extensive and stretched for several miles from Duffield itself. The term Duffield Fee appears to have been adopted in the 16th century. According to Derbyshire Record office its use was thought to have arisen as a consequence of a drive to provide some form of administrative coherence to the multiple manors under its jurisdiction. Courts would meet at various places, primarily Belper, Duffield and Windley but matters on all manors were discussed wherever the court took place. The term ‘Fee’ may also have been used to differentiate the manor from the administration of Duffield Frith, which was an area covered by forest law. There are a large number of court rolls and books which survive and which give detailed accounts of the dozens of copyholders and tenants who held land under the Lords of the Manor. It is possible to trace such holdings from the mid 16th Century to the 1920s and they form by far the fullest set of such documents in Derbyshire. Derbyshire Record Office describes the process of the manorial court rather well: Most of the business recorded in the manorial court records for Duffield Fee relates to the transfer of land. . .called copyhold land. This was land that went through the manorial court system when it came to being transferred and passed. The process was that a tenant who wanted to sell his land would “surrender” it to the lord in a formal ceremony held in the court, called the Small Court Baron, which met around every three weeks. The person who was taking over was then “admitted” to the land in a similar ceremony. Deaths of copyholders were also recorded in the court registers, together with the names of heirs or new owners. All this means that the records are extremely name rich.

Through the 19th century, copyhold land was gradually transformed into freehold through a process known as enfranchisement. There are numerous examples of such enfranchisement of copyhold in the manor where manorial rights have been reserved to the Lord of the Manor. The present owner has noted at least twenty examples which cautions are registered at the Land Registry. With research, other such reservations may be discovered.

Rights, customs and incidents

(Including registered manorial rights of mines and minerals - details upon request)
There are numerous examples of such enfranchisement of copyhold in the manor where manorial rights have been reserved to the Lord of the Manor.

Associated manorial documents / archive references

• 1511-1808: surrenders and admissions, Derby Local Library
• 1542-1543: memorandum on customs of copyhold, British Library
• 1548-1575: court rolls, National Archives
• 1575-1599: court rolls
• 1558-1603: directions for reeves, Derbyshire Record Office
• 1575-1600: duties of officers
• 1595-1628: court books (10)
• 1595-1599: draft court book
• 1596-1596: rental
• 1596-1596: directions for steward
• 1598-1604: court book (actions and plaints only)
• 1598-1598: pains
• 1598-1598: lists of fines 1599-1608: draft court books (2)
• 1599-1617: court rolls
• 1600-1625: rentals
• 1600-1625: surveys Feudal Barony of 1600-1600: books of customs
• 1605-1629: court rolls
• 1610-1628: book of particulars of fines
• 1611-1611: legal opinion on customs
• 1614-1625: draft court book
• 1640-1790: court books (21)
• 1640-1681: draft court books (7)
• 1700-1800: extracts from court rolls on customs
• 1774-1822: verdicts (2 bundles)
• 1825-1925: court books (9)

Historical holder / succession information

1. Sir Timothy White
   1891 · sold_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: The manor remained with the Jodrell family for the next 200 years when it was sold to Sir Timothy White in 1891.