DUFFIELD FEE MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The National Archives record F253313 is corroborated by the Derbyshire Record Office catalogue entry for the Manor of Duffield Fee at Duffield, Derbyshire. The catalogue explains that Duffield Fee was the later administrative manor jurisdiction associated with Duffield and its members, while Duffield Frith was the related but distinct area subject to forest law. The historical name Duffield Frith therefore supports the identification but should not be treated as an exact synonym for the entire forest extent.
Representative point: 52.9929, -1.4900
Basis: documented_manor_site — Duffield Castle, the principal medieval lordship and administrative centre of Duffield, lies at National Grid reference SK 3431 4405 / SK 343 440. The site is documented as the castle of the de Ferrers lords of Duffield and the centre of the historical fee.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern; especially the sixteenth- to seventeenth-century Duffield Fee jurisdiction
Boundary confidence: medium
Boundary basis: The historical territorial extent is documented as Duffield Fee or Duffield cum membris, comprising the principal manor of Duffield and associated member manors including Alderwasley, Belper, Biggin, Hazelwood, Heage, Holbrook, Hulland, Idridgehay, Makeney, Southwood, Turnditch and Windley. The Derbyshire Record Office catalogue expressly distinguishes this manorial jurisdiction from Duffield Frith, whose forest-law area was administered through separate woodmote and swainmote courts. Other historical accounts state that the fee's area was broadly comparable to the extensive ancient parish of Duffield, while the forest itself had changing boundaries and a largest recorded extent of about thirty miles or approximately 5,000 acres of surviving legal forest land in 1633. No authoritative, source-supplied polygon for the exact manorial landholding boundary was located, so an administrative parish or forest polygon would risk conflating distinct jurisdictions.
Sources:
- The National Archives, Manorial Documents Register: Duffield Fee Manor, F253313: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F253313 — Registry record identifying the manor record and authority reference GB/NNAF/M271349.
- Derbyshire Record Office catalogue: Manor of Duffield Fee, DS/UK/M/3721: https://calmview.derbyshire.gov.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?id=DS%2FUK%2FM%2F3721&src=CalmView.Persons — Provides the manor's history, lists its member manors, describes the jurisdiction as Duffield Fee, and distinguishes it from the separate forest-law jurisdiction of Duffield Frith.
- Derbyshire Record Office catalogue: Manor of Duffield Fee, D1404: https://calmview.derbyshire.gov.uk/calmview/overview.aspx?q=refno%3AD1404%2A&src=calmview.catalog — Confirms the surviving court books and related records of the Manor of Duffield Fee from 1595 onward.
- Wiltshire, Woore, Crisp and Rich, Duffield Frith: history and evolution of the landscape of a medieval Derbyshire forest: https://www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/PDF/LPS81/LPS81.pdf — Describes Duffield cum membris and its member manors, explains the distinction between the manor and Duffield Frith forest law, and records the changing forest extent and wards.
- Derbyshire Historic Environment Record: Duffield Castle, DDR118: https://her.derbyshire.gov.uk/Designation/DDR118 — Documents Duffield Castle at centred grid reference SK 3431 4405 and identifies its medieval castle site in Duffield.
- National Trust: Duffield Castle: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/peak-district-derbyshire/duffield-castle — Identifies the surviving Duffield Castle site in Duffield and its historical significance as the principal medieval castle site.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- Duffield Fee Manor and Duffield Frith were closely related but were not identical jurisdictions: the fee was a manorial administration, whereas the Frith was the area subject to forest law.
- The member-manor list and broad comparison with the ancient parish establish territorial scope but do not provide a sufficiently precise perimeter for safe polygon injection.
- The representative point is based on Duffield Castle, the documented medieval lordship centre, not on a modern parish or settlement centroid.