Historical names: Aldeburgh
Location: Aldborough, Yorkshire
Places / associated places: Aldborough, Yorkshire
Listed in Domesday Book: Yes
Location & Extent
GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas
Representative GPS point: 54.0929, -1.3831
Identity: confirmed — The registry record, TNA reference F244142, location at Aldborough in the former West Riding of Yorkshire, associated places including Boroughbridge, Milby and Minskip, and the archival context of the Honour of Knaresborough all identify the principal historical manor of Aldborough rather than a same-named manor elsewhere. Historic England independently records the surviving Aldborough Manor house on Low Road, Aldborough, Boroughbridge.
Representative point: 54.0929, -1.3831
Basis: documented_manor_house — The surviving Aldborough Manor house is a documented Grade II-listed manor house on Low Road. Historic England gives National Grid Reference SE4044766505; published conversion places it at approximately 54.0929, -1.3831.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Insufficiently specified; surviving evidence spans the medieval period through the nineteenth century
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The evidence establishes a substantial manorial interest centred on Aldborough and associated with Boroughbridge, Milby, Minskip, Roecliffe and related townships, with medieval records linking it to the Honour of Knaresborough. A catalogue entry identifies an approximately 1850 manuscript map as a map of the Manor of Aldborough, but the published catalogue states that field references are absent, the tenement boundaries are incomplete, especially in Boroughbridge, and that the map has very little built-up detail. No accessible source located during this research supplies a sufficiently legible, explicit manor perimeter or parcel schedule from which a defensible historical polygon can be reconstructed. The modern parish, township or settlement boundaries therefore cannot be substituted for the manorial extent.
Sources:
- Aldborough Manor, National Heritage List for England entry 1150102: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1150102 — Identifies Aldborough Manor as a manor house at Low Road, Aldborough, Boroughbridge; gives NGR SE4044766505 and describes the surviving early eighteenth-century building.
- Aldborough Manor, TNA/MDR record F244142: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F244142 — Registry record for the exact manor, including its association with Aldborough, Boroughbridge and the wider historical manorial interests.
- Yorks-Aldborough-1850, Catalogue of British Town Maps: https://townmaps.history.ac.uk/townmap/yorks-aldborough-1850/ — Catalogues an approximately 1850 manuscript estate map held by North Yorkshire Record Office, described as a map of the Manor of Aldborough; records incomplete tenement boundaries and absent field references.
- History of Aldborough Roman Site, English Heritage: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/aldborough-roman-site/history/ — States that Aldborough became a valued possession of successive Dukes of Newcastle and that Andrew Lawson purchased Aldborough manor from the 4th Duke of Newcastle in 1834; also places Lawson's excavations in the manor grounds.
- History and description of Aldborough, Vision of Britain through Time: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/11113 — Provides historical geographical context for the Aldborough township and parish, including Boroughbridge, Roecliffe, Minskip, Dunsforth and parts of Humberton-with-Milby; useful context but not treated as the manor boundary.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is for the documented surviving manor house and should not be interpreted as the centre of the entire historical manorial territory.
- The historical manor was not necessarily coterminous with the parish, township or any modern administrative unit.
- Although an approximately 1850 manor map is catalogued, its published description does not provide a usable boundary polygon; no polygon is returned to avoid inventing the extent.
- Aldborough Hall, the Roman town site and the former Boroughbridge manor house are distinct historical sites and have not been substituted for Aldborough Manor.
About the Manor
Aldborough Manor was the principal manor of Aldborough in the former West Riding of Yorkshire, including manorial interests associated with Boroughbridge, Milby, Minskip and related townships. Medieval records connect Aldborough with the Honour of Knaresborough and with Crown or Duchy of Lancaster interests. The surviving archival material shows the manor passing through Crown-related leases and grants before its purchase by Arthur Aldburgh in 1629. The manor was subsequently associated with the Dukes of Newcastle, who used their control of Aldborough and Boroughbridge to exercise substantial political influence over the boroughs. Andrew Lawson purchased Aldborough manor from the 4th Duke of Newcastle in 1834. The present Aldborough Manor house is principally an early eighteenth-century building that was heightened, extended and refronted in the nineteenth century; it should not be confused with the legal manorial title itself.
Ownership / Holder Account
The early medieval descent is not fully reconstructed from the publicly accessible material reviewed. A 1293 record in the Newcastle estate collection concerns Edmund, Earl of Cornwall and property in the Honour of Knaresborough, but the catalogue description does not itself state that he held Aldborough manor and therefore he has not been entered as a manor holder. By the early seventeenth century the manor was being dealt with through the Duchy of Lancaster and Crown. A 1617 lease placed the manor of Aldborough and borough of Boroughbridge in trust for Charles, Prince of Wales, later Charles I. The lease interest was assigned in 1628, and Charles I granted the manor to Edward Ditchfield and co-grantees on 9 September 1628. On 2 December 1629 Edward Ditchfield and the Corporation of London conveyed the manor to Arthur Aldburgh. Arthur Aldburgh is directly evidenced as holding and dealing with the manor through the 1630s and 1640s; later documents record dealings by Arthur and William Aldburgh in relation to a common recovery of the manor in 1652. The subsequent descent from the Aldburgh family to the Dukes of Newcastle is not fully documented in the accessible catalogue material, but authoritative modern historical material states that Aldborough became a valued possession of successive Dukes of Newcastle and that Andrew Lawson purchased it from Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, in 1834. Andrew Lawson is directly described as lord of the manor in nineteenth-century Yorkshire historical material. The later descent of the manorial title after Andrew Lawson has not been entered because the sources reviewed establish the continuation of the Lawson family at Aldborough Manor and the later Lawson-Tancred connection, but do not provide a sufficiently direct, dated conveyance of the manor title for each subsequent holder.
Records & References
Sources and references mentioning this manor/title which are not necessarily conveyances or transfers.
75 records found · showing 1–8.
1855: deed and award of enfranchisement of copyhold land
Held by: The National Archives
1840-1900: file of evidence rel to enfranchisement of copyhold land
Held by: The National Archives
1809: list of tenants
Held by: North Yorkshire County Record Office
1753: particular (description of manor house, tenants, rents, acreages, value of meadow, pasture and arable farms and value of timber)
Held by: West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds
Further information: NRA 6160
1750- 1750: list of tenants
Held by: North Yorkshire County Record Office
1725- 1862: call book
Held by: North Yorkshire County Record Office
1689-1714: court file, with precepts
Held by: West Yorkshire Archive Service, Bradford
Further information: NRA 40333 Bradford Lib
1676-1678: court roll
Held by: North Yorkshire County Record Office
Conveyance & Descent
First holder to present holder: blood proximity & distance travelled
First recorded holder: Sir Francis Bacon and co-trustees for Charles, Prince of Wales
Present holder:
Recorded title journey: 7 holder entries in this manor's saved Conveyance & Descent history.
No recorded holder currently has a usable saved direct-blood or collateral-blood relationship path from which to calculate proximity percentages.
First recorded holder → present holder
A usable saved blood relationship path between the first recorded holder and the present holder has not yet been recorded, so that first-to-present genealogical distance cannot be calculated.
Sir Francis Bacon and co-trustees for Charles, Prince of Wales, English lawyer, statesman and philosopher, Baron Verulam from 1618 and Viscount St Alban from 1621
Transfer: Lease from the Crown or Duchy of Lancaster of the manor of Aldborough and borough of Boroughbridge, held in trust for Charles, Prince of Wales, later King Charles I.
Holding arrangement: Trust
Shared holding: Trustees for Charles, Prince of Wales
Previous holder: The Crown, acting through the Duchy of Lancaster
This was a Crown/Duchy of Lancaster lease and trust arrangement, not an ordinary private conveyance. The catalogue expressly identifies the property as the manor of Aldborough and borough of Boroughbridge and states that it was held in trust for Charles, Prince of Wales.
Source: Nottinghamshire Archives, Newcastle estate collection, Ne D 5391/16/17, copy Duchy of Lancaster lease from King James I to Sir Francis Bacon and others of the manor, lordship, castle and forest of Knaresborough, the manor of Aldborough and borough of Boroughbridge, in trust for Charles, Prince of Wales, 10 January 1617, copy dated 21 May 1663. — source link
William Williams and co-lessees or trustees
Transfer: Assignment from Sir John Walter and others of the Duchy of Lancaster lease covering the manor of Aldborough and borough of Boroughbridge to William Williams and others.
Holding arrangement: Trust
Shared holding: Assignees of the Duchy of Lancaster lease
Previous holder: Sir John Walter and co-assignees
The catalogue describes this as an assignment of the Duchy of Lancaster lease of the manor of Aldborough and borough of Boroughbridge. It records a leasehold or trust interest rather than an unrestricted fee-simple conveyance.
Source: Nottinghamshire Archives, Newcastle estate collection, Ne D 5391/16/18, copy assignment from Sir John Walter and others to William Williams and others of a Duchy of Lancaster lease of the manor, lordship, castle and forest of Knaresborough and of the manor of Aldborough and borough of Boroughbridge, 20 June 1628, copy dated 28 May 1663. — source link
Edward Ditchfield and co-grantees
Transfer: Grant by letters patent of King Charles I of the manor of Aldborough, Yorkshire, to Edward Ditchfield and others.
Holding arrangement: Joint
Shared holding: Royal grantees
Previous holder: The Crown
The catalogue expressly identifies the subject of the letters patent as the manor of Aldborough, Yorkshire. Because the complete list of co-grantees is not reproduced in the catalogue text, the entry preserves the group as Edward Ditchfield and co-grantees rather than inventing names.
Source: Nottinghamshire Archives, Newcastle estate collection, Ne D 5391/16/19, copy letters patent in Latin of King Charles I granting the manor of Aldborough, Yorkshire, to Edward Ditchfield and others, 9 September 1628, undated mid-seventeenth-century copy. — source link
Arthur Aldburgh, Esquire, lord of the manor of Aldborough
Transfer: Bargain and sale by Edward Ditchfield and others together with the Corporation of London to Arthur Aldburgh of the manor of Aldborough, Yorkshire.
Previous holder: Edward Ditchfield and co-grantees; Corporation of London
This is the clearest seventeenth-century private conveyance of the manor. The archival catalogue expressly describes both the contract of 18 June 1629 and the enrolled bargain and sale of 2 December 1629 as relating to the manor of Aldborough, Yorkshire. Subsequent records show Arthur Aldburgh exercising manorial rights, including an agreement with freeholders and customary tenants in 1630, a court proceeding over fishing at Aldborough in 1638, and payment of the manor's fee-farm rent in 1647-1650.
Source: Nottinghamshire Archives, Newcastle estate collection, Ne D 5391/16/21, contract for the conveyance of the manor of Aldborough, Yorkshire, from the City of London to Arthur Aldburgh, 18 June 1629; and Ne D 5391/16/23, enrolled bargain and sale from Edward Ditchfield and others and the Corporation of London to Arthur Aldburgh of the manor of Aldborough, Yorkshire, 2 December 1629. — source link
Arthur Aldburgh and William Aldburgh, Esquire, member of the Aldburgh family of Aldborough and Ellenthorpe
Transfer: Common recovery and associated settlement concerning the manor of Aldborough and the capital messuage called Ellenthorpe, made in connection with the marriage settlement of William Aldburgh and Elizabeth Lodge.
Holding arrangement: Joint
Shared holding: Aldburgh family co-holders or settlement parties
Previous holder: Arthur Aldburgh, Esquire, lord of the manor of Aldborough
The document directly concerns a common recovery of the manor of Aldborough. It is evidence that Arthur and William Aldburgh held or jointly dealt with the legal estate at that date, but the catalogue does not state the precise shares, beneficial interests or subsequent disposition. It should therefore not be treated as proof that William alone succeeded Arthur.
Source: Nottinghamshire Archives, Newcastle estate collection, Ne D 5391/16/40, deed of covenant between Arthur and William Aldburgh and Christopher Watkinson and John Walker leading uses of a common recovery of the manor of Aldborough, Yorkshire, and of the capital messuage called Ellenthorpe, made prior to the marriage of William Aldburgh and Elizabeth Lodge, 21 September 1652. — source link
Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, 9th Earl of Lincoln
Transfer: The manor was held by successive Dukes of Newcastle and was sold by the 4th Duke of Newcastle to Andrew Lawson in 1834. The intervening conveyance into the Newcastle ownership has not been established from the sources reviewed.
Shared holding: Duke of Newcastle
Previous holder: Unknown from the sources reviewed
English Heritage states that Aldborough became a valued possession of successive Dukes of Newcastle and specifically that Andrew Lawson purchased Aldborough manor in 1834 from the 4th Duke of Newcastle. A contemporary historical study likewise describes the Duke as lord of the manor of Aldborough. The exact date and instrument by which the manor entered the Newcastle estate remain a documentary gap in this research.
Source: English Heritage, History of Aldborough Roman Site, stating that Aldborough was a valued possession of successive Dukes of Newcastle and that Andrew Lawson purchased Aldborough manor in 1834 from the 4th Duke of Newcastle; corroborated by the study 'A Great Electioneer and His Motives Reconsidered,' which identifies the Duke as lord of the manor of Aldborough. — source link
Andrew Lawson, Esquire, Member of Parliament, lord of the manor of Aldborough
Transfer: Purchase of Aldborough manor from Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne.
Previous holder: Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, 9th Earl of Lincoln
Andrew Lawson is directly identified by English Heritage as the purchaser of Aldborough manor from the 4th Duke of Newcastle in 1834. Nineteenth-century Yorkshire historical material also identifies him as lord of the manor of Aldborough. He developed the manor grounds, excavated Roman remains and established a museum at Aldborough. The exact later conveyance of the manorial title after Lawson has not been established and is therefore left open.
Source: English Heritage, History of Aldborough Roman Site; Yorkshire Philosophical Society, 'Members Elected 1822-1855,' entry for Andrew Lawson, identifying him as lord of the manor of Aldborough and recording his purchase and residence at Aldborough Manor. — source link
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JSON API
Machine-readable published manor data, including public images, mapped land areas, notes, rights, conveyances, relationships, records, source/document-library entries and public file links.
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