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VELLUM (PARCHMENT) COURT BARON DOCUMENT

BEING A DOCUMENT OF ADMITTANCE CONCERNING A COTTAGE AND LAND
IN THE MANOR OF ELING IN THE COUNTY OF SOUTHAMPTON (HAMPSHIRE)

BELONGING TO THE LORDS OF THE MANOR

WITH BLUE EMBOSSED REVENUE STAMP, PARCHMENT TAX STAMP AND ROYAL CIPHER

DATED 13TH JANUARY 1830. (KING GEORGE IV. 1820-1830)

Vellum (Parchment) Court Baron document being an Admittance of a new tenant to a cottage and land in the Manor of Eling in the County of Southampton (Hampshire) belonging to the Lords of the Manor, The Warden and Fellows of Winchester College. It was quite common in the 18th and 19th century for the Church of England and University Colleges to have acquired titles to Lordships of Manors.
The Admittance is of Henry Stanier upon the Surrender of John Stride and his wife Mary. The terms of the Admittance are the payment of an annual rent of Three Pence. There would have been other obligations in terms of work for the Lords of the Manor.
The document is in a clear hand, fully legible throughout. The document is signed by a Fellow of Winchester College, the Steward of the Manor and the Outrider. The document bears a fine blue embossed revenue stamp, with silver escutcheoniing, of King George IV. (1820-1830) for One Pound (£1) cancelled by a fine circular date stamp Hampshire 21 July 1830. The document also bears a One Shilling (1/-) parchment tax stamp with Royal Crown and on the reverse the Royal Cipher of King George IV.
Courts Baron were established in the early middle Ages. Each manor (an estate granted from a superior Lord or even the King himself) belonged to a "Lord of the Manor" and it was his responsibility to organise the life of the estate for his own profit and the rights of the workers living there. This was done was through the Court Baron, which, in the early years of the mediaeval period, met every two or three weeks. The court dealt with all aspects of the life of the Manor and of the tenants and workers. Such matters as the transfer of land, the organisation of the common fields and meadows, the abatement of nuisances (defective hedges, blocking of paths, straying beasts, etc) and anything concerning the occupations of the inhabitants, which in most Manors were agricultural. The Steward of the Rodd, who ran the court for the Lord of the Manor, kept a watchful eye over the Lord's rights, including rentals, heriotts (customary payments in cash or in kind such as "A Peppercorn," "A Straw," "Two Hens at the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary," the "Best Beast," etc) and boon work.