BHTA
has been fortunate in being allowed access to a number
of sets of deed documents for buildings in the town and
we have been able to scan interesting items. We would
be pleased to be offered more. These documents are usually
stored by one’s mortgage company and can difficult
to access whilst there is a loan outstanding on the property.
We have been able to see some sets of documents during
the process of a property sale, when the documents pass
between solicitors. We have also commissioned a professional
investigation of what are generally regarded as three
of the oldest houses
in Bingham, including the use of dendrochronology analysis
to date some timbers.
Documents reveal names and occupations of owners (sometimes tenants)
which can be traced in the census and trade directories to extend
and add interest to the information. Sometimes there is sufficient
to merit a ‘family’ page linked to the main text. Many
‘Bingham names’ crop up repeatedly as lenders, witnesses
or trustees, giving an insight into how local society was organised.
Examples of how women’s property rights changed can be seen
in some of the deeds. The way in which people funded house purchases
changed over this period from private loans to building societies
as these developed. The process of infill development of some of the
small agricultural closes can be traced, showing how this is not just
a twentieth century phenomenon.
Most modern land transactions include a plan of the property. Until
the end of the nineteenth century this was rare - but some examples
exist in the deeds we have seen and are where available are reproduced
in the text. They often add information about the surrounding area
and property ownerships. In some cases we have traced the development
of the land parcel involved by including extracts from old maps; Sanderson’s
map of 1835; the tithe map of 1841; and Ordnance Survey maps of 1848,
1901 and 1910. |
We can learn how
the major family - the Chesterfield/Carnarvon dynasty - secured
their land holdings under a succession of trust arrangements and
how they managed the development of Bingham in the later 19th and
early 20th centuries. One interesting trend that has emerged from
our examination of deeds is that The Fifth Earl of Carnarvon sold
many freeholds during 1920. We assume this was to generate funds
for his excavations in Egypt with Professor Howard Carter, which
culminated in the discovery
of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.
Individual properties for
which a house history report is available are listed
below.
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