Catalogue description THE DOWNES DEEDS

Downes Deeds

Muniments of Title, Charters, Deeds, Inquisitions, Wills, etc., Entry No. 1-467

Abstracts of Title, Entry No. 468-480

Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers, Entry No. 481-568

Additional Documents, Entry No. Add.1-Add.8

The Calendar

The collection came to my hand in a large metal deed box, within which the documents were, for the most part, lying loose and in no sort of order. A few "original" bundles were found and these have been preserved. The mass of loose deeds and papers was gathered up into envelopes; the envelopes and bundles were then numbered. The documents within each envelope were numbered as each was taken out for calendaring. The serial numbers with which they were thus marked bear relation only to their physical position within the deed-box and envelope, and not to subject-matter (e.g. places, business, persons, classification) or to date. A number 14/6 indicates merely doct. 6 in envelope 14.

Each document was calendared separately on to one sheet of foolscap. These sheets were then arranged in date order within the classification indicated in CONTENTS infra. These calendar entries were then numbered consecutively from 1 to 568, with Additional numbers 1 to 8. These are the reference numbers. The other number (location number) can be found in the Archival history field. By this double system of numbering, I am able to present a fairly orderly and systematic calendar, without altering the unarranged state of the archive as I found it, and yet to ensure that any document calendared can be easily located in the collection is reference to the original be desirable. Thus, Entry 176 is document 21/33, item 33 in envelope 21.

In scope you will often find reference to a MARK. This refers to ancient catalogue marks (v. Entries 469, 470). No attempt has been made to reconstitute these earlier arrangements. Entry 469 gives a clue to one of them; and this catalogue system is like that referred to in the preface of NRA Report 3636 (de Tabley).

Downes family of Shrigley Hall, Macclesfield, Cheshire

DEPOSITED IN CHESHIRE R.O. 1977

• Macclesfield, Cheshire

These documents are what remains of the muniments and correspondence of the family of Downes of Shrigley and Worth-in-Poynton, in the Manor and Forest of Macclesfield, in the County Palatine of Chester. Shrigley and Worth were in the ancient parish of Prestbury, in the Archdeaconry and Diocese of Chester.

The family is now extinct, the last of the male line of succession, Edward Downes Esq., having died 30 December 1819. Before his death he had sold the family estates; that of Worth-in-Poynton to Sir George Warren of Poynton, and that of Shrigley to Mr. William Turner of Mill Hill, Blackburn, Lancs.. He was survived by two sisters, Bridget Downes spinster, and Sarah, wife of John Leach Panter Esq., of North End Lodge, Fulham, Middlesex. (v. Ormerod, ed.Helsby, "A History of the County Palatine of Chester" (1882), iii, 688, 773; and Renaud, "Contributions to a History of the Ancient Parish of Prestbury", Publications of the Chetham Society Vol.XCVII, 36.).

Downes of Shrigley and Worth was a branch of Downes of Sutton-Downes and Overton-in-Taxall. For the Shrigley line v. Ormerod, iii, 687-8, 772, with pedigree ibid 775-6; a more complete and detailed pedigree, drawn up in the 19th century, is extant, and is owned and kept by Dr. Blount. COPY DDS 43 (Storage RS) For the Sutton-Downes line v. Ormerod, iii, 777-80, with pedigree ibid 781-2.

The estate in Shrigley was purchased from the families de Shrigley and de Macclesfield c.1313, and that in Worth was acquired tempore Henry V (v. Ormerod, iii, 772, 775, 777-82; and iii, 687-701, 742-50). The Shrigley branch of the Downes family held its estate in Shrigley from the early-14th century to the early-19th century, a space of 500 years, through nineteen generations of heirs male. Other branches of the stock were seated at Butley, Macclesfield and Tytherington in Cheshire, and at Wardley in Lancashire.