Catalogue description YARLINGTON ESTATE

This collection, deposited after the death of Mrs. E. M. B. Wright Rogers, chiefly comprises deeds of title to property purchased in 1782 by John Rogers of Friday Hill House, Essex. The consolidation of those properties later known as the Yarlington Estate was largely complete before that time, a process reflected in the major part of the collection which relates to the tenure in the 17th. and 18th. centuries of the Berkeley and Godolphin families.

The descent of the principal estate, the manor of Yarlington, can be traced from a point soon after it had passed to the Crown from its ancient owners, the Montacutes, by the attainder in 1539 of Margaret, Countess of Salisbury. The manor, having been granted as dowry to Queen Catherine Parr, descended to the Smyths and Rosewells before its purchase in 1591 by Sir Henry Berkeley the elder of Bruton. To this purchase was added in 1603 land at Galhampton in North Cadbury, which, with neighbouring land at Foxcombe in Castle Cary, acquired by the Berkeleys at an unknown date, comprised the manor of Galhampton and Foxcombe. A third manor called Brooks Court with lands in Ilchester, Sock Dennis and Tintinhull, came to the family after Sir Henry Berkeley had acquired an interest in it in 1629. The original conveyances have not survived for any of these subsequent purchases, but a 17th.-century abstract of deeds provides the missing information [see DD\WR 2]. Further documents relating to land at Foxcombe sold to William Dickinson in 1808 will be found in DD\DN 31 & 32.

The descent of the whole estate to the Godolphin family, summarized in the catalogue, was surrounded by legal complexity, and is fully examined by T. E. Rogers in Records of Yarlington, London, 1890 [copy in S.R.O. library]. The book, based on documents in this collection, also contains pedigrees of the Berkeley and Godolphin families.

The manor of Woolston, purchased by T. E. Rogers in 1858, was the only major addition to the estate made subsequent to 1782, deeds of title surviving from 1713. Land at Bratton Seymour purchased in 1862 is represented by an abstract of title. Relatively little of the collection relates to estate administration, and of the Rogers family papers only two leases of property in Worcester and articles of dissolution of a business partnership reflect their earlier history. (See Burke's Landed Gentry, 'Wright-Rogers of Yarlington'.)

The documents appeared to have been roughly arranged in property bundles at a late date, but in some cases these were very confused. Rearrangement has been based on surviving schedules. The catalogue is divided into 4 sections relating to deeds of title (1-10), leases (11-20), legal and family papers (21-24), and estate and manorial administration (25-30). Within the first 2 sections property is arranged, so far as possible, in order of acquisition.

This collection is supplemented by a second deposit, received through the Trustees' London solicitors, made after the death of the last tenant-for-life at the break-up of the estates. It has been catalogued separately, but under the associated reference DD\WRh.

C/529

• Rogers family of Yarlington, Somerset
• Yarlington, Somerset

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