Catalogue description Manor of Shelley

The earliest recorded court roll for the manor of Shelley, dating from 1626, appears in the volume of translations or transcripts (no. 17) but is no longer with the records. The earliest extant roll is dated 1631 and the latest after 1760. Nos. 12, 15 and 16 are especially interesting for their detailed account of the manorial boundaries.

Manor court: Rolls DD181/1 - 17

Manor court: Supplementary material DD181/18 - 43

Manor, general: Title deeds DD181/44 - 61

Manor, general: Leases, agreements etc. DD181/62 - 69

Manor, general: Accounts DD181/70 - 73

Manor, general: Rentals, surveys etc. DD181/74-81

Shelley: Inclosure DD181/82 - 85

Shelley: Miscellaneous DD181/86 - 97

Shelley: Plans DD181/98 - 99

Kirkburton: Parish Church DD181/100 - 104

Shelley Manor, West Riding of Yorkshire

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The early deeds relating to the manor of Shelley have been printed by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series Volume LXIII (1922), Yorkshire Deeds Volume III. These include nos. 44 - 56, except no. 48 which is listed in Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series Volume V, 1888, Yorkshire Fines (Tudor) II, 170. The printed collection includes English abstracts of all the deeds to be found in the volume of translations (no. 57), although the originals of fourteen of these, the earliest dating from the thirteenth century, are not now with the collection.

• Shelley, Kirkburton, West Riding of Yorkshire

In the Domesday survey of 1086 the manor of Wakefield is recorded as having the soc of Shelley. This implies that the manor of Shelley was held by free socmen who probably paid rent and owed suit to the manor of Wakefield. In later years certainly Shelley was a sub-manor of the manor of Wakefield, holding its own manorial courts but sending representatives to the twice yearly tourn of the manor of Wakefield. The tourn dealt with offences of assault and bloodshed, and breaches of local bye-laws. The new constable of Shelley was presented to the tourn each year at Michaelmas by four sworn men of the township.

Henry James Moorhouse, in 'The History of Kirkburton', 1861, describes the descent of the manor from the time of Henry III through various owners including the Kayes, the Thornhills and the Saviles in the sixteenth century, the Ramsdens and the Sykes in the seventeenth, the Kirshaws in the eighteenth and the Shipperdsons in the early nineteenth. The estate was split into several parts and sold in 1846 and in 1918 the manor was conveyed by the trustees of the late Abraham Hirst to John Fletcher Horne.

Part of the choir of Kirkburton parish church was anciently the responsibility of the lords of the manor of Shelley. The manorial accounts (nos. 70 - 71) show evidence of expenditure on its upkeep, and J. Fletcher Horne placed a brass plate in the church to commemorate the tradition