Estate records

Background

Landed estates, large and small, kept records of their administration. Private landowners began to become more common after the Reformation, and began to keep records of what they were doing with their land, who they were leasing it to, and how they were making money from it. The bulk of estate records tend to date from the 18th and 19th centuries, as the manorial system began to decline and private landowners became more prominent, but depending on the estate there can be much earlier records.

What records might have survived?

• Maps and plans
• Rent records
• Deeds and leases
• Wage records
• Estate accounts
• Records of businesses on the estate

Estate records are often part of the archive of the owners of the estate. The archive might also include:

• Family and personal records of the owners and their family, such as diaries, letters, pedigrees and photographs
• Political or other official records, if a member of the family has been an MP or held an official post or position in government
• Records relating to military service of members of the family
• Records relating to the family’s involvement in the local area, perhaps with the church, charities, schools, associations or societies

Each collection is different, but the types of records that appear tend to be similar in form and purpose.

How to find the records

In Gloucestershire Archives Online Catalogue try searching for:

• the name of the estate
• the place
• the name of the family who owned the estate

Key points

• Bear in mind that, although classification schemes and cataloguing styles will be different
  in other archives and record offices, the types of records that they cover will be similar all
  over the country. The references may be different, but you will be finding the same sorts
  of things.
• Remember also that every collection is different. No two estates were run in the same
  way, and some types of document may not even have been kept for some estates,
  although there are full series of them in other collections for other estates. Also, not all
  the records that existed will have survived, so there may be gaps in the records.
• The handwriting may be difficult! 19th century handwriting can be very hard to read and
  may take some time to get used to.

Classification scheme for estate and family collections