Woodborough’s Heritage

Woodborough, a Sherwood Forest Village, recorded in Domesday

Woodborough Terrier - 1660

Above: The cover page of the 1660 Terrier, note the date is confirmed at the top of this page.

The text reads “A Terrier of all the Tenements I have in Woodburgh [Woodborough] in ye County of Nottingham.

Above left: Page 3 of 14 showing the divided page setup,

“A Terrier of all the Tenemets Philip Lacock esq hath

In Wodeburgh in ye County of Not” and in ye forest of Sherwood 1660.

Above right: Page 9 of 14 is a Register of Rents. On the left-hand side there are 4 columns headed Michaelmas and Lady Day 1660-1666. On the right-hand side are tenants names and the rent paid.

Land Terrier of 1660, part 1

Pages are divided into two columns, see above left, listing Closes, meadows, brecks, fields, pasture, naming the tenants and areas. Owners of neighbouring fields are listed with orientation, eg. Taylor sheepyard E [east]. In the following table details from the document under each heading have been omitted. The document has suffered water damage at some time in its history.  

A Terrier of all the tenements of Philip Lacock Esq. hath in Woodborough, in the County of Nottingham and in the Forest of Sherwood.

• First the two Oxgangs of land Thomas Lee hath in his possession.

Closes:

• 1 Close about an acre and a rood called Budby Close John Alvey E [east], Mr Wood W [west].
• 1 Broad Close an acre and a half Mr Lacock S [south] Mr Wood W [west].
• 1 The Mill Close Mr Lacock E [east].

Land Terrier of 1660, part 2

• Lists all the lands owned by Philip Lacock.
• Chief rents paid  for 1660 and 1661.
• Payments on Lady Day and Michaelmas
• Lady Day-25th March
• Michaelmas-29th September.
• Mr Wood and Mr Allvey.

Land Terrier of 1660, part 3 -Tythes payable

Survey of 19th June 1694:

• A Particular of all the Ground in Woodborough which pays Tythes to the Prebend of Oxton.
• “Mr Lacock Capital Messuages and 70 oxgangs of land both Great and Small Tythes”.
• Arable land in Mr Lacock's holding which is in tillage.
• Under lease granted by Mr Lacock where tenant pays tythes to principal tenant.
• Details of oxgangs in hay.
• Details of houses and crofts paying small tythes.

Note: The document is too long and consisting many pages with difficult hand-writing that would take transcribing it very time consuming. The original document is in the possession of Nottinghamshire Archives.

Terms and definitions:

• Oxgang-an area of land that could be ploughed by an ox in one day.
• Acre-imperial unit of land,4840 sq., yards, or 0.405 hectare.
• Rood-a measure of land area equal to a quarter of an acre (40 square perches, approximately 0.1012 hectare.
• Closes-parcel of land that is surrounded by a boundary e.g. a hedge
• Leys-a piece of land put down to grass, clover, etc., for a single season or a limited number of years, in contrast to permanent pasture.
• Messuage-a dwelling house together with its outbuildings, curtilage, and the adjacent land appropriated to its use.
• House and Croft-derivation of “Toft and Croft.”

Acknowledgements:

• Nottingham Archives
• Mike Chapman

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A modern interpretation of a Terrier is: A land terrier is a record system for an institution's land and property holdings. It differs from a land register in that it is maintained for the organisation's own needs and may not be publicly accessible.

For the Estate Manager and/or Estate Solicitor a key element within the estates department is managing the legal aspects of the property portfolio, along with all associated legal documentation.