Seventeen Manuscript Land Grants, Hand Stitched Together, on Vellum from the Reign of Elizabeth I, Concerning the Land Rights of a Thomas Wadelowe. by Anon - 1570

Beyton [Beighton] in Norfolk, 1570. Seventeen manuscript land grants on vellum from the reign of Elizabeth I, concerning the land rights of a Thomas Wadelowe. All text is in Latin, some annotations to verso mostly indicating that each belongs to him. The lot stitched together by hand at left margin. Documents vary in size, the smallest measuring approximately 23 x 5 cm, the largest measuring 24 x 13 cm. One of the documents faded though still legible, otherwise the lot in very good and original condition, exceedingly scarce as a sequential lot of documents recording the rights and conveyance of feudal land in Norfolk. Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603. As such, these documents in that period. One of the documents appear to state its date as "die viginti Anno reign Elizabeth" which would be the twentieth year of her reign, thus being made sometime between 18 November 1577 and 17 November 1578. These documents provide insight into the Wadelow family's ancestral history of land titleship during Norfolk's feudal era, specifically that of a Thomas Wadelowe, whom, in one of the documents is having land conveyed to him from a Thomas Symes. A John Symes is named on the first document. Hand stitched together to the left margins, all documents intact, the condition and completeness of the lot reveal the land's ownership and/or leasehold history over many generations. It also illustrates that this family appreciated the perdurable value of land rights. Sixteenth century land indentures are scarce survivors in any form. To find a sequential lot of related deeds, kept neatly and safely together for some three to four hundred years, is exceptionally uncommon and indeed invaluable to the history of its related ancestry and locality.. Photo.