Description:

The Delahay family had a long association with Urishay Castle and its estates which were in their origin part of the Honor of Snodhill[1].

The Gwent Record Office holds a set of Herefordshire Manorial Papers appertaining to the Manors held by the Delahay family. They consist of a bundle of about 79 items, each one or more loose individual sheets. Digital images of the papers were obtained by members of the Ewyas Lacy Study Group in July 2009. These images together with the transcription work of Dewi Bowen Williams are the basis of this research.

From an examination of these papers it is evident that for Court purposes the manors were divided into two groups, those east of the River Dore and those west of the river. This division is consistent with the marsh lands of the river being an effective barrier in pre-Norman times[2]. A detailed examination of the Jurors’ lists has been used to establish the degree of independence of the two groups of manors.

For Wilbrook Manor, east of the Dore, there are 4 copies in a 19^th century hand of early Court Rolls from 1466 to 1529 and 17 items referring to courts from1732 to 1743. For those manors to the west there are 35 items dating from 1671 to 1743.There are also 7 sundry documents dealing with estate matters of the western manors dated from 1707 to 1739. The ‘Court’ documents comprise ‘Bailiff’s Warrants’ and ‘Court Presentations’. A ‘Bailiffs Warrant’ was a document issued by the Steward of the manor to the Bailiff requiring him to summons listed Jurors to attend a Court to be held on a specified day. ‘Court Presentations’ were a record of the Jurors attending and their findings on matters ‘Presented’ to them. The Courts appear to have been both Court Leets which dealt mainly with minor transgressions and Court Barons whose business was land holdings within the manors. It is significant that holding by copyhold is not mentioned anywhere in the papers, this in contrast to the Court Rolls of the adjacent Manor of Ewyas Lacy where copyholds were normal. Tenancies presumably were held by leases directly from the Delahays or their Stewards. Most of the Courts were held on or about the Michaelmas Quarter Day which falls at the end of September. Michaelmas had a special significance in the farming calendar. It was the time after the harvest and before the winter ploughing; it marked the end of one farming year and the start of the next. Hay ricks were built, the barns filled with corn and rents were due at Michaelmas; new tenancies started and old ones terminated.

There are also a number of other documents dated to the first half of the 19^th century when various Hereford solicitors, including Francis Bodenham, were acting as Stewards to the Delahays of the time. Part of the Wilbrook Manor known as Upper Wilbrook may have been sold off in this period[3]. Mr Bodenham in 1833 was initially unfamiliar with the history of the various Manors. Tenants’ rents for a long time had been set at notional rates of a few shillings per year[4] and it must have been a time when the Delahays were seeking money and perhaps considering the Manors as security for a loan or mortgage.

The papers came to the Gwent Record Office from a Newport Solicitor in 1963[5]. The solicitor had previously handled part of the estates of Lord Tredegar. The Tredegar line originated in the Morgan family who were heavily involved as financiers and industrialist in South Wales, there is a possible money connection here.

Apart from the sale of Upper Wilbrook the Urishay Estate and its manors remained practically intact until the Inclosure of Urishay Common in 1855[6] and the dispersal sale of 1913[7].

Dewi Bowen Williams, BA , a Welsh historian with an interest in this area has transcribed the documents[8] and has kindly allowed the use of his transcription here. Images of all the documents are presented here along with the relevant section of Dewi Bowen Williams’ transcription.

Delahay Manor east of River Dore.

This Manor is variously known as Wilbrook or Willbrook or Wirbrook or Wirkbrooke, the modern name being Wellbrook.

Courts to 1743

Jurors attending the Courts of Wilbrook 1732 to 1743

The Peterchurch properties are shown on the Estate Sale map of 1913.
Wellbrook Manor was the dominant house in the lower area of Peterchurch. It is a hall-house and dates to the 14^th century[9]. It was occupied for much of the time by a branch of the Delahay family[10].

Delahay Manors west of River Dore.

These Manors are variously known as Urishay, Clothy Hopkin and Trenant alias Trilers Hope.

The different names probably reflect earlier times when they existed as separate manors. Urishay Manor was most probably the properties closer to Urishay Castle and in Peterchuch parish. Trenant is the valley of an east flowing tributary of the Dore; the manor would include Trenant Farm, Trenant Mill and Pen-y-Lan farm. Clothy Hopkin Manor was that part of the Urishay Estate in the Hundred of Ewyas Lacy[11]; It would include Urishay Common and the peripheral farms taken in from the common. Urishay Common was finally enclosed by a Parliamentary Act of 1855 some parts being sold off to defray expenses[12] .

Items not dated but referring to above period and these manors

Delahay western Manors, Court attendances 1710 to 1743

in 1710 the Manor name was Urishay & Clothie Hopkin,
in 1722 the Manor name was not specified
from 1724 to 1732 the Manor name was given as Clothye Hopkin
from 1733 to 1743 the name used was Urishay, Clothye Hopkin & Trenant alias Trilers Hope

Variations in spelling of Names

The Lord of the Manor in 1722 was John Delahay, the elder, of Urishay Castle, he died prior to April 1726 and his widow Magdalen became trustee for their son John, the younger, who was under age. Thomas Delahay of Welbrook Manor, a cousin of John the elder had an interest in the manors as the senior male Delahay until John, the younger, came of age in 1729. The will of John Delahay the elder is among the Delahay papers at the Herefordshire Record Office[13].

Period from 1810 to 1833

If Courts were held between 1743 and 1810 then their records have not survived.

In 1818 there was an attempt to put the earlier documents into a coherent series, annotations to the outside of each folded document were made in a uniform hand, giving its date and content, and the bundle rearranged. Copies were made of some early documents. This was possibly an office familiarisation exercise.

There are three sundry papers of the years 1821 to 1832.

By 1832 Mr Bodenham, a Hereford Solicitor, is acting for the Delahays and has been appointed as Steward to the manors.

In 1833 a somewhat confused attempt was made to hold Courts for the various manors resulting in the seven papers given below. This may have been a device to strengthen the title of the Delahays to the properties prior to using them as security on a loan or mortgage?

The four manors of the Lordship of Urishay will predate the surviving manorial papers, and be of differing ages. The Manors of Wilbrook and Trenant are referred to by various names which can be taken as changes in custom and usage over the years.

Wilbrook here and in the Delahay papers[14] has the forms: Wilbrooke alias Wirkbroke, Willbroke, Wirkobrooke and Willbrooke. Trenant is known variously as Trilleshope, Throllokeshope, and Thorlokeshope. Here Trenant is of Welsh origin (the homestead on the stream) and the other forms in early English. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the place name element of ‘hope’ as “a piece of enclosed land in the midst of marshes”, which is probable an accurate early description. Both these manors are probably pre Norman and as such can be expected to be included in the Domesday book. There are no manors of these names in Domesday, but there are two as yet unidentified manors of the area those of Almundestune and Alcamestune[15] which may be these. Wilbrook is probably the earliest and Trenant an early Saxon expansion west of the Dore. Urishay is post Norman and Clothy Hopkin will be relatively recent.

George Charnock, August 2010

[1] For the Honor of Snodhill click here, for details of its Castle and owners click here

[2] see paper on the early landscape of the Golden Valley

[3] HRO ref. A95/V/W/234-240, click here for detail

[4] see Rent roll and arrears in 1821 (Urishay, Clothy Hopkin & Trenant Manors)

[5] Personal correspondence with the Gwent Record Office.

[6] HRO ref. Q/R1/32

[7] see gc_ewy_3130 for details of the sale of the Urishay Estate in 1913.,

[8] see tg_mic_0127 on this site

[9] Pevsner, Buildings of England; Herefordshire, p270

[10] see gc_ewy_3330

[11] HRO ref. W85/2, click here for detail

[12] see gc_mic_3020 on this site

[13] HRO ref. W85/18

[14] Delahay papers at the HRO

[15] F & C Thorn (eds), Herefordshire Domesday Book, Phillimore Press, 1983