COUCHMANS, TOTTENHAM [SURVEYORS AND VALUERS]

The majority of the papers are those of John William Couchman who was a civil engineer (in particular, apparently, a waterworks expert) and a surveyor and valuer, but a few later ones relate to his successor, Harold Seymour Couchman.

John William Couchman acted as surveyor and agent to the lords of the manors of Tottenham and Edmonton. Most of the manorial documents are valuations for enfranchisement of copyhold property. These cover the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and are arranged alphabetically under the names of the copyholders. There is also, however, a survey of Tottenham manor of c.1830 and two rentals of quit and waste rents for Tottenham and one for Edmonton, together with correspondence with the local urban district councils over their purchase of manorial waste.

The remainder of the collection consists of documents concerning property of the Sperling family and of others for whom Couchman acted as agent, his own papers relating to various engineering projects - notably that to provide a drinking water supply for Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados (Nos. ACC/1016/716 719), papers concerning the Tithe rent charges for Tottenham (for which he acted as valuer), various sales particulars including one of 1789 for Bruce Castle and Mount Pleasant (No. ACC/1016/475), and two albums of Photographs taken at the end of the last century which are of considerable interest (Nos. ACC/1016/750, 751).

List of records (3rd deposit) currently as of November 2003 uncatalogued. Please contact London Metropolitan Archives for further information.

'Tottenham manor, 1830.' Book recording sale of manor 1805, survey of the manor, quitrents, copies of correspondence, etc. 1805-1936.

Tottenham manor, miscellaneous documents in numbered packets or bundles:

No. 1 Fiddler's enfranchisement, 1927.

No. 2 Crossings in front of Jewish Hospital, 1925-7.

No. 3 Telephone kiosks, Pages Green Common and Ducketts Common, 1928.

No. 4 Telephone box, Ducketts Common, Police, 1928.

No. 5 Sale of waste land, River House, to T.U.D.C., 1922-9.

No. 6 Sale of waste land, River House, to T.U.D.C., 1929.

No. 7 Broad Lane widening, 1929-30.

No. 8 High Cross Common, public convenience, 1929-30.

No. 9 Ducketts Common, sale to London Electric Railway, 1930-31.

No. 10 1/11 Park Lane, 1927-36.

No. 11 Methodist Church crossing, 1935-6.

unnumbered Tottenham Commons Scheme, 1881 (printed).

[The above seem to comprise Packet No. 21]

Tottenham manor, bundle on White Hart Lane waste, 1920-23. [Packet No. 20]

Tottenham manor, bundle on enfranchisement of Swan Inn, High Cross, 1875-1925. [? part of Packet No. 20]

Tottenham manor, overhead convenience, Tottenham Green, plan and correspondence, 1923.

Edmonton manor, survey of the manor, 1854, in memorandum book of Whybro, auctioneer, Tottenham.

Edmonton manor, booklet containing notes on various tenements and tenants, with valuations of some tenements and record of compensations and surveyor fees for certain enfranchisements, ? c.1855-1938.

Various Sperling estate papers:

Extract from lease of Lordship Mews, Tottenham, 1871.

Draft agreement for exchange of lands at Tottenham, Wilson and Sperling with the Trustees of the Bishop of London's Fund, 1884.

Rent roll, 1909.

Aircraft insurance policy, 1916.

In re Great Eastern Railway Co., 1865-1867.

Photographs of Constitutional Club, Tottenham, 1914.

Leases: Sperling to Saunders, 1814.

Sperling to Brooks, 1843.

Sperling to Carter, 1864.

Plan of Sperling's estate at Bruce Grove, undated, ? c.1920.

Great Eastern Railway, notice of lands required, Saunders' exors., 1865.

Great Eastern Railway, Mrs. B. G. Pearson's claim for compensation, 1876.

Windsor Park Estate, Tottenham, abstract of John Lawrence's title, 1904.

Counterpart lease, Revd. F. H. Curtis and ors. to May, 1868.

Counterpart lease, Glover and Killick to King, 1891

Scales Settled Estate, large bundle of miscellaneous papers, plans, draft leases, sale particulars, cases for opinion, & c 1880-1913.

Sale particulars, Moated House Estate, Tottenham, 1870.

Map of the Parish of Edmonton ... as divided by Act of Parliament, 1801-2, printed with MS annotations.

Miscellaneous sale plans, Tottenham (3), 1869, 1884, and undated.

MS plan and schedule of Mr. Millard's estate, by Whybro, ? c. 1840.

MS plan of the estate of the late Miss Deborah Dermer at Tottenham, by Whybro, ? c. 1840.

Stanford's map of London and Suburbs, sheet 3, Stoke Newington and Tottenham, 1865. (Printed.)

Barbados waterworks, Report, 1858. (Printed.)

Tithe Commissioners' appointment of J. W. Couchman as valuer of land of Joseph Knight, 1861.

J. W. Couchman's letter to the Owners and Ratepayers of Tottenham, 1875. (Printed and MS copies.)

Leather-covered display card, lettered in gold: Mr. J. W. Couchman, Auctioneer, Tottenham.

Sale notices by Seymour Couchman:

Bromley Brewery, plant, vans, etc., 1902.

Portland Road Brewery, Notting Hill, brewery plant, 1920.

Miscellaneous correspondence, c.1870-c.1885.

Copy of Tottenham and Edmonton Weekly Herald, 29 July 1876.

This series of documents from Messrs.Couchmans, Surveyors and Valuers, of Tottenham, came into the archives in two deposits, consisting of the non-manorial and the manorial material respectively. The manorial records came in numbered bundles, and these have been catalogued (The original bundle numbering being retained) under the two separate headings "Manor of Edmonton" and "Manor of Tottenham." The rest of the material came in un-numbered bundles, which have been allocated numbers by the Record Office. Occasionally there are smaller original bundles within the larger bundles; where these occur, note has been made of it.

<p>The court books of both (Tottenham and Edmonton) manors for this period are deposited in this office (ACC/695).</p>