Papers of Holden Family of Aston Hall, Aston-upon-Trent

This collection consists chiefly of the documents accumulated by the Holden family of Aston Hall, Aston upon Trent, in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries (a number of them however pre-dating the 17th century).

Although the main bulk of the collection refers to the Holden family, there are a few of William Winterbottom's documents, together with sale catalogues and papers relating to the 1924 auction.

TITLE DEEDS D 779B/T 1 - 1190

With table of contents

FAMILY D 779B/F 1 - 117

With table of contents

MANORIAL

Manor of Weston upon Trent D 779B/M 1 - 77

ESTATE D 779B/E 1 - 295

With table of contents

BUSINESS D 779B/B 1 - 40

With table of contents

MISCELLANEOUS D 779B/Z 1 - 48

With table of contents

These documents were deposited in the Derbyshire Record Office in March 1970, February 1971 and November 1972, by Messrs Moody and Woolley solicitors of Derby.

The family was established in the parish of Aston by Henry Holden (died 1610) who probably came from Findern, settling in Wilne ie Great Wilne, then in Aston about 1569 (see D 779B/T 149). Henry made no direct contribution to the Holdens' Aston estate and strictly none of his documents survive here.

Presumably they descended, together with his chiefly leasehold property, to his eldest son and heir John. It was, however, Henry's second son, Robert, (died 1660) who founded the Aston estate, perhaps from the proceeds of rearing beef cattle (see E D 779B/36). Much of the property purchased by Robert was lost to the family by 1681 (see D 779B/T 209 and many of the documents from D 779B/T 224 to D 779B/T 319), but his grandson, another Robert (died 1746) and a highly successful lawyer added considerably to the relatively small estate he had inherited. He extended his property beyond Aston and after his death lands in Leicestershire further enlarged the family's holdings. The estate was completed in the 19th century chiefly in a long series of purchases made by Edward Anthony Holden (died 1877) until it consisted of over 1500 acres in Derbyshire, mostly in Aston parish, and nearly 500 acres in Leicestershire. There is no evidence as to the fate of the Leicestershire property, but the entire Aston estate was sold by ; Edward Charles Shuttleworth Holden to William Dickson Winterbottom in 1898. It was sold again in 1924, after Winterbottom's death, this time broken up into lots.