DOCUMENTS OF TITLE TO THE DOWN HOUSE FARM, p. BRADLEY

The arrangement of the original bundles has been retained as found, although some items were loose and have been inserted where appropriate. There are three bundles covering the Down Grounds and The Down House Farm, two bundles covering the Downs, and one bundle covering a small piece of land that came through a different descent of title.

Deposited by Mrs M Davies; The Down House Farm, Levedale

The main property of The Down House Farm originated as the Down Grounds, part of the Littleton estate [see D260/M/T/5/4]. Following the purchase by Thomas Ward and Thomas Cartwright in 1648, lands called The Downs were separated off, and remained in the hands of the Cartwright family until the lands were over-mortgaged to pay off legacies, resulting in the imprisonment for insolvency of two unmarried sisters in 1816. These lands were then purchased by Thomas Mottershaw of Silkmore House in Stafford, and were temporarily incorporated into his neighbouring property Bednall Hall Farm. Meanwhile the other part of The Downs, called the Down Grounds, formed the property of The Down House Farm, in the ownership of the Ward family, then of James Woolley and Richard Bartlam. The properties were not united until the purchases of Edward Taylor in 1841-1842. The deeds do not continue beyond his ownership. Later deeds dating from 1919 are retained by the owner.