DEEDS AND PAPERS relating to THE DUDMASTON ESTATE of the WOLRYCHE FAMILY

The collection [2922/10-19] had previously been listed in part, but as this followed no archival order and no documents had been numbered, their subsequent arrangement has been rationalised.

Deposited in Salop County Record Office by Lady Labouchere on 4 April 1973

The second part of 2922 [2922/10-19], consists primarily of records relating to the Pope family estate of Smethcote, Woolstaston, Leebotwood and Picklescote (which subsequently passed by inheritance to the Whitmore, then the Wolryche-Whitmore families) and dates from the mid 16th to the late 19th and early 20th century, and also to the Pope's "Welsh estate" variously clustered within Montgomeryshire and dating from the mid 16th to the early 18th century. There are title deeds to other smaller estates that the Pope family held in the Oswestry and Astley localities, Shrewsbury and in Worcestershire, which appear to have been regarded as administratively separate from the main Shropshire and Montgomeryshire estates, and which have been treated as such in this list. However, properties from these smaller estates can often be found included within the title deeds relating to the main estates, and this point should be borne in mind when using this list. The collection also includes title deeds relating to an estate at the Mythe, Gloucestershire, bought in 1834 by the Rev. Francis Laing (who later changed his name to Wolryche-Whitmore), and also to property in Smethcote bought by William Wolryche Whitmore in 1827.