TITLE DEEDS

Title deeds are documents proving ownership of property of whatever type, whether freehold or leasehold land, rights to rent or rights of way, and thus comprise all documents about a property before it was acquired by the Arundells (See Introduction, The Arundell Estate, for dates at which manors were acquired), documents showing its grant to them and those recording its sale or other loss from their hands. Mortgages are included among title deeds because mortgaged property passed in law to the mortgagee although in practice it was retained by the mortgagor even before the loan had been repaid. See AR/19 and AR/20 for marriage settlements and trusts where title remained in the family.

The title deeds are arranged within each county by manors in the order of their acquisition, thus reflecting the growth of the Arundells' estate. Within each manor the deeds are arranged in chronological order apart from Treloy manor where they are by tenements in alphabetical order and chronologically within each tenement. The number of deeds inherited when Carlogas and Gilton were purchased in 1586 made it more practical to place them after the other Lanherne title deeds ( AR/1/127-172). Likewise the title deeds for Upcott and Sheepwash come after the other title deeds for Hartland manor ( AR/1/609-630).

After the county sections are arranged title deeds for lands whose manorial affiliation is unclear, those for more than one manor and those for leasehold property. Under each of these headings deeds are arranged by county and chronologically within each county. At the end of the section are title deeds and related documents for land never owned by the Arundells. Some of these documents were clearly acquired at the same time as other inheritances or purchases; the presence of others in the archive remains unexplained. These too are arranged by county and, within each county, by tenements alphabetically apart from Cornwall where they are in chronological order.