Building agreements and leases

By a building agreement, land was leased for building purposes, all building plans having first been approved by the estate. Once built, a lease for 999 years was granted on the property. The building agreements and leases survive as a single chronological sequence, arranged in annual bundles which is reflected in the arrangement of the catalogue. Some plans have survived with them and these are listed below; other surviving plans are listed separately as DDKS 23, and have been cross-referenced as far as possible.

In the earlier years the agreements and leases were made by the Estate Trustees, with the agreement of Dame Janet Kay Shuttleworth, under the Act of 3 and 4 Victoria, [1840] and the 999 year leases date from 1842. The Trustees were Thomas Greene of Whittingham Hall and Richard Fort of Read Hall nr. Whalley, until the latter's death in 1868, when the Revd. Henry Owen of Haveringham, Suffolk was appointed. From 1873 the leases were granted by Sir Ughtred James Kay Shuttleworth, by authority of his marriage settlement of 1871.

<p>See also DDKS 25/18/4</p>