GRETTON (SHERARD) MANUSCRIPTS

The bulk of the collection consists of deeds, mainly of the medieval period, relating to properties held by the Sherards in Leicestershire and Rutland and elsewhere, including an agreement (DE1431/442) made in 1637/8 by Sir William Sherard with the Governor of the province of New Albion, North Virginia to settle a hundred men in the province as resident planters. Estate records include a detailed survey of the manor of Teigh made in 1597 (DE1431/457) and an estate and household account book, 1704-23 (DE1431/449). There are also a number of papers relating to the Irish nobility and Parliamentary attendance at Dublin, 1629-40, including writs to William Lord Sherard to attend the Irish Parliaments summoned in 1634 and 1640.

TITLE DEEDS

Leicestershire:

Stapleford manor etc. 1-50

Stapleford (Basse family) 51-70

Branston by Belvoir 71-73

Burton, Prestwold, Cotes and Wymeswold (Skipwith family) 74-86

Harby 87-112

Saxby 113-172

Scalford 173-195

Sewstern 196-197

Sproxton 198-201

Stathern 202-205

Wymondham and Edmondthorpe 206-212

Various 213-225

Rutland:

Barrow 226-228

Empingham 229-251

Market Overton 252-262

South Luffenham etc. 263-268

Teigh 269-295

Whissendine etc. 296-330

Whitwell 331-336

Various 337-342

Lincolnshire:

Gunby etc. 343-389

Stainby 390-401

Various 402-411

Other Counties

North America 412-441; 442

ESTATE PAPERS 443-459

TAXATION PAPERS 460-480

SHERARD FAMILY WILLS AND SETTLEMENTS 481-517

APPOINTMENTS, WRITS AND ORDERS 518-543

IRISH NOBILITY, AND PARLIAMENTARY ATTENDANCE 544-594

MISCELLANEA 595-638

deposited by the Rt. Hon. Lord Gretton, Stapleford Park, Melton Mowbray

According to a letter written on the 23rd March 1941 at Campsea Ashe, Suffolk, by Lord Ullswater to Lord Gretton (DE1431/624 in the collection) the documents here-listed were discovered by Lord Ullswater "whilst rummaging about amongst my old papers and records recently". Lord Ullstwater presented them to Lord Gretton and they were transferred presumably from Capsea Ashe to Stapleford Park. As Lord Ullswater remarks in his letter the papers probably came into his family's possession through his grandmother, Lucy Eleanor Sherard, the eldest daughter of Philip, 5th Earl of Harborough, who married in 1817 Henry Cecil Lowther of Barleythorpe, Rutland, second son of the First Earl of Lonsdale.

Stapleford Park near Melton Mowbray was for almost five hundred years the home of the Sherard family. There were originally two manors in Stapleford known as Hauberk's manor and Nether Wall manor respectively. Hauberk's manor passed to the Sherards at the end of the fourteenth century on the marriage of Robert Sherard, a descendant of the Sherards of Cheshire, to Agnes Hauberk, daughter and co-heir of Lawrence Hauberk. Before the middle of the sixteenth century the Sherards had come into possession of the Nether Hall manor and they had also acquired through the marriage of Thomas Sherard, the aforesaid Robert's grandson, to Margaret, daughter and heir of John Helwell, the manor of Teigh and Whissendine, Rutland. The earliest part of the house now standing was built in 1500 by the aforesaid Thomas. William Sherard, 1588 - 1640, was knighted in 1622 and created Baron of Leitrym in Ireland in 1627. Bennet Sherard, the third Baron of Leitrymwas created Baron Harborough in 1714 and Earl of Harborough in 1719. Perhaps the most memorable member of the family was the last of the Sherards, Robert, sixth Earl of Harborough, who became notorious for his attitude to the local hunts, to the railway and indeed, to anything which was deemed to encroach upon his estate. He died in 1859 and his widow in 1886. The estate was sold up in 1885 being eventually purchased in 1894 by the grandfather of the present owner, Lord Gretton.