Jersey family of Middleton Park and their estates

The Jersey family’s association with Middleton Park began when William Villiers, the 3rd Earl of Jersey, bought the estate in 1737. Purchases of additional farms and lands over the next 30 years resulted in the Jerseys owning almost the whole of Middleton Stoney parish.
The family was closely involved in the life of the village, and was responsible for improvements, particularly in the nineteenth century, with the building of new cottages for their tenants, and the provision of a school, shop and reading room, among other charitable works.
The family also acquired other estates in neighbouring parishes: for example, George, the 5th Earl of Jersey, purchased the manor of Chesterton from the Duke of Marlborough in 1808, the manor of Somerton from William Fermor in 1820, and properties in Upper & Lower Heyford between 1808 and 1856.
Middleton Park remained the seat of the Jersey family until it was sold in 1946.

This collection includes manorial records, property deeds, maps (manuscript and printed) and financial records for the Jerseys’ estates in several parishes in Oxfordshire, namely Middleton Stoney, Chesterton, Alkerton, Somerton; Upper Heyford, Lower Heyford and Caulcott, Launton, Ardley, Bucknell, Fritwell, and Kirtlington.
It also incorporates records for premises they held in Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Suffolk, Surrey and Northumberland.
In addition, there are papers for charities of which the Jerseys were trustees, and assorted political papers, academic notebooks, and probate records.
The bulk of the archive was deposited by the family or their representatives in 1951 (accessions 180, 186 & 198), with another significant deposit material in 1971 (accession 966). Other dates of deposits or donations, with accession numbers, are noted individually within the catalogue.