Kent Manorial Documents Register

Kent Archives celebrates the launch of the online Manorial Documents Register for Kent. It's part of The (UK) National Archives Manorial Documents Register (MDR), the official index to English and Welsh manorial records which provides brief descriptions of documents and details of their locations in public and private hands.

Manorial documents contain information about the lives of ordinary people going back to a period when genealogists otherwise rely on parish registers and wills. Depending on farming practice, a manor might contain:
•The manor house of the lord or lady
•Arable land, divided into Demesne lands, (farmed directly, or leased out by the lord or lady,) or Tenants’ lands.
•Pasture & meadow which could be held by the landlord or the tenants.

For Deal in Kent there are records for three manors, Deal Manor (3), Ash Court Manor (17) and Deal Prebend Manor (53). The number in parathesis is the number of collections—the archive where they are found is indicated.

Kent's manorial records contribution to MDR were made available as part of a project by funded from The Family History Federation. Other counties records supported through the project are Wiltshire, Northumberland and Northamptonshire.