"Copyhold"

[TLawrence]

Hi
I have been looking again at a copy of an old will (1875) and have come across the phrase "copyhold house and garden" as an asset of the estate. Can anyone enlighten me as to the meaning of "copyhold"?
Thanks
Tui

[Linda]

Found this website - too much to copy here:

http://58.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CO/COPYHOLD.htm

Linda

[Peter Goodey]

As Linda says, it's much to big a subject to answer here. Google and use a library - also buy some books or booklets on manorial tenancies. 1875 is quite late to have found a copyhold tenancy because the system was pretty much defunct by that time. However you're lucky! Chase it up - you might find that the tenancy goes back several generations (or you might not ;) ). You'll need to know exactly where it was and then find out which manor it would have been in. Then you can locate the records - if they've survived - and search them out!

Where was it by the way? There were regional variations in the way copyhold worked.

[TLawrence]

Thanks for your help. The property was at Wells Next The Sea in Norfolk but it was to be sold, sadly. What isn't now clear from the websites I have been guided to is whether such property could be sold in the same way as freehold property. I would be interested if anyone knows.

Regards
Tui

[Peter Goodey]

Copyhold land and property is not freehold so the property itself could not be sold (you specifically said the house was copyhold as opposed to simply being a house on copyhold land). The best current day analogy is probably leasehold.

What happened before will be more interesting than what happened after. The manorial documents register of the National Archives can tell you what manor or manors applied in that parish and then you stand a chance of tracking the records down.

[Geoffers]

Hi
I have been looking again at a copy of an old will (1875) and have come across the phrase "copyhold house and garden" as an asset of the estate. Can anyone enlighten me as to the meaning of "copyhold"?

Hello Tui
In addition to what has already been written, (and since your reference is in Norfolk) you'll find on the Norfolk Transcription Archive a transcript of an admission to copyhold property at the Court Baron in Aylsham
http://www.genealogy.doun.org/transcriptions/documents.php?district_id=1&document_id=31028

Also, there are many words and phrases which are no longer in common use. I would suggest dropping hints to family and friends about what an excellent presents the following books would make for someone interested in family and local history:

The Local Historian's Encyclopedia by John Richardson ISBN 0 9503656 7X

The Local History Companion by Stephen Friar ISBN0 7509 2722 4

Lots of interesting snippets, the books are both well laid out and great to have at hand for quick reference.

Geoffers
Charlbury, Oxfordshire

[Rod Neep]

Hi
I have been looking again at a copy of an old will (1875) and have come across the phrase "copyhold house and garden" as an asset of the estate. Can anyone enlighten me as to the meaning of "copyhold"?
Thanks
Tui
The web site pointed to does explain most things, but, I think it looks like it was written by a lawyer. Not easy to follow or understand.

Essentially, Coyhold was a sort of sale of land by the Lord of the Manor to an individual. I say "sort of" because of a clause peculiar to Copyhold. If the person wanted to sell it on, then it could only be sold back to the Manor. If the person died, then the land reverted back to the ownership of the Manor. It was lost to the family!

However, under certain curcumstances, the Copyhold could be willed to a wife or male child.

Eventually, the Copyhold law was changed, giving a Copyholder the right to purchase the Copyhold outright (making it a Freehold), but at the time, few could afford to do that.

I have an example in my own family. James NEEP purchases a Copyhold farm, (huge) with several cottages and a farm house, form the Manor. (In Norfolk, not far from Wisbech). Unfortunately his wife died at and early age, and also his sons died before him. Therefore, when he died, instead of the farm and cottages becoming part of his estate, it reverted back to the ownership of the Manor. (His brother, my g/g/grandfather could not inherit it).

James had not bought his Copyhold, as he was now allowed to do. But interestingly, following his death, all the other local farmers did! They learned from what had happened to him!

I have visited the place. Cornfields in the Fens as far as the eye can see, several lovely cottages, anhild.

Eventually, the Copyhold law was changed, giving a Copyholder the right to purchase the Copyhold outright (making it a Freehold), but at the time, few could afford to do that.

I have an example in my own family. James NEEP purchases a Copyhold farm, (huge) with several cottages and a farm house, form the Manor. (In Norfolk, not far from Wisbech). Unfortunately his wife died at and early age, and also his sons died before him. Therefore, when he died, instead of the farm and cottages becoming part of his estate, it reverted back to the ownership of the Manor. (His brother, my g/g/grandfather could not inherit it).

James had not bought his Copyhold, as he was now allowed to do. But interestingly, following his death, all the other local farmers did! They learned from what had happened to him!

I have visited the place. Cornfields in the Fens as far as the eye can see, several lovely cottages, and a gorgeous old farmhouse, beside a bridge still known as Neep's Bridge, and a modern row of council houses called Neep's Terrace. (And it could have all been mine! |banghead| )

Rod

[John]

Essentially, Coyhold was a sort of sale of land by the Lord of the Manor to an individual. I say "sort of" because of a clause peculiar to Copyhold. If the person wanted to sell it on, then it could only be sold back to the Manor. If the person died, then the land reverted back to the ownership of the Manor. It was lost to the family!
Rod
Just to add an element of confusion, in my research into the Holdens of Lancashire, I discovered that by the 1700's most of their manor land had become copyhold. What appears to have happened is that mounting debts as a result of a paternity suite has forced them to sell off land and in effect rent it back, a form of mortgage?

John

[TLawrence]

Many thanks to all who replied to my query. It has all been very interesting and I now feel much better informed.
Regards
Tui