Everyday Life in a Northumbrian Manor
All Manor of Things: An introduction to manors and their documents
This learning resource is for anyone who would like to start using manorial documents, from absolute beginners to more experienced users who would like to sharpen their skills. The sections will introduce you to manors and their records, provide the necessary skills for using and reading the records, and will test your knowledge with interactive quizzes.
As part of our Heritage Lottery funded ‘Everyday Life in a Northumbrian Manor Project’, we have created an online resource, which includes transcripts and images of many Northumbrian manorial records. Alongside these, we also have a collection of manor histories, guidance and glossaries, all of which will help you to start using and understanding manorial records. The records we use in this learning resource are all taken from those transcribed on the website, so will give you an idea of what to expect.
There is also guidance on our website on how to use the Manorial Documents Register (MDR), which is an online database of all of the manorial documents in England and Wales.
School Resources
We also have a series of resources aimed at schools and younger learners – Animating the Manor. The content in this resource can also be used to complement and deepen the understanding of the content in the school resource.
This section introduces the manor and breaks down the manorial hierarchy.
This section introduces different types of manorial documents and illustrates how to understand their format.
This section looks at understanding Roman Numerals, and how to identify them within manorial documents.
This section explores types of currency used in the past.
This section looks at different types of historical measurements and how they relate to each other.
This section explores how dates were recorded in the past, including regnal dates and anno domini.
This section recaps the information covered so far.
This section provides guidance on how to approach reading old handwritten documents.
This section looks at court rolls, court books, and how to understand them.
This section looks at call rolls, call books, and how to understand them.
This section looks at surrender and admittance in different types of documents.
This section looks at other types of manorial document which were not included in the transcription project.
This section provides a final summary and opportunities for further practice.
This section provides a bibliography and a list of useful websites.
