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Manor court rolls
During the Middle Ages, the manorial system
was a central feature of social and economic life. Records of
manorial courts show in great detail the workings of feudal society
at a local level, indicating how petty crimes were dealt with
and the changes that took place in the tenancy of manorial property.
By the mid 17th century the manor locally was in decline, but,
nevertheless, records of the courts continue to provide a detailed
picture of Halifax life and shed a great deal of light on such
questions as public health, law and order and land use.
Local manors
The records of the manor of Wakefield, which
covered most of Calderdale, have survived from the late 13th
century. Records of the various sub-manors, including Halifax,
are also available from late medieval period onwards, but are
distributed throughout many collections in several record offices,
due to their association with different families and estates.
Records
The most important record of the manor is
the court roll, usually comprising a series of parchment membranes
stitched together at the head. The handwriting - a cursive court
hand - is difficult for the modern eye to decipher, and up to
1733 (except for the period 1649-1660) is in abbreviated Latin.
Fortunately, however, some of the surviving rolls for the Calderdale
area have been transcribed and translated and have been published
in scholarly editions by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society
and the Halifax Antiquarian Society.
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