Jodrell Muniments

Date range: 13th–18th centuries

Medium: Archive

Muniments of the Jodrell family of Yeardsley cum Whaley, Cheshire. The family traced their ancestry to one William Jaudrell, an archer under Edward the Black Prince, Earl of Chester, in the French wars of the mid-14th century. At the time of his death he held lands at Yeardsley cum Whaley, Disley, and Kettleshulme, Cheshire. In the reign of Henry VII Roger Jodrell of Yeardsley acquired estates at Twemlow by marriage, and the family then made their home on the Twemlow estate. In the 18th century the Twemlow estate passed to the Leigh family of West Hall, High Legh. The heiress to the Yeardsley estate, Frances Jodrell (1752–1828), married John Bower of Manchester in 1775, who then assumed the surname Jodrell.

The collection primarily comprises deeds and allied documents such as grants, final concords, releases, leases, surrenders, receipts, bonds and covenants, extracts of court rolls and letters of attorney. These relate to properties in Cheshire, particularly Disley Stanley, Kettleshulme, Macclesfield Forest, Overton, Taxal, Twemlow and Yeardsley cum Whaley; Derbyshire (Castleton, Hartington, Hayfield and Makeney); Lancashire (Chatburn); Staffordshire (Marchington, Tunstall and Waterfall); and Yorkshire (Waddington).

Jodrell family papers include wills, inventories of goods, marriage articles and settlements, commissions in the militia, and a small quantity of correspondence. There are also papers relating to Edmund Jodrell’s two terms as sheriff of Cheshire, in 1650-1 and 1670-1.

Further information:

• Catalogue available online via ELGAR.
• Outline catalogue of additional material available in Special Collections reading rooms.

Location:

• The John Rylands Library, Deansgate  [Map]
• Find out how to use the reading rooms in the John Rylands Research Institute and Library