What to do with old 18th Century deeds?

[sharonmx5]

I would keep them yourself somewhere safe, and pass them on to the next owner as they are part of the house's history.

if there is ever a dispute about boundaries or rights of way they may be useful.

mike
  added, my land was once part of a large estate and the deeds give a history of the estate ownership and the names of various mortgagees, interesting reading.

Mike,

Similarly this mill was part of an estate early in its life. There is a lot of information regarding mortgages and also a few wilsl in there and other legal documents where millers have died and it has been left to others.

The problem is i'm struggling to read a lot of it!! Who might I be able to go to who would be able to interperate it for me?

Josey, good idea! I hadn't thought of this. I'm sure there is a lot of information that is of interest to to others, not just to the house.

Some of them are beautifully written and must have taken a long time, they are almost like artwork.

Is it certain that land registry will already have a copy or will they just have the more recent documents?

No they will not have everything, in fact they may have very little.  They will only have for certain the most recent document that's regarded as the 'root of title'.  There may also be extracts from some of the more recent conveyances regarding restrictive covenants etc.  Their main concerns are ownership (title) and the extent of the property (title plan).

[Treetotal]

This may be of interest:

http://blog.landregistry.gov.uk/a-title-deed-is-a-friend-indeed/

Carol

[mazi]

I agree the land registry may not have everything, they certainly did not in my case, but the deeds were referred to:  "all that land shewn on the doc dated xxxxxx and any additional land shewn on the attatched plan"

"this plan may not be used for exact measurement and cannot be used to determine boundaries"

mike

[Guy Etchells]

I have recently bought an old mill house, with the remains of a brick tower mill in the garden.

I've been doing loads of research into the history of the house and the mill and found out lots of information, but my solicitor handed me something yesterday that was the icing on the cake - it turns out the deeds of the house back to 1753 (when the original windmill was built) are still intact!

I have looked through the giant stack of them briefly - pretty difficult to read, but beautifully written.

What should I do with them? Do I let him keep them locked up safely? Do I keep them/frame on or two? Do I donate them to a museum?

Your suggestions would be most welcome. Perhaps someone has a similar experience?

If you send them to me at Anguline Research Archives (contact details on the website), I will scan them for you and return them and digital copies to you free of charge.
You could then consider donating them to the local records library, a local archive or keep them and pass on to the next owner of the property.
Cheers
Guy

[iluleah]

Just to note that the land registry do not hold paper deeds now.
I purchased a house some years ago in England and saw the paper deeds these were sent to the land registry, when I had paid for the house in 2010 I had a letter from land registry to acknowledge that I was the owner and I wrote and asked for the copy of my deeds to be told they do not hold paper deeds and it is all digital now.

In 2004 I purchased a 200 yrs old property and thankfully here they do have paper deeds and they are ( like you say) beautifully written, this was originally built as the flax millers home and the mill itself ( foundations only, plus one stone built wall) are still there and all the stone built water runs, which is in 'my front garden by the river', someone 'borrowed' one of the water wheels some years before I purchased and it is in a 'neighbours' garden and the other wheel is still there but not in very good condition and would cost too much to sort out unfortunately.

[sharonmx5]

The Land Registry will sometimes hold a digitised copy of the deed that they regard as the 'root of title' and will provide this for a small fee.  The Office Copy of title will indicate if this is the case.

[Ruskie]

Suffolkboy, Many thanks for sharing the photos. It is such a shame that part of the mill was 'vandalised' so extensively in the 1960s. What plans do you have for the mill building?

I think that before donating the deeds to any library you need to find out if it would be something that they are interested in. I think the ideal thing would be for the deeds to stay with the house if, or when, you sell it. But I would also check with any future purchasers whether or not they are interested, as they may not be. Sadly (surprisingly) some people have no interest in old documents so I think you need to pass them to someone who will treasure them or keep them yourself. 

[Familysearch]

Personally, I would keep them! (Somewhere safe, of course)

When we sold my Mother's property six years ago, I collected the deeds of her house from safekeeping expecting the solicitor acting for me would ask for them so they could be passed to the new owner or mortgage lender. Apparently this no longer happens, the relevant documents are held electronically, so paper documents no longer required. (Must admit I am confused as to how this can be, since our  documents had been locked away for 30 years. Maybe there have always been duplicates at the land registry?)

How exciting to have such old documents in your possession. Mine only go back a few years in comparison!

FS

[andrewalston]

When I bought my first house, the deeds made great reading. I had the earliest transfer, from 1806, professionally photographed and the full-size print framed.

When I sold, the deeds went in the direction of the purchaser's building society. I wish now that I had copied more, especially the copy of a will of someone who had lent money with the house as security. It named all his children, legitimate and illegitimate. It would be great to research that family!