Billesley Hall Farm, Birmingham

[AlanBoyd]

@BushInn1746
Excellent clarification – thank you. And while I have your attention, could you please explain what copyhold means?

[AlanBoyd]

@Keitht

I recall reading that the John Taylor Esq. who died in 1848 did not marry, so the inheritance must have been complicated, and the John Taylor that you mention can’t be a direct descendant.

[AlanBoyd]

5 April 1851: Birmingham Journal

This is another puzzle, since the 1851 census was 30th March.

[AlanBoyd]

1841  census
Parish of Yardley
Bildersley Hall
Alfred Greaves 25 farmer
Mary 20
Alfred 2

This is preceded in the schedule by Bildersley Common and Little Bildersley, this is definitely what is written. I can't find any newspaper references to this "Bildersley" so maybe this was an error by the enumerator. By 1851 Greaves was at Bells' Farm, King's Norton

[AlanBoyd]

Alfred Greves was baptised in June 1814, father Benjamin Greves, farmer, King's Norton,
Benjamin Greves died in 1821, and in a newspaper item on his death is described as a corn dealer, and of Headly Heath, King's Norton.

Since Alfred Greaves (1814) was only 7 when his father died (and in any case there is nothing to suggest that Benjamin Greaves was at Billersley when he died) it seems that Alfred Greaves (1814) had not  "inherited" the tenancy of Billersley.

(note: Greaves seems to be interchangeable with Greves at this time)

[Keitht]

Thank you BushInn1746. I will need some time to work through all that you have provided but it will undoubtely prove interesing. Looks like I will need to reconnect with Birmingham Library, though I've not found their archive to be as readily available as it was before the move.

Alan, I don't think that farm to let advert refers to Billesley Hall Farm. It appears to relate to the nearby Billesley Farm situated off what is now Trittiford Road but was then merely a farm track. I say that because a, it names the farm as Billesley Farm and b, it gives an acreage of 147 whereas Billesley Hall Fram only ever covered 80 acres and c, it  refers to a nearby canal, which does run close to the site of Billesley Farm.

It is interesting that the Greves (Grevis) family were involved with Billesley Hall though I really shouldn't be surprised. They preceded the Taylors as the local bigwigs and had their fingers in every pie in the area. I am surprised though, because everything I've ever known about the area tells me that their prominence had diminshed almost completely by the 1850s.

On Taylor genealogy I will clearly need to do some recapping.

[BushInn1746]

@BushInn1746
Excellent clarification – thank you. And while I have your attention, could you please explain what copyhold means?

Copyhold is a type of Tenure and the rules apparently differed slightly from Manor to Manor.

The Copyhold field my family purchased from a relative's Widow, could also be left in a Will, subject to it being transfered by the Manor.

The 19th Century paperwork we have from the Solicitor to the Manor, was asking the Manor to transfer from G. H. (a family member) to the Trustees of J. C. H. (another family member) saying the Trustees desired to occupy it and can the Manor supply my Client [our family] a valuation and the Trustees be admitted to the Manor.

The family member would attend the Manor Court and hold a straw whilst the transfer was dealt with. The transfer would be entered in the Court Roll. The one off valuation (a small percentage of the value) was entered in the Manor Copyhold Book (in date order) under the previous holder.

Some Manors kept Copyhold Registers or Indexes with brief details of the Transfer (a lot of records survive for this Manor and we went to Hull Archives years ago, to see them).

Several of my family Members (one in my direct line) also served and are listed as Jurors on the Manor Court and are mentioned in the Manor Court Rolls.

The land was not Rented, nor was the property Freehold.

The nearest type of Tenure was Leasehold but we didn't pay a ground rent each year, only what is sometimes called a Fine payment, when the property was transferred.

Manor Records Useful for Family Historians
If the Manor records survive in Archives, they might be useful in tracing lines, even Rentals and Leases in some Manors during certain periods, may name the outgoing Tenant.

The Copyhold Register Book and Court Roll may also say from whose Will the Copyhold property has come from who may be related, or who sold the property.
 ----------
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyhold

[AlanBoyd]

@BushInn1746

Thank you.

[BushInn1746]

... Looks like I will need to reconnect with Birmingham Library, though I've not found their archive to be as readily available as it was before the move. ...

Archives that modernised and moved to new buildings, seem a lot poorer to find documents.

You could find the stubborn stuff much easier under drawers and drawers of Card Index cabinets or Handlists or Volumes of paper Catalogues of Collections.

Some Archives have also put their typed Handlists online as searchable pdfs searchable from a Google search in commas, or even just images of their handwritten handlists, as well as an Electronic catalogue, which are most helpful!

If you don't put the right search terms in, on a PC, it sometimes comes up as 'No Results'.

Some are slow in updating databases and some databases not so good.