Manoral Records

The author has seen a portfolio of Manoral Records for Belchamp Walter from the 18th and 19th Centuries. The portfolio was reported to have been found in the attic of one of the houses in the village. When asked about the provinance of them the present custodians of them were not clear about this. It is not known if this was intentional or if they were genuinely not known.

The Manoral Records date from the 1700's (exact date to be determined when and if I get to see them again) until the 1860's. The earlier entries are hand written, as all, in Latin and the later in English. All entrie are signed by the then "Lord of the Manor", intially by Thoams Ruggles and at the end by John Mayne St. Clere Raymond.

The entries that can be easily read as they are in English detail the judicial proceedings for the Village of Belchamp Walter and include misdemeanors and there punishments, the sale and leasing of land and other transactions relating to the activity in the village.

Where are the Manoral Records now?

This is not known for sure. By rights they should be in the Essex Archive. The problem with this is that anyone who wants to look at them will have to pay to do so. While this is not a bad thing as they at least will be preserved for posterity, but having had them in our possession (a resident of the village in the 21st century), it was a pity that some information was taken from them at the time.

It is noted that the Records did not appear at the exibition in the Village Hall at the time of the celebrations for King Charles III in March 2023. They were on display at the exibition in October 2019 in the Church.

The Manoral Records could have been given to the Raymond family to place them into their own archives. Whether these archives actually exist it is not known. The keeper in 2019 says that she would be "first in line" should the Raymonds open their archives.