How to look for records of... Land ownership records and deeds: an overview

The National Archives is not an official place for registration of ownership of land.Records of land ownership at The National Archives may be of enrolment of deeds for a property in a court or information gathered as part of national surveys. There was no national system of registration of ownership before the Land Registry and it was not compulsory to register deeds, so surveys are a more comprehensive set of records.

For most of these records it will be necessary to visit The National Archives but it may be possible to do some preliminary research before visiting. Detailed guidance on finding records is found in research guidance linked from this overview guide.

Records will present a snapshot of who owned the land at a particular time and not a continuous record of ownership. It may be impossible to trace the continuous ownership of a piece of land or property using only records at The National Archives.

Ownership of properties may have been recorded as part of a national survey. Dating from the 19^th and 20^th centuries, these are the most recent types of record at The National Archives that may record ownership of land.The most comprehensive survey of land ownership was the Valuation Office survey between 1910 and 1915. Together with tithes and enclosure records and the farm survey in the 1940s, these records present a more geographically complete record of land ownership.

Earlier records of ownership of land at The National Archives are deeds, legal records of transfer or ownership of land dating back to the 11^th century. Deeds may be found at The National Archives for three main reasons

• the property was in possession of the Crown or government
• the property was the subject of litigation and deeds were presented as evidence in a court
• the deeds were voluntarily enrolled in a court to show transfer or proof of ownership

If you do not know the property you are looking for met one of these conditions, try a speculative search in our catalogue using a place or personal name and the word Deed, you could also put a date restriction on your search. If you do not restrict this search to records held at The National Archives, your search may also find deeds held in local record offices and registered as manorial records (see our guide to manorial records).

The series of records listed in the ancient and modern deeds section below are large collections of deeds found among records of various government departments. The deeds range in date from the 11^th to the 19^th century, with a few from the 20^th century. Many of these deeds are catalogued in sufficient detail to be found using catalogue searches.

We also have research guidance based around searching for enrolment of deeds for a particular purpose in the section Court records. The guidance listed under this section may lead to records not among than those listed in the Ancient and Modern deeds section. Deeds among court records are unlikely to be found by catalogue searching and it will be necessary to follow guidance on using indexes to find them.

There were two major national surveys in the twentieth century and in the nineteenth century a survey was carried out to assess liability to tithes (a form of tax).Enclosure of land began in medieval times but became more widespread in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. The enclosure records at The National Archives are more complete post 1845.

The records of these surveys usually consist of maps used as keys to finding details of individual properties. The headings below link to guidance on finding records.

Census records and the 1939 register record occupancy of property but not ownership.

 

Valuation Office Survey, 1910-1915

The survey was carried out to assess the value of land for tax purposes. Records at The National Archives cover England and Wales.

National Farm Survey of England and Wales, 1941-1943

A survey of farms and small holdings carried out to assess capacity for food production during war time. Records show if the farmer was a tenant or owner.

Tithes, 19^th Century

Tithes were originally taxes intended to support the clergy, beginning in 1836 a survey was carried out in England and Wales to establish where tithes were payable and who owned chargeable property.

Enclosure awards and maps, 18^th and 19^th centuries

Enclosure records date from medieval times but are more widespread from the 18^th century. They show the redistribution of land, combining smaller plots into larger or enclosing formerly common land. Records consist of maps used as a key to the enclosure record itself.

Research advice is also available for the following subjects which touch on land ownership.

Land and property requisitioned for war in the 20th century

Advice on researching records of land or properties requisitioned during the first and second world wars.

Land ownership, use and rights: common lands

Common land is land that is privately owned but over which persons other than the owners have some rights.

Public rights of way, roads and other highways

Advice on finding records at The National Archives and elsewhere.

 

Records of ownership of land may have been enrolled and preserved among court records if the ownership, or transfer of ownership, was registered for a particular legal purpose. Sometimes fictional legal actions were used as a means of registering deeds. Other enrolments may have been due to genuine legal disputes over inheritance or ownership, or to establish charitable status.

Catalogue searching

Some deeds were separated from the court records in the 19^th century (see the section below Ancient and Modern Deeds), many of these can be found by name searching in our catalogue using names or place names and the word deed. It is worth trying a search before following the guidance below.

Research guides

We have guidance on searching for deeds enrolled in court for a specific legal purpose. Records can be complex and difficult to navigate but if you have reason to believe there may have been an enrolment for one of the following reasons, the guides may help you trace it. You will need to visit The National Archives to follow the guidance and consult the necessary indexes.

Trust deeds, 1736-1963

These are documents enrolled (registered) in court recording the conditions of a charitable trust, often for hospitals, schools, churches or other institutions.

Conveyances by feet of fines, 1182-1833

Feet of fines record agreements made in court following disputes over property. The disputes were often fictitious and used as a way of recording transfers of ownership in a court.

Enrolment and registration of title, 1227-c1930

This guide covers registration of deeds in various courts. Registration may have been by payment of a fee or legal action and may have been in one of a number of different courts.

Royal grants in letters patent and charters from 1199

Records of royal grants of land either by letters patent or charter.

Inquisitions post mortem

These were court hearings held on the death of tenants in chief of Crown lands to decide on inheritance of land.

Inheritances and disputes in the Court of Wards and Liveries 1540-1645

The Court of Wards and Liveries oversaw the affairs of orphans of tenants in chief of Crown Lands.

 

The National Archives holds thousands of deeds brought into Crown offices and law courts. Many of these deeds were removed from the records they were originally among and collected together in series based on the office in which they were found. This was done in the nineteenth century, thus the so called “modern deeds” extend only until the 19^th century and “ancient” deeds series are from before 1600. Other artificial arrangements include separating large deeds (double capital letters in the series title) and deeds with a fine surviving seal (with a capital S in the series title). The majority of these deeds can be found by searching in the catalogue by place name and the names of the main parties.Because these deeds have been arranged in artificially created series and removed from their original context, it may not be possible to establish the reason they were originally deposited or find if there are related court records.

Deeds that were enrolled in the Palatinates of Chester, Durham or Lancaster may relate to property outside those places.

The following table lists these main deeds series, the office in which they were found and the date range. Click on the reference for the catalogue description of the series, which will give some idea of the sort of deeds that make up the series and provide a search box restricted to that particular series.

Office and series names	Reference	Date range
Exchequer: Treasury of Receipt
Ancient Deeds Series A	E 40	c1100-1603
Ancient Deeds Series AA	E 41	c1100-1642
Ancient Deeds Series AS	E 42	c1100-1590
Ancient Deeds Series WS	E 43	1271-1513
Modern Deeds Series A	E 44	1504 – 1764
Augmentations Office
Ancient Deeds Series B	E 326	c1200-1592
Ancient Deeds Series BX	E 327	c1100-1543
Ancient Deeds Series BB	E 328	1225-1667
Ancient Deeds Series BS	E 329	1148-1560
Modern Deeds Series B	E 330	1548-1803
Chancery
Ancient Deeds Series C	C 146	c1100-1695
Ancient Deeds Series CC	C 147	c1100-1695
Ancient Deeds Series CS	C 148	c1100-1603
Modern Deeds Series C	C 149	C1600-c1800
King’s Remembrancer
Ancient Deeds Series D	E 210	c1120-1609
Ancient Deeds Series DD	E 211	c1101-1645
Ancient Deeds Series DS	E 212	1228-1582
Ancient Deeds Series RS	E 213	1290-1732
Modern Deeds Series D	E 214	1603-1851
Auditors of Land Revenue
Ancient Deeds Series E	LR 14	1223-1730
Ancient Deeds Series EE	LR 15	1349-1731
Modern Deeds Series E	LR 16	1180 – 1812
Palatinate of Chester
Ancient Deeds Series F	WALE 29	1265-1602
Ancient Deeds Series FF	WALE 30	1508-1634
Modern Deeds Series F	WALE 31	1410-1815; some 20th century
Palatinate of Durham
Deeds Series G	DURH 21	1557-1799
Duchy of Lancaster
Deeds Series L	DL 25	c1100-1979
Deeds Series LL	DL 26	1277-1770
Deeds Series LS	DL 27	12th century-1615
Pipe Office
Ancient Deeds Series P	E 354	1524-1608
Ancient Deeds Series PP	E 355	1524-1621

 

More general subject based advice is available for earlier records.

Manors and manorial records – Manors were landed estates administered by a manorial court. Some records can be found at The National Archives, others may be in local or private archives.

Landed estates – Advice on searching for records of estates and landed families held at The National Archives and elsewhere.

French lands of the English kings – Records of land in France administered by the English crown.

Domesday Book – The 11th Century survey of landholders in England.

Crown, church and royalist lands 1642-1660 – Records of confiscations of land during the Civil War.

Dissolution of the monasteries 1536-1540 – Records of the appropriation of land owned by religious houses.

Religious houses and their lands c.1000-1530 – Records of grants of land to religious houses.