| Description | The collection documents the connection of, successively, the Kilnhurst, Mountforth and Darley families with the manor of Kilnhurst. It consists mainly of title deeds to the manor and associated lands in Rawmarsh & Swinton, together with a small amount of estate material (mainly leases). It also contains a rare 15th century letter from Elizabeth, Lady Fitzwilliam of Aldwarke to the guardian and father-in-law of Edmond Mountforth and one of the few pre-1660 probate inventories to survive for Yorkshire.
A small proportion of material, mainly out-county, has no discernible connection to the manor or any of the families which may reflect the collection's custodial history (see below).
Intermarriage between the Kilnhurst and Mountforth familes c.1300 brought the property into the latter family. Although referring to himself as a gentleman in 1373 (1/5/30/A) John 'Monford' was described in the 1379 poll tax as a 'Marchaunt de beste' that is a livestock dealer, and although his tax of 12d made him the wealthiest inhabitant of Rawmarsh, it was well below the tax paid by established gentry, such as the Wombwells of Wombwell or the de Schefelds of Braithwell. Probably the family was for much of the time on the borderline between prosperous famers and gentry. The inventory of Elizabeth Mountforth's property, 1549 (5/1) suggests a modest farmimg background. On the other hand they were able to marry into the local gentry families of Clarell, Calverley and Wentworth.
The family died out in the male line in 1588 and Kilnhurst passed to John Darley who had married Alice Mountforth and on his death without male heirs to his daughter Mary Ellis. The Ellises sold the estate in 1662.
Sources: South Yorkshire, J Hunter, Vol II, 1828-1831; West Riding Poll Tax 1379, Yorkshire Archaeological Society 1882. |