Deopham History

Deopham Manor Lease 1779

Anne Amyas

  1. Notes:
  2. The Lease
  3. Delay in authorising the new lease
  4. Key Points of the Lease
  5. Navigation

Notes:

  1. The Lease as originally written is one solid block of text with no spaces and minimal punctuation. The text has been reformatted and some punctuation added below for ease of reading, but the wording remains the same.
  2. 1779 spellings have been retained for premisses, accrew, compleat etc
  3. Words in bold correspond to those so written in the original indenture.
  4. Please see the 1742 lease for notes on meanings of some of the terms used.

The Lease

Delay in authorising the new lease

A note on the reverse of this document, which is dated June 2nd 1780, records “sent counterpart to Matthew Kenrick Esq … for Miss Amyas to execute it”. A letter dated 1779 from Mr. Kenrick indicates that the delay in signing the new lease occurred because Miss Amyas was concerned that the prospect of an Inclosures Bill was going to negatively impact her.
Another letter written on October 31st 1779 indicates that Anne Amyas was also concerned about the fine (the payment she had to make to the Dean and Chapter upon renewing the Lease). This was another reason that she delayed signing the new lease.
The above Lease agreement was returned, as noted again on the reverse, on July 28th 1780 having been “executed by Miss A”.
A further note on the reverse records that Amyas is “now of Beccles, Suffolk” (the lease itself describes her as a Spinster of Hingham).

Key Points of the Lease

  1. The terms of this lease are essentially the same as those agreed with Anne Amyas in the 1772 lease. A few minor formatting changes have been made from the previous lease.
  2. The date of the surrendered lease corresponds to that of the 1764 Indenture, not the last lease which was dated 1772. This would imply either that there is a scribal error or that the intervening leases of 1767 and 1772 were never fully ratified.
  3. This lease is for a period of 21 years.
  4. The spelling the signatory’s name has reverted to Ann (without the final “e”).
  5. The seal on the copy at the Canterbury Archive is that of the Dean and Chapter – not that of Anne Amyas which occurs on the agreements of earlier years.
DateChange
3/1/24Published