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The
Wakefield Court Rolls* are the preserved
written records
of the Court of the Manor of Wakefield.
These records
are of great significance and a major
resource to the West Riding genealogical
researcher for the following reasons:-
1.
The length of time which they cover,
1274 to 1926, the published records however
only currently cover parts of this period.
2.
The early rolls are some
of the few surviving records that cover
the medieval period.
3.
The geographical extent of the manor. The Lordship and Manor of Wakefield included almost the
whole of the Calder Valley and was one of the largest in the country.
It comprised:-
i.
11
graveships:- Wakefield, Stanley, Alverthorpe, Thornes, Sandal, Ossett, Horbury,
Sowerby, Holme, Hipperholme, and Rastrick.
ii. 118 towns, villages and hamlets with Halifax, Wakefield and
Dewsbury being the chief towns.
Wakefield
Manor as a whole stretched over 30 miles east-west and 21 miles north-south, from Normanton through Wakefield, Dewsbury and
Halifax to the borders of Lancashire.
Although
the manor was large in extent it was not
continuous, being split into two distinct
regions by
the "Honour of Pontefract," holdings of the
Dukes of Lancaster. This split takes in
a region that includes Huddersfield, Almondbury
and Linthwaite,
an area which is of some importance in early
Mallinson history & distribution. These
areas have only a limited reference
in the rolls."
4.
Many
people, along with the locations in which
they lived, are named in the records.
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