Taddington 1820s Documents

LITTON MILL 1800s

In 1815 Ellis Needham, the owner of Litton Mill was declared bankrupt. At least 80 of his apprentices were left destitute and had to be supported on parish relief; ten died between 1816 and 1818. In 1816 Lord Scarsdale canceled Needham's lease. The following document preserved in Derbyshire County Records Office shows some the aftermath around the fear of further "Burdens being brought" on Taddington and Priestcliffe from future Mill owners.

21 December 1821 Taddington (1)

Wee the undersigned Matthew Roberts Richard White William Bagshaw Joseph Braddock William Makinson and Robert Wright being six of the proprietors of Estates withi the liberty of Taddington and Priestcliff in the County of Derby being firmly of opinion that it would be greatly to the interest of all the proprietors if Estates in the said liberty if the Estate of Ellis Needham within the said liberty called Priestcliff netherlees containing 19 = 1 = 25 [over the top written a r p (2) was purchased of his Aysignees in order to prevent any further Burdens being brought upon the said township through the means of such Estate but as the Aysignees have determined to sell the same no other ways then to gather with a Close or parcel of inclosed land containing about 4 Acres with ten (3) dwelling Houses erected thereon a small Estate of the said Ellis Needham within the liberty of Litton in the said County which hee bought of Richard Arkwright Esq together with all Buildings since and now erected thereon (4)we are of opinion that it would be better to purchase both thees Estates than let that property in the liberty of Taddington and Priestcliff fall into any other hands (5) and in confirmation of such our opinion wee the said Matthew Roberts Richard White William Bagshaw Joseph Braddock William Makinson and Robert Wright hereby undertake to purchase the whole of such property in our joint names and at all riske under the following conditions Vis, The Conditions that previously to our entering into articles of purchase for such aforesaid property the proprietors of Estates within the aid liberty of Taddington and Priestcliff to the amount of nine tenths in value of such Estates shall severaly (but not jointly) agree to pay their respective proportions towards such purchase such proportion to be ascertained by the Ratio of assesment maid by M^r Nuttall for regulating the poor assessment for such Estates within the liberty including the proportions of such Contractors for sale by the same Ratio that the said Estates when purchased shall be taken by two sets of Conveyances at two distinct valuations to be agreed upon and that the Conveyance of that part of the purchase lying within Taddington and Priestcliff shall be taken in trust for the Contractors and all other the proprietors of Estates within the said liberty of Taddington and Priestcliff in proportion to their respective contributions towards payment for the same and the rents and profits thereof be thereafter applied in alleviation of the poor rates of such their respective Estates and of theirs only in the like proportion and that the Conveyance of that part of the purchase lying within Litton shall be taken in the names of the said Matthew Roberts Richard White William Bagshaw Joseph Braddock William Makinson and Robert Wright in trust to sell the same as soon as conveniently may be and the money to arise theirfrom when received be divided amongst the contributors towards that purchase by the Ratio in which they shall have contributed thereto and the rents and profits thereof paid and applied in the mean time in alleviating the Poor Rates of such their respective Estates in Taddington Priestcliff in like manner but in case the Litton property can be sold by the said Contractors in time to have the same conveyed to the purchaser or purchasers and their money received in time to apply it in part of the purchase money of both such purchases then the Conveyance of the Litton property shall be spared In any case the money for both the aforesaid Estates shall not be allowed to exceed one Thousand on Hundred and fifty Pounds that all necessary Covenants for renewing of the above Trust and all other matters that shall be thought proper to have introduced into the Conveyance for completing this buisiness shall be left to M^r ofthex [?] Bossley who shall prepare the necessary Conveyances and also the Contract that shall be entered into with the said parties authorised to sell the above mentioned Estates all which expences attending the same shall be paid for by the Proprietors of Estates within Taddington and Priestcliff contributing to the proposed purchase and in Ratio f their respective contributions and above the purchase money

Matthew Roberts

Richard White

William Bagshaw

Joseph Braddock

William Makinson

Robert Wright

Wee whose names are hereunder written being Proprieters of Estates within the Lyberty of Taddington and Priestcliff do hereby agree to such purchase being made and carried into execution agreeable to the conditions herein before written and referred to.

Signed by the above names Matthew Roberts Richard White William Bagshaw Joseph Braddock William Makinson and Robert Wright in the presence of William Haycock

(1) Spelling and capitalisation has been retained. Where two s’s appear together they are written in the original as fs … i.e afsesment for assessment – these have been corrected to modern spelling for clarity

(2) a r p are Acres Roods and Perches

(3) These dwellings must surely be Littonslack.

(4) This part can be read as though the dwelling houses were bought with the land from Richard Arkwright and the other buildings erected since then.

(5) We must assume there was an alternative bid or proposal for selling either just the lands on the Taddington / Priestcliffe side – or the lands on both sides separately. These six buyers clearly wanted the land on both sides of the river.

See also this undated document which was in the same file as the 1821 document.