Catalogue description SWYTHAMLEY HALL PAPERS

Brocklehurst family of Swythamley, Staffordshire

The surviving estate papers largely date from the era of John, William and Philip Lancaster Brocklehurst, i.e. 1831-c. 1910. The later papers are believed to have been destroyed by the Brocklehurst family .

These papers were purchased by Staffordshire County Council from the World Government of the Age of Enlightenment in September 1990. Swythamley Hall was used as a Maharishi International College [for instructing in transcendental meditation] between about 1978 and 1986.

At the time of writing, the title deeds to many parts of the estate remain the property of the World Government but a calendar of them is available in the Record Office.

The Swythamley estate was purchased by John Brocklehurst from Edward Trafford Trafford [formerly Nicolls] in 1831. The core of the estate was located in Heaton and Leek Frith but adjacent areas in Wincle were added by P.L. Brocklehurst who continued to enlarge the estate well into the twentieth century.

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