Catalogue description Records of the Lords Feoffees and Assistants of the Manor of Bridlington

Records including:

Breviary of Bridlington Priory, 14th century [Ref: Bayle]

Licence to crenellate the Bayle, 1388 [Ref: Bayle]; Wood lease, 1596 [Ref: CR]

Deeds and papers relating to the purchase of the manor of Bridlington, 1629-1631; leases of manor land and properties, 1636-c1889 (broken series);

Manor of Bridlington: court rolls and papers, 17th century-18th century Petitions to Charles I regarding the mills and harbour, 17th century Civil war papers, c1640-1649; Acts of Parliament, 1661 (printed)

Lords Feoffees correspondence and election papers 17th century-20th century; accounts, 19th century-20th century; Charity Commission correspondence, 19th century-20th century; list of ground rents, 19th century

Personal papers of former Lords Feoffees: John Stanley Purvis, Sidney Charlesworth, Charles Harvey and George Hardwick

Lords Feoffees and Assistants of the Manor of Bridlington

• Bridlington Priory, Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire
• Local government

The Bayle Museum, the former gatehouse of Bridlington Priory, has housed a museum since 1928. It was originally founded by two organisations, the Lords Feoffees and Assistants of the Manor of Bridlington, and the Bridlington Augustinian Society.

The former originated in 1630 when 13 townsmen joined together to purchase the manor of Bridlington, for £4,200. Bridlington Priory had been dissolved in 1537 and the manor had passed to the Crown. It was soon leased out, however, as the cost of constantly repairing the harbour was too great a burden. In 1600 the manor was granted to the Earl of Holderness and the Feoffees later purchased it from his brother, Sir George Ramsey. The Lords Feoffees, custodians of the manor with their twelve Assistants, became responsible for the Three Weeks Courts and appointed juries to hear the crimes of the local inhabitants.

Initially they were responsible for law enforcement, markets and fairs, weights and measures, the fire engine and roads. When the borough council was set up the role of the Lords Feoffees greatly diminished. They are now a registered charitable trust, their income now solely derived from rents. Profits are dispensed in scholarships and projects that directly affect the people of Bridlington such as musical events and the provision and upkeep of the Bayle and 'Beside the Seaside' Museums.

The Augustinian Society was formed in 1920 'for the purpose of collecting, recording and preserving the relics of Bridlington and district'.

The museum presents a social history of the town and its inhabitants. The people of Bridlington have generously donated many objects to it.

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