Origins of the Stoborough Liberty and Charter

🏛️ 1. Early History: Royal Demesne (11th–12th Centuries)

• In the Domesday Book of 1086, Stoborough (recorded as Stanberge or Stowbergh) was held directly by Count Robert of Mortain, half-brother of William the Conqueror, as tenant-in-chief.

• This indicates that Stoborough was part of the Crown’s demesne — not yet a liberty, but land held by the Crown or its immediate grantee under direct royal jurisdiction.

• Royal demesne lands were often reorganized in the next century into fee farms, boroughs, or liberties as a way of generating income and delegating local government.

📜 Source: Domesday Book (Dorset folio) – “Robert holds Stowbergh of the King.” (Open Domesday; VCH Dorset Vol. II)

⚖️ 2. Formation of the Liberty (12th–13th Centuries)

• Between 1150 and 1300, during the reigns of Henry II, John, and Henry III, Dorset saw a wave of liberties created — typically carved out of royal demesne boroughs or former forest lands (such as Wareham, Gillingham, and Corfe).

• The Liberty of Stoborough appears by this period as a distinct jurisdiction “within the borough of Wareham” but administered separately, with its own court, officers, and customs.

• The earliest documentary reference to Stoborough as a liberty occurs in 14th-century manorial rolls, describing it as “the liberty of Stoburgh in the borough of Wareham.”

• This status probably originated when the Crown granted the manor “with all liberties and free customs” to a tenant in fee or fee-farm — most likely in the 12th or early 13th century, when Wareham itself was already a chartered borough.

📜 Sources:

• Victoria County History of Dorset, Vol. II (Wareham Borough and Liberties).

• Hutchins, History and Antiquities of Dorset, Vol. I, p. 492 ff.

• Patent and Close Rolls of Henry III, entries relating to the manor of Wareham and Stoborough.

👑 3. Royal Confirmation by Patent (1484 and 1591)

• The earliest explicit royal instrument mentioning Stoborough’s liberties is King Richard III’s grant of 1484, which confirmed the “manors and lordships of Godmanston, Wareham, and Stoweborough with all liberties, courts, views of frankpledge and other regalian rights.”

• This confirmed an existing liberty jurisdiction, not created a new one.

• Later, in 1591, Queen Elizabeth I re-granted the manor and liberty to Sir William Pitt, again mentioning “with all courts leet, views of frankpledge, perquisites and liberties thereunto belonging.”

📜 Sources:

• Calendar of Patent Rolls, Richard III, 1484 (March 25 Nottingham).

• Patent Roll, Elizabeth I (33 Eliz.), confirming grant to William Pitt.

• Stoborough.com – History of the Manor (citing the above).

Re-confirmation by Elizabeth I in 1591

• Queen Elizabeth I, by patent in 1591, granted to Sir William Pitt the “Manor and Liberty of Stoborough with all courts leet, views of frankpledge, perquisites and liberties thereto belonging.”
  Again, this was a confirmation of existing liberty rights rather than the issue of a new charter.
  No separate charter of liberties for Stoborough is known after this point.

  📜 Source: Patent Roll 33 Eliz. I (1591); cited in Hutchins, History and Antiquities of Dorset, Vol. I, p. 493; and on Stoborough.com .

🏘️ 4. Conclusion: Probable Period of Liberty Status

Based on these records:

📍 Therefore:

The Liberty of Stoborough most likely originated in the 12th–13th century, when Wareham’s royal holdings were reorganized into borough liberties, and was formally confirmed as a liberty by Crown patent in 1484.