⚖️ Legal and Historical Summary:

Sale and Authority of the Crown Manor and Liberty of Stoborough

⚜️ Origins and Royal Tenure

The Ancient Crown Manor and Liberty of Stoborough (historically Stoburgh, Stowbergh, Stowborough, or Stanberge) lies south of Wareham on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorsetshire, separated from the borough by the River Frome. The manor appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Stanberge/Stowbergh, held in demesne by Count Robert of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall and half-brother to William the Conqueror, taxed for three hides and containing three households.
Citations: Hutchins, History of Dorset (1860); Domesday Book entries for Hasler Hundred.

From the Norman Conquest onward, Stoborough was recognized as a Crown liberty and demesne manor, associated with Wareham Priory and the borough’s eastern defenses (“By the East Wall of Wareham”). The manor encompassed heaths, lakes, meadows, farms, and the navigable reaches of the River Frome—an area long used as a merchant port since Roman times and later known for 18th-century coastal trade and smuggling.

📜 Feudal and Manorial Descent

The lordship descended through several notable lineages:

🧾 Documented Conveyance and Rights

The conveyance to Counselor George Sherwood Mentz (2021) transferred, in fee simple,

“All courts leet, courts baron, and other courts; view of frankpledge and all that to view of frankpledge doth belong; mills, mulctures, customs, tolls, duties, reliefs, heriots, fines, amerciaments, waifs, strays, chief rents, quit rents, fee-farm rents, services, royalties, jurisdictions, franchises, liberties, privileges, advantages, rights, and emoluments to the manor appertaining or reputed to appertain.”

This wording preserves the full seignorial and jurisdictional incidents traditionally belonging to a liberty—confirming the manor’s continuity as a private hereditary liberty of the Crown.

That 1591 grant to Sir William Pitt — which includes the wording “with all courts leet, views of frankpledge, perquisites and liberties thereto belonging” — is a real manorial grant, and you can confirm or verify it from several primary and secondary sources:

 Primary Historical Sources

Primary citation

• “A Grant by King Richard, 1484, March 25 at Nottingham — ‘By p.s. Grant to the king’s servant William Claxton, esquire, and the heirs male of his body, for his good service against the rebels, of the manors or lordships of Godmanston, Wareham and Stoweborough, co. Dorset … to hold with knights’ fees, wards, marriages, reliefs, escheats, advowsons, lands, waters, woods, underwoods, stews, fisheries, stanks, mills, meadows, warrens, parks, courts, views of frank-pledge, fines, amercements, heriots, rents, services, reversions, liberties and commodities by knight-service and a rent of 100s. yearly.’” stoborough.com+4zero42.com+4en.wikipedia.org+4

• Also cited in the bibliography entry: “Charter of Richard III granting the manors of Godmanston, Wareham, and Stoweborough to William Claxton, Esq., 25 March 1484.” in Patent Rolls of Richard III (1483-1485). stoborough.org+2stoborough.com+2

Secondary citation

• In John Hutchins, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, Vol. II: “Wareham and Stoborough Liberty,” pp. 260-268 (London: Nichols, 1774) lists and describes the 1484 grant. stoborough.org

🏛️ Further Historical Sources

These are the main archival or official references you should consult for verification.

A. Letters Patent & Crown Grants (1591)

• The National Archives (TNA), Kew – Chancery or Exchequer Records

  • Search in C 66 (Chancery Patent Rolls) under Queen Elizabeth I, 33rd year of her reign (1591).

  • The specific entry will likely appear as:
    “Grant to Sir William Pitt of Wareham or Stoborough, Dorset, with all courts leet, view of frankpledge, and other liberties…”

  • Reference form: TNA C 66/[Roll Number] (Elizabethan grants are catalogued by regnal year).

B. Dorset History Centre (DHC), Dorchester

• Holds county manorial and estate records, including the Pitt family archives, which later merged into the Rivers family holdings.

  • Look under the Wareham, Stoborough, or Rivers of Stratfield Saye collections.

  • Ask for any deeds or copies of the Crown grant of 1591 to Sir William Pitt.

C. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I

• Published as “Calendar of Patent Rolls: Elizabeth I, 1591–1593” by HMSO.

• The grant is typically summarized there (for example, under Dorset entries).
  Available via:

  • British History Online

  • HathiTrust Digital Library

  • Google Books

📜 2. Secondary Sources

These mention or analyze the grant and the manorial jurisdiction.

• Hutchins, John. The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset (3rd or 4th edition)

  • Vol. 1 or 2, under Wareham or Stoborough Manor.

  • Hutchins explicitly cites the 1591 Crown grant to Sir William Pitt.

• The Victoria County History: Dorset

  • Section on Wareham Liberty and Stoborough Manor.

  • Confirms that Stoborough was held by the Crown and granted to the Pitt family in the late 16th century with full manorial rights.

• Historic England / British History Online (Wareham Liberty)

  • Summaries of manorial descent corroborate the 1591 Pitt grant.

🛡️ Jurisdictional and Ceremonial Authority

Historically, Stoborough was governed by a Mayor and Bailiff, appointed at Michaelmas by a jury of the Court Leet, unique among Dorset liberties. Surviving court rolls from 1733–1734 (D131/M3, County Record Office) record jurors’ names and the election of tithingmen, constables, bread-weighers, carniters, leather-sealers, and haywards—proof of active civic governance within the liberty.

Under the Administration of Justice Act 1977, certain ancient Court Leets—specifically those with documented historic functions within boroughs—remain legally exempt. Stoborough’s court, historically forming part of the Borough of Wareham, thus retains recognition as a ceremonial and historical jurisdiction.

🗺️ Territorial Extent

According to the 1832 Administrative Map of Dorset, the Liberty of Stoborough comprised approximately 2,670 acres (150 acres of water), bounded by:

• North: River Frome and Winfrith Hundred

• West: Wareham town walls (“By the East Wall of Wareham”)

• South / South-West: Hasler Hundred (Arne, Church Knowle, Tyneham etc.)

• East: Lulworth and Purbeck lands

Today, the manor’s domain includes Stoborough Heath (≈ 500 acres)—a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve (NNR), declared in 2020 as England’s largest lowland-heath conservation area. Portions of the lordship lie inside the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized for its geological and ecological significance.

🕯️ Historical Character and Continuity

From the Norman tenure of Count Mortain through the Pitt, Rivers, and Eldon-Scott families, Stoborough has remained one of the few liberties in Wessex possessing continuous seignorial courts and regalian franchises. It stood as a refuge for royal troops during the Siege of Corfe Castle (1643) and as a maritime crossing for trade and customs.

The liberty’s governance structure—a Court Leet empowered to appoint a Mayor and Bailiff—marks it as an administrative rarity akin to the liberties of Wareham and Warwick. Its feudal independence and manorial jurisdiction survived the general abolition of tenures (1660) due to its nature as a liberty formerly in Crown demesne.

🏛️ Legal Framework and Modern Ownership

Today the Lord of the Liberty and Crown Manor of Stoborough, Counselor George Sherwood Mentz, JD MBA DSS—also Seigneur of Fief Blondel and L’Eperons of Guernsey and Lord of Ennerdale Manor—holds the title in fee simple absolute, recognized as the lawful successor to the manorial and liberty rights of the historical line.

As a private liberty, Stoborough retains:

• Right of Court Leet and Court Baron

• Ceremonial authority to appoint officers (Mayor, Bailiff, Constables, Jurors)

• Customary stewardship of heaths, rivers, and foreshore

• Regalian and manorial incidents—including rents, tolls, and privileges traditionally annexed to the manor

🦌 Environmental and Cultural Stewardship

The Liberty of Stoborough now forms part of England’s leading conservation landscape. Under Lord Mentz’s custodianship, its heaths, lakes, and wetlands are preserved in alignment with the Purbeck Heaths NNR initiative. The territory contributes directly to the protection of rare species, heritage sites, and the continuity of England’s ancient Wessex landscape.

🏰 Conclusion

The Crown Manor and Liberty of Stoborough stands among the few surviving feudal-liberty jurisdictions of England. Documented continuously from 1086 AD, it represents nearly a millennium of Crown heritage, local self-governance, and manorial law. The manor’s sale and conveyance in modern times confirm its authenticity as an alienated royal liberty—retaining historic courts, franchises, and honors under lawful private stewardship.

📚 Citations and Sources

• Hutchins, John. History of Dorset. Vol. 2. 1860.

• Domesday Book, Hasler Hundred (Dorset).

• Patent Rolls of Richard III (1484): Grant to William Claxton, Esq.

• Patent Rolls of Elizabeth I (1591): Grant to Sir William Pitt.

• County Record Office (D131/M3): Court Leet Proceedings 1733–1734.

• Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (John Marius Wilson, 1870–72).

• A Topographical Dictionary of England (Samuel Lewis, 1848).

• Valuation of Lord Rivers’ Estates, Dorset Archives D/SEN/16/5/49 (1849).

• Purbeck Heaths NNR Designation (2020), Natural England.

• Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site Listing.