If you are a regular follower of this blog you will have noticed several posts over the last year featuring the Mundy and Miller Mundy families. This is because one of our projects, which we began in March 2020 during the first Covid-19 lockdown, was to get the box list of the Miller Mundy archive (reference number D517) onto our online catalogue.
The Miller Mundys of Shipley Hall, Heanor, were a branch of the Mundy family of Markeaton Hall and Allestree Hall in Derby. They became the Miller Mundys when Edward Mundy (1706-1767) married Hester Miller (died 1767). Hester had inherited Shipley through her mother, Hester Leche, and so Shipley Hall became the Miller Mundy family’s principal seat until it was demolished in 1943.
The archive of the Miller Mundy family consists of 49 boxes, 34 of which contain title deeds and legal papers relating to property owned by the Miller Mundys. The deeds date back to 1501 and relate to property held outside Derbyshire as well as Heanor, Mapperley, Smalley and other places in Derbyshire. There are also more than 8 boxes of records relating to the Nutbrook Canal, which was built in 1796 to transport coal from Shipley Colliery to the Erewash Canal. The Miller Mundy family’s wealth largely derived from their collieries and there is quite a bit of correspondence in the collection about Shipley Colliery and the family’s coal interests.
Of course my favourite material in the archive is the family letters. They date from 1696 to 1862 and include all sorts of fascinating insights into the lives and times of the Miller Mundys – there are more blog posts to come inspired by the letters in this collection.
The Miller Mundy archive came into the Record Office in several batches over the period 1968 to 1985 so you might be wondering why it’s taken this long to get the catalogue online. Without external funding, there’s rarely enough time to properly deal with collections of this size. The first step is to make a list of everything in each box. There had been previous attempts to do this many years ago, but for some reason the lists we had were incomplete – some of the boxes had been completely listed, others hadn’t been touched, and yet others had been partially done, but with gaps in the list. In some cases there were boxes which obviously had come to us with a list, but the list didn’t necessarily tally with what was in the box!
During the first lockdown, we typed up the lists into Excel spreadsheets, which were then imported into our cataloguing system. Over the last six months, I’ve been slowly checking those lists against what’s in each box, making corrections and filling in the gaps. Even so, I haven’t been able to list everything – there are 4 boxes of deeds and legal papers which had too much in them for me to be able to sort through in the time I had – but most of the archive has been done. Where once there was only one record for the whole collection on our online catalogue, we now have 1660 catalogue records.
So that’s a lockdown job finally complete, though it’s not the end of what needs to happen with the collection. Box lists are really helpful, but as records that relate to each other are scattered around different boxes, the next step would be to arrange the collection so that everything is in a sensible order. After this, we would physically number the documents with their final reference number and repackage the whole collection. For a collection this size, though, this is an extremely time-consuming job which we just can’t manage at the moment.
To help the process along, though, we have done a lot more ‘item listing’ than usual. This means that some items, like letters, have been given individual catalogue entries, rather than having a single catalogue record for a whole bundle. When we have a bit of time, we can organise chunks of the archive, like the family letters, into a proper arrangement just using the catalogue entries. In this way, we should be able to gradually create a well organised catalogue of the collection bit by bit, which can also then be repackaged in manageable portions.
Although this process is likely to take years, it’s enormously satisfying to know that, even if the catalogue isn’t perfect yet, the Miller Mundy archive is at last accessible for research.
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Derbyshire Record Office 
Hi Sarah Chub, I am especially interested to know more about Abbey Field where Ref No D514/1/36 10th Oct 1685, mentions “Thomas Baker of Allestreye, had 8 1/2 acres in Abbey Field as well as other fields, a close and a mesuage. It also mentioned there is an inventory?
Also REF No D517/1/41, this a bit earlier dated 8th Feb 1676 and William Collier Allestrey gent leased to Thomas How, Bricklayer, “ten lands in Abbey Field and the right to quarry stone if in Allestreye – for 12 years.”
Is there a map or plan showing where Abbey Field was with ancient remains marked on?
Also interesting that Thomas How, a bricklayer would receive the right to quarry stone after 12 years.
Andrew Thurman
Hi Andrew, our catalogue doesn’t list all the field names on our maps so I don’t know whether Abbey Field is marked. There is a survey of the Mundy estates in Allestree dated 1737 (ref D6782/1) and a modern tracing of the 1737 map that would have gone with this survey (D4996/6/14) (we don’t have the original map). It’s possible they might give a clue as to where Abbey Field is. Otherwise, the deeds themselves can give descriptions (next to the highway on one side, the brook on the other, etc.) that can help locate pieces of land. You’ll need to either come to the Record Office to look at the documents themselves, or order copies so you can check them from home. There’s more information on visiting or ordering copies on our website: http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/recordoffice.
Hi Sarah Chub and thanks for your feedback. Some interested members of Darley Abbey Historical Group already checked the 1737 map and the conclusion was that Abbey Hill Nook and Abbey Field are likely the same. The Abbey Nook field abutted the Northern boundaries close to the top of where church lane now sits and close to Ferrers Way. This makes some sense as as the field is close to the Northern boundary of Darley Abbey’s enclosure. Some fields here were believed to be part of an ancient glebe belonging to the abbey.
Andrew
Sara Chub, I should have said Abbey Hill Nook (not Abbey Nook).
My current conjecture, which is quite fluid and open to other ideas, is that perhaps the description “abbey field” was a description of the former (Darley) abbey glebe which likely was a group of many fields and after the reformation they were broken up and shared out by successive lords of the manor and assigned names we see on the 1737 map.
The reference to bricklayer, Thomas How (Ref D517/1/41) having quarrying rights after 12 years in Allestree, it can be seen on the 1737 map that there is a quarry marked just 2 fields away from Abbey Hill Nook.
Andrew
That sounds likely. You could always come to the Record Office and look at the deeds that mention Abbey Field in case they provide any more insight. You never know!
Hi Sarah, next time I am in the UK I will make a day of it. I live in the Philippines and last week this place was designated as a red-list place meaning 2 weeks expensive hotel quarantine if I set foot in the UK, so I m not rushing back just yet.
Andrew
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What a privilege it’s been to be able to work on this collection, particularly during a pandemic. It has transported me to different places and different times on many occasions!
Brilliant news! I’ve suspected for ages that gems and jewels could be hidden here for several of my projects 🙂 Roll on the chance to visit DRO again.
Quite a lot of the archive is pretty well described now, if not arranged, so hopefully you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for, but let me know if there’s anything particular you’re after. I know the collection pretty well by now!
Lovely, satisfying, interesting and worthwhile!
Indeed! Thanks Sue.