| Description | These papers consist of several bundles of deeds and associated material including wills, settlements and correspondence relating to the tenurial history of the estate from 1574, together with a small number of documents relating to estate management. Warley Hall was purchased by Samuel Galton jnr in 1794, and his son, Hubert John Barclay Galton, acquired further lands, from Lord Lyttleton in 1838 and from the Sankey family in 1853-4. Other lands in the parish of Halesowen were acquired by Samuel Galton jnr and later by Hubert Galton. Some bundles were obviously created by members of the Galton family following the original purchase of Warley Hall, but It is unclear whether other papers were originally kept in the bundles they are now arranged in, and it has not been possible to determine the rationale behind their division into these bundles. Some bundles include numbered schedules of deeds, with the corresponding numbers marked on the deeds themselves. This system reveals that a number of deeds are now missing. |