This small collection of early deeds came to OA in November 1981 via Somerset Record Office having been deposited by a local firm of solicitors.
The records were given the accession number 1983. It has proved difficult to match up the properties in each deed with any certainty and so on the whole each has been treated as referring to a different property and the catalogue references reflect this. A number of the deeds are not dated and an approximate date has been given based on internal evidence.
Pyrton is an ancient parish which includes the hamlets of Standhill, Clare and Goldor to the north. Clare was once a township of 517 acres, now only a few cottages and a farmhouse remain. It is an example of a medieval village depopulated in the late Middle Ages with further shrinkage on enclosure. Golder was a medieval township of 659 acres. Now only 6 cottages and the manor house remain. This was de-populated in the seventeenth century although there was some recovery in the nineteenth. Standhill is yet another of Pyrton's hamlets which is now almost completely deserted. It was prosperous during the Middle Ages but again was depopulated by the plague. Pyrton's most ancient road, Knightsbridge Lane or 'Ruggeway' now only a single track to Hollandridge Farm was once a major thoroughfare. There are many references to it in the deeds. The basic pattern of roads in the area is still medieval.
For information on some of those mentioned in the deeds see Victoria County History volume 8 pp147-156.
Catalogued by Madeleine Simms. Completed June 1993.