Dulwich Landholders 1626-1725

A comprehensive register of every landholding within the manor of Dulwich, recording the successive tenants, leaseholders, and copyholders of each plot from the death of Edward Alleyn (founder of Dulwich College) on 25 November 1626 through to the end of 1725. This is Part 1 of Patrick Darby’s reconstruction of Dulwich land tenure from 1626 to 1808.

The work is structured as 55 numbered “Items” — one for each holding identified at Alleyn’s death — with each entry tracing the property through every change of tenancy across a century. Sources include the Rent Books and the Register Book of Accompts kept by the Warden of Dulwich College (catalogued by Bickley), the manorial Court Rolls (which survive as the chief record of the few copyhold tenancies), and the surviving leases of College property.

Properties covered include the College itself, Dulwich Court (the true manor house of Dulwich), Hall Place, the Mill, the Tile Kiln, the Blew House, Belair, the Bell, the King’s Head, and many farms and houses throughout the parish. Cross-references are made throughout to a 1626 Map and to a recreated version of the (long-lost) College Survey Map of 1725.

Hundreds of named individuals appear in the work — among them members of the Starkey, Bodger (or Badger), Bowden, Cranwell, Casinghurst, Hunter, Lynn, Thurman, Thompson, Bowyer, Scrivener, Cutter, Fairman, and Lawton families — making this an invaluable resource for both Dulwich local historians and family researchers tracing south London ancestors of the 17th and early 18th centuries.