Claydon Estate Archives
CLAYDON HOUSE TRUST
About the Claydon House Trust and the Archive
Visiting the Archive
Catalogue of the Verney papers
Catalogue of the Nightingale papers
Contact the Archivist
The Claydon House Trust
The Claydon House Trust is an independent charitable trust (Reg Charity no: 326677) set up in 1984 to own and manage the Verney family archive.
The Trust is dependent for its income on donations and the income raised from access and publication fees. If you would like to help, with the work of the Trust, by making a donation, please make cheques payable to the Claydon House Trust and send to:
Claydon House Trust donations
Claydon Estate Office
Middle Claydon
Buckingham
MK18 2EX
The Archive
The Archive comprises the Verney letters and estate papers and the Nightingale papers.
Copies of the catalogues are available at the National Archives, the British Library and the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies as well as at Claydon. The catalogue of the Nightingale papers is also available at the Wellcome Institute and the Derbyshire and Hampshire Record Offices.
Visiting the Archive
The Archive is open by appointment once a month on a Saturday. There is a fee for access to the Archive, currently £30 per person per visit.
For enquiries and details of available appointments, please write to:
Mrs Sue Baxter
Archivist
Claydon House Trust
Claydon House
Middle Claydon
Buckingham
MK18 2EY
e-mail: archives@suebaxter.co.uk
Please include your postal address when requesting an appointment
Contact the Archivist
For enquiries and details of available appointments, please write to:
Mrs Sue Baxter
Archivist
Claydon House Trust
Claydon House
Middle Claydon
Buckingham
MK18 2EY
e-mail: archives@suebaxter.co.uk
Please include your postal address when requesting an appointment
Donations
If you would like to make a donation towards the upkeep of the Archive, please make cheques payable to the Claydon House Trust and send to:
Claydon House Trust donations
Claydon Estate Office
Middle Claydon
Buckingham
MK18 2EX
Catalogue of the Verney papers
Introduction to the Verney papers
Family trees of the Verney, Calvert and other related families
Settlements, Wills and Mortages Deeds Manorial records Estate records Papers of Ralph, 2nd Earl Verney Legal papers Business and Finance records |
Trusteeship papers Official and Political papers Correspondence and Personal papers Church patronage Maps and Plans Photographs and Paintings Grants of Titles & Arms & Genealogical records Miscellaneous |
Introduction to the Verney papers
The Verney papers comprise the Verney letters and the records of the Verney estate.
The Verney letters, dating from the 17th and 18th century are recognised as one of the most significant series of personal correspondence in the world. They consist largely of the correspondence of Sir Ralph Verney, who seems to have kept every letter ever written to him, and some drafts of his answers as well. The letters provide a fascinating insight into the social and political climate of the day, especially during the Civil War, when Sir Ralph and his father, Sir Edmund, the King’s Standard Bearer, found themselves on opposing sides.
There is no catalogue of the Verney letters, but many of them were published in Memoirs of the Verney Family edited by Parthenope Lady Verney and Margaret Lady Verney.
Microfilms of the letters are available at the British Library, the Bodleian Library and the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies in Aylesbury; and also at Yale University.
The records of the Verney estate include deeds, maps, rentals, estate correspondence, recipe books, drawings, personal papers and other documents one would expect a country house and its occupants to produce.
Deeds
Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Berkshire Cumberland, Devon and Dorset Essex Gloucestershire and Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Lancashire and Lincolnshire London Middlesex |
Northamptonshire Northumberland Oxfordshire Somerset and Suffolk Surrey Sussex and Warwickshire Wiltshire and Worcestershire Yorkshire Wales Other 2/2450-2495 |
Buckinghamshire Deeds
Middle Claydon East and Botolph Claydon Steeple Claydon Adstock Aylesbury and Bierton Forest of Bernwood Biddlesden Hogshaw Buckingham, Bourton and Lenborough Cublington Dinton, Doddershall, Edlesborough |
Ellesborough, Fleet Marston Granborough Grendon Underwood, Quainton and Shipton Lee Hambleden Hughenden, Ivinghoe Aston, Langley Marish North Marston, Maids Moreton, Mursley and Salden Padbury, Monks Risborough, Soulbury Stewkley, Stone, Swanbourne Thornborough, Twyford Wavendon, Wendover, Wootton Underwood, West Wycombe |
Estate Records
Surveys
Estate Leases
Rentals
Estate accounts
Estate correspondence
Estate papers
Household and personal accounts and papers
See also Estate records of Ralph, 2nd Earl Verney 1769-1793
Papers of Ralph, 2nd Earl Verney
Estate papers 1769-1793
Business ventures
Finance: bonds, promissory notes etc
Legal papers - See also full Legal Papers section of catalogue
Correspondence
Papers relating to the settling of debts
Receipts and Accounts
Correspondence and Personal Papers
Church Patronage
Maps and Plans
Claydon House
Claydon Estate
Middle Claydon and Steeple Claydon
Biddlesden, Bourton and Wendover
Anglesey
Berkshire, Cumberland, Devon, Essex, Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire
Ireland
Printed maps
Photographs and Paintings
Grants of Titles and Arms; and Genealogical papers
Miscellaneous Papers
The Nightingale Papers
The Nightingale papers comprise letters of Florence Nightingale to her sister, Parthenope, and brother-in-law, Sir Harry Verney, and family papers and letters of Parthenope and her parents, W E and Fanny Nightingale. Copies of the letters from Florence Nightingale are available at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.
Catalogue of the Nightingale Papers