1854 Cheltenham Glos Thick Greenaway Suffolk Square Release Indenture
Description
An original 1854 vellum parchment indenture dated 27th December 1854, spanning four large manuscript skins, detailing the release of the freehold portions of two substantial messuages known as Nos. 10 and 11 Suffolk Square in the parish of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, from gentleman Charles Thick and his various mortgagees to Charles Greenaway, alongside the assignment of a 1,000-year attendant term.
Parties Involved:
First Mortgagees (First Part): Augustus Eves of Cheltenham in the County of Gloucester, Doctor of Medicine, and Maria Bird of the same place, Spinster.
Mortgagee Trustee (Second Part): Augustus William Eves, late of York Street, Middlesex, but now of Douglas in the Isle of Man, Surgeon.
Second Mortgagee (Third Part): Charles March of the City of Gloucester, Shipbroker (a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy).
Beneficial Mortgagee (Fourth Part): The Reverend Henry March of Newbury in the County of Berks, Minister of the Gospel.
Term Trustee (Fifth Part): William Viner Ellis of the City of Gloucester, Gentleman.
Senior Mortgagee (Sixth Part): James Agg Gardner of Cheltenham aforesaid, Esquire.
Vendor / Mortgagor (Seventh Part): Charles Thick of Cheltenham aforesaid, Gentleman.
Purchaser (Eighth Part): Charles Greenaway of Barrington Grove in the County of Gloucester, Esquire.
Purchaser’s Dower Trustee (Ninth Part): Robert O’Leary Hurst the younger of the Middle Temple, London, Esquire.
Property Location & Description: All the freehold parts of two capital messuages or dwellinghouses, outoffices, tithes, and hereditaments situate in Suffolk Square, Cheltenham:
First Parcel (No. 10 Suffolk Square): A plot in Suffolk Square containing 26 feet in width and [blank] feet in depth, fronting the road or square, bounded on the back by a highway leading from Westall to Sandford, on one side by the second messuage, and on the other side by a messuage late of Robert Pyett and now of [blank] Bloxsome. Together with the newly erected dwellinghouse built by Charles Thick, known as No. 10 Suffolk Square, late in his occupation.
Second Parcel (No. 11 Suffolk Square): An adjoining plot in Suffolk Square containing 26 feet in width and [blank] feet in depth, fronting the square, bounded on the back by the highway leading from Westall to Sandford, on one side by property of [blank] Bloxsome, and on the other by No. 10. Together with the capital messuage built by Charles Thick, known as No. 11 Suffolk Square, now or late in his occupation.
Financial Consideration: £3,000 total purchase money paid by Charles Greenaway, apportioned as £2,000 for No. 10 (£500 freehold, £1,500 copyhold) and £1,000 for No. 11 (£250 freehold, £750 copyhold), applied directly to satisfy mortgages owed to Augustus Eves, Maria Bird, Charles March, and James Agg Gardner.
Recited Deeds, Mortgages & Copyhold Surrenders:
Recites Indentures of Lease and Release dated 28th and 29th September 1835 from James Fisher and John Bubb to Charles Thick, creating a 1,000-year term vested in Lindsey Winterbotham.
Recites admissions at the Manor Court of Cheltenham on 6th November 1835 and conditional surrenders of copyhold parts dated 28th May 1841 to Mary Gardner, widow, securing £2,500.
Recites the will of Mary Gardner dated 3rd March 1847 (proved 5th May 1847 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury by William John Agg and James Fisher).
Recites transfer of mortgages dated 15th April 1848 to Augustus Eves, Maria Bird, and Charles March, and earlier securities to James Agg Gardner (surviving executor of John Gardner).
Physical Features & Authentication: Four-skin legal vellum parchment document with red ruled margins and an elaborate calligraphic penwork heading "This Indenture" incorporating the Royal Arms within the flourish. Stationer's imprints for Charles Sparks, 135 Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, and Warrington & Co., 27 Strand, London. Features four affixed embossed blue paper revenue duty stamps with silver cyphers (£4 10s, 17s 6d, 17s 6d, and 10s, Bristol collection dated 22.1.53 and 12.10.54). Folded hem retains eight intact red wax wafer seals mounted on dark green woven fabric tags, signed by Augustus Eves, Maria Bird, Charles March, Henry March, James Agg Gardner, Charles Thick, and Charles Greenaway. Verso bears contemporary endorsement: "Dated 27 December 1854 / Mr Charles Thick and his Mortgagees to Charles Greenaway Esq / Release of the Freehold parts of the Messuages &c Nos 10 & 11 Suffolk Square Cheltenham".
Background Information
Suffolk Square stands as one of Cheltenham’s finest Regency architectural developments, laid out from the 1820s onwards around the former estate of the Earl of Suffolk. During the 1830s and 1840s, the rapid rise of Cheltenham as Britain’s premier inland spa town sparked extensive speculative building of fashionable stucco-fronted villas and grand terraced squares aimed at affluent gentry, medical practitioners, and retired colonial and military officers. Land tenure in central Cheltenham was uniquely complicated by mixed estates, where individual townhouses frequently stood partly on ancient copyhold land held of the Manor of Cheltenham and partly on newly created freehold parcels. This substantial release illustrates that intricate legal framework, showing how prominent local figures—including the lord of the manor James Agg Gardner, spa physician Dr Augustus Eves, and country magistrate Charles Greenaway of Barrington Grove—structured multi-tiered mortgages and cross-trusts to convey premier properties in the heart of the spa's fashionable district.
Condition Report
Four-skin legal vellum parchment document. Displays standard original storage and folding creases, natural vellum waviness, light handling dusting, and mild historic age-toning across the exterior endorsement panel. The clerk's handwritten manuscript ink remains dark brown, sharp, and exceptionally clear and legible throughout all four skins. All eight applied red wax wafer seals remain complete and intact on their original green cloth tags, and all four blue paper revenue duty stamps remain securely affixed. See Photos for Condition.
Shipping Information
Will be packaged flat inside a rigid, board-backed envelope to guarantee it arrives safely without bending.
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