| Content Description | See Pl E2/1-8 below for further details.
The Bulstrode estate and adjacent lands in south-eastern Buckinghamshire were acquired by the Bentincks from the heirs of the jurist, Lord Jeffreys and others in and after 1706 using monies settled under the marriage settlement of Lord Woodstock (the future 1st Duke of Portland). Portions of the estate were sold off from the 1770s to ease the financial position of the 3rd Duke of Portland, but Bulstrode itself, which was his favourite country residence and the one most accessible from London (where his political activities required him to be), was only sold after his death (to the Duke of Somerset in 1810). The house was rebuilt in the 19th century.
The material comprises estate accounts, estate management papers (Pl E2/1); deeds, legal papers and estate papers concerning the purchase of estates in Buckinghamshire by the Portlands (Pl E2/2), the sale of portions of them during the life of the 3rd Duke of Portland (Pl E2/3), and the 1810 sale (Pl E2/4); and 17th-18th century agricultural leases (Pl E2/5). Buckinghamshire inclosure material is in Pl E2/6; papers relating to a small, distinct property at Aylesbury (in Portland hands until the 1890s) are listed at Pl E2/7; miscellaneous Buckinghamshire material at Pl E2/8. Further correspondence relating to Buckinghamshire will be found in section Pl C 39. Further material relating to the 1st Duke of Portland's marriage settlement funds will be found in section Pl F2/6. |