Manorial Court
This court was originally held at the Court House, by the Prior of Wenlock, as lord of the manor of Madeley, as shewn on page 9, where the pleas and perquisites of the said court are mentioned as being entered in 1379 at 2s. The right to hold such court, a Court Leet, as it was called, was transferred, together with other privileges, by Henry VIII. to Robert Brooke when he sold the manor. It passed to John Unett Smitheman, Esq., who married Catherine Brooke, daughter and co-heir of Cumberford Brooke, Esq., of Madeley, and Cumberford in Staffordshire. The Smitheman’s sold the manor to Richard Reynolds, from whom it passed to his son William. The property belongs now to the devisees of the late Joseph Gulson Reynolds, and those of his brother William Reynolds, M.D.. Esq.
The Court Leet has not been held of late years. It had jurisdiction over various offences, extending from nuisances, eaves dropping, and various irregularities and offences against the public peace.