Excavations 1991
The document is written on 18 sides of parchment, with a cover and over-sized map. It is dated 9th August 1905 and stamped 16 August 1905 on the back cover and 8 March 1906 on the front.
Rudchester Map 1905
Click here for a high resolution scan in a new window:
Rudchester Map 1905 Detail
Click here for a high resolution photograph in a new window:
1991 Water Pipe
Click here for the full pdf document in a new window:
Rudchester was bought by Christian Hugh Septimus James of Rudchester and the Reverend Richard Burdon of Heddon House in the county of Northumberland, Clerk in Holy Orders, for £23,000 (about £2.5M at today's prices) from:
£6,000 - The Fellows Trustees (Edward Castleton Holmes the younger, and Charles Woodhouse James of the Vicarage, Medeley, Stafford, Clerk in Holy Orders)
£6,000 - Charles Woodhouse James
£4,000 - The James Trustees (Frederick Woodhouse James and Charles Woodhouse James)
£1,000 - Christian Hugh Septimus James
£3,000 - Tom James
£3,000 - The Stopford Sackville Trustees (Rev Henry Chadwick)
Paying £132 and 10 shillings in stamp duty - see the stamps (£100 + £25 + £5 + £2 10s) at the top of the conveyance
I haven't been able to find the rate of Stamp Duty tax in 1905, but it might have been 0% up to £10,000, 1% from £10,000 (£130) and £2-10-0 interest for late registration (7 months from August 1905 to March 1906).
There is a long list indentures explaining who owned what, in what proportions and with what mortgages, then a list of deaths:
1873 Harry Redesdale James (without issue)
1st November 1875 Richard James (without issue)
27th January 1883 John Collinson James
14th June 1883 Thomas James
9th August 1865 John Ridley
29th November 1903 Richard Clayton
21st March 1905 Thomas Alexander Riddell Carre
Christian Hugh Septimus James acquired the buildings of Rudchester and the land South of the Military road (including, interestingly, 1/2 of the road) and Reverend Richard Burdon acquired the fields and the part Roman fort North of the road, along with Old Toll House [marked TP,15] and a cottage [marked 12] which now seems to be allotments adjacent to Heddon House.
The reasons for the complex document and why it was sold to these two men and divided in this way, are not obvious, but I will update this page with more information from the other documents.