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.