Add MS 39828-39838

TRESHAM PAPERS : correspondence and papers of Sir Thomas Tresham (1543 ?-1605), recusant and builder. The papers were discovered in 1828 at Rushton Hall, co. Northt., formerly the seat of the Treshams, under circumstances detailed in the following note (39828, f. 8) : " This, along with a large quantity of Popish books, letters and papers, were (sic) some years ago discovered at Rushton Hall in pulling down a very thick partition wall in the passage leading from the Great Hall. In taking down this wall, the workmen came to a very large recess, or closet, in the centre of it, in which was deposited an enormous bundle containing the above, wrapped up in a large sheet." The writer of the note makes the probable suggestion that the papers were walled up after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, in which Francis Tresham, son of Sir Thomas, was implicated. The latest dated document is a list of bonds (39829, f. 190) to which the following note is appended: " All theise bondes weare deliuered by me to M^ris Tressame [? Anne, wife of Francis Tresham] togeather with two letters from S^r Nicholas Saunders to M^r F: Tres: and two letters from S^r Frauncis Lovell to hym also, all bound vp in a lynnen cloth sealed vp with hard waxe the 28 of Nouember 1605." The papers have suffered through damp, but are in a comparatively good state of preservation. Besides Sir Thomas's correspondence they comprise a number of documents bearing on the history of the recusant Catholics among whom he was a prominent leader, plans and details of his building operations and his accompts as kept by his steward, George Levens, to whom the disposal of the papers was probably due. Add. MSS. 39837-8 contain historical and other collections made by G. Levens. A Calendar of the papers by Mrs. S. C. Lomas, with copious extracts and summaries, has been published by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report, 1904, Various Collections, vol. iii (cited here as H.M.C.R.). A summary calendar had previously been printed by J. Taylor, A Calendar of Papers of the Tresham Family, 1871 (a MS. copy in 39828, f. 1). For Sir Thomas Tresham and his buildings, see J. A. Gotch, The Buildings of Sir Thomas Tresham, 1883; A. Dryden, Memorials of Old Northamptonshire, 1903, p. 129; Bridges' Northamptonshire (extra-illustrated copy, Add. MS. 32120, ff. 183 b-190) ; Northamptonshire Notes and Queries, v, 1896, pp. 1, 49, 121. Presented (with eight printed books and Add. Ch. 62385-62463) by T. B. Clarke-Thornhill, Esq.