Letter – Henry Richmond to William Darwin – 24 Feb 1761

To Mr Wm. Alvey Darwin Grays Inn London                              Newcastle 24 Febry 1761

Sir    I have your Lres of the 17th & 19th inst; & have sent you by this post under this and four other covers one of the Briefs at the last Assizes in the Kirkheaton Cause, & also Lawyer Wilson’s Lre to Sr Wr Blackett abo[u]t the pretended agre[e]ment at the Assizes in 1759, wch you will please to take care of.

I am glad to find by your Lre of the 19th that you have met with the bill & answ[e]r in the Cause Wharton ag[ain]st Blackett & others; because they come fully up to the point now in dispute about the common pastures; & the Sir Wm. Blacketts allegation, are ag[ain]st us in the ans[we]r he then put in, yet I find by a Letter he wrote in 1704 that he had tired of the contest, & owns that he had found so much difficulty in it that he gave up the cudgeals. & I see that in 1687 he had an acco[un]t of these difficulties sold Sandersons Lease to Mr Wharton for £150 tho’ he had given £350 for it. This makes it clear to me that the depositions were upon the whole in Mr Wharton’s favour. I make no doubt but they were published & that upon further search you will find them; for there was a motion made by Mr Wharton for publication of the depositions in this very Cause, as you will see in the copy of the notice of this motion wch I sent you in my Letter 13 Nov last, & of wch I send you another copy on the other side. If you meet with these depositions I desire you will take Sir Wr Blacketts directions whether you are to get office copies of them. Westgate hight, wch Sir William alledges he wrought in for Lead Ore under Sandersons Lease, is the very common pasture wch the B[isho]p is now claiming as an inclosure, & wch Sir Walter insists belongs to the Moor masters Lease.

I wish you would examine for the verdict wch Mr Wharton alledges he obtained & wch I mentioned to you in my last; & if you meet with it send me a copy of it, if it is a short thing: at least let me have the names of the places or Groves therein adjudged to belong to Mr Wharton; for it is possible they may be of great use in the present dispute with the Bishop. I am etc  HR