The collection contains the estate papers, manorial records, title deeds of property and otherlegal papers relating to land held by the Smith-Bromley family. The majority of the property recordsrelate to the lands in the parish of East Stoke and neighbouring Nottinghamshire parishes but thereare also documents concerning places in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire,Flintshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Westmorland, Lancashire and Huntingdonshire.
The collection is particularly rich in property records and associated legal documents. Fewrentals or other records showing the economic base of the estate and family are present. Thecorrespondence is almost entirely of a business nature and there are only occasional items of afamily or personal nature.
Although the collection is very incomplete, it does contain most of the types of records whichwould be usual in an estate archive. They include: manorial records (terriers, valuations, bailiffs'accounts and court rolls) dating from the 15th century and later, deeds from the 14th century,ecclesiastical records concerning tithes, endowments and collections, and administrative recordsincluding the sheriff's acquittance or the appointment of the undersheriff from the 18th century.There are also additional deposits of 19th century title deeds. Although maps and plans have not ingeneral survived, there is a map of 1561 depicting part of East Stoke.