The New Murrey and Blue blog

“….MPs wishing to quit can apply to be ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds’ or ‘Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead’. Neither job has existed for centuries but the ‘jobs’ still exist as a workaround to the law of 1624….”

Well, I’d heard of the Chiltern Hundreds, but have to confess that Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead is a new one on me. But certainly not new, just something that has managed to dodge my notice.

You can read about it here and thus discover that the Manor of Northstead, in Scarborough, was once held by Richard III, through whom it gained its royal status.

There was a medieval manor house, the remains of which are now at the bottom of the lake at Scarborough’s Peasholm Park (see illustration above). Hmm. No doubt the less reverent among us would wish some retreating MPs down there with it.

To read more of this intriguing manor and its parliamentary connections, go to the link above.