126 THE MINSTER LOVELL ESTATE 



the mortgagees foreclosed, and the place was put 

 up to auction in Oxford. The sale was not a 

 success, partly owing to the following notice, which 

 was circulated in the auction room : * Any persons 

 purchasing any portion of the above - named 

 property advertised for sale at the Star Hotel, 

 Oxford, on August 31, 1850, will thereby involve 

 themselves in a suit in Chancery.' 



One cottage with 4 acres was sold for 250, and 

 a cottage with 2 acres for 125. Most of the lots 

 were bought in. 



The next year the mortgagees threw the estate 

 into Chancery. Nobody would invest in Chancery 

 property ; the vacant lots remained empty, and the 

 tenants who still kept on were in the unsatisfactory 

 state of not knowing what might happen to them 

 at any time. In 1858 the estate was again put up 

 to auction ' by order of the Court of Chancery.' 

 This made the title good, and the lots all sold 

 for good prices, the public confidence being restored. 



The purchasers were Witney tradespeople, who 

 bought them as an investment to let, a local land- 

 owner, and some labourers. The holdings since 

 then have been held under three forms of tenure : 

 (1) There is the freeholder who has bought his rent- 

 charge ; (2) the leaseholder who holds his land 

 perpetually, subject to the payment of the rent- 

 charge to the purchaser of this charge ; (3) the 

 ordinary tenant, who merely rents the land, either 

 from the leaseholder or the owner of the rent- 

 charge. 



