This vellum indenture serves as testament to the lease and purchase of land and tenements, signed August 7, 1742. The agreement is between Anthony Ayres, a Yeoman in Ustob House in Tonstall in Durham County, his son, Robert Ayres (also a Yeoman), and William Pryor, an instrument maker from Newcastle upon Tyne. Robert Ayres purchased property from his father, Anthony Ayres for the sum of 400 pounds plus a yearly payment of 20 pounds (paid quarterly), to continue throughout the natural life of Anthony Ayres. In addition, William Pryor has agreed to a one-year lease of a parcel of land from Anthony Ayres for the sum of 5 shillings.

The top of the indenture is cut in a jagged ("toothed") line, as was the common practice with indentures. The legal contract was duplicated on a single sheet, and then the copies were separated by a jagged edge, so that the two pieces could be fit together again to verify authenticity. The indenture includes tax stamps and three red wax seals.

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Condition: B+

A nice sheet of vellum with minor soiling on the recto, a small worm hole at a fold intersection, and light toning on verso.