Springton Manor
West Brandywine Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The largest reserved estate of the Penns in Chester County. It was first authorized by William Penn as a 10,000 acre tract in 1701. After resurvey in 1730, it contained 8,313 acres, including most of present Wallace Township. The southern boundary line of the Manor was near this point.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In 1701 William Penn authorized a sprawling 10,000-acre reserve here, the largest of the Penn family's Chester County holdings, later resurveyed in 1730 to just over 8,300 acres. These proprietary manors were how the Penns held land in reserve as their colony filled in around them, and this tract took in much of what became Wallace Township. The marker stands near the manor's old southern boundary line.
Why it matters
It preserves the memory of the proprietary land system that shaped early Pennsylvania, when a single founding family parceled out a colony across the American frontier.
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Related people
- · William Penn
Themes & tags
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