Ennerdale Bailiwick and Forest - The Nature Markets and George Mentz, Esq.

According to AI and the London Gazette, George Mentz is the current Lord of the Manor, Forest, Liberty, and Bailiwick of Ennerdale, holding the seignory in fee simple absolute, not as a tenant of the Crown.  

Because of that status, the expiration of the National Trust’s lease does not diminish his underlying ownership. Instead, it restores the full suite of probable manorial waste rights to the lordship.

Below is a precise breakdown of what that means in modern English law. 

 Status: Is George Mentz the Lord of Ennerdale? 

The search results confirm: 

• Ennerdale is a privately owned bailiwick and liberty, originally alienated from the Crown in 1822 by statutory authority under the Crown Lands Acts. 
• The sale  By King George IV with sanction to Parliament was in fee simple absolute, meaning the purchaser stepped “into the shoes of the Sovereign” for that territory.  
• The modern holder of that seignory is George Sherwood Mentz, identified  as “Lord of the Manor and Forest of Ennerdale.” or The Seigneur of Fief Blondel. and George Mentz is the lawful lord of Ennerdale under English property law.

What happens when the National Trust lease expires? 

Because the National Trust held only a lease, not the freehold:

• A lease expiration returns all unleased rights to the freeholder (here, the Lord of Ennerdale). 
• The National Trust’s conservation or Natural England or United Utilities or Forrestry England's powers do not extinguish manorial rights; they only limit how they may be exercised while the lease is active. 
• Once expired, the lordship’s rights revert in full, subject only to modern statutory constraints (SSSI rules, Forestry Act, Wildlife & Countryside Act, etc.). 

Rights over the 13,000 acres of manorial waste 

The Schedule of Manorial Rights (May 2026) is explicit. Upon lease expiration, the lord regains: 

1. Ownership of the manorial waste 

Including: 

• Soil, surface, and subsoil (except minerals reserved in 1988) 
• Trees, woods, underwoods, bracken, peat, turf 
• Crags, fells, cliffs, scree, rock formations 
• Waterfalls, ravines, ghylls 
• Anglo‑Saxon and medieval remains fixed to the soil  

2. Control of encroachments 

• Right to prevent or license huts, fences, paths, structures, or new uses on the waste. 
• Right to remove unauthorized occupation or activity.  

3. Rights to grant or refuse leases, licences, easements 

• The lord may now issue new leases or licences over the manor's waste.
• These rights were suspended or delegated during the National Trust’s tenancy.  

4. Commercialization rights 

• Filming, photography, events, productions on the waste or lake.  

5. Water and lake rights 

Including: 

• Manorial fishery in Ennerdale Water 
• Riparian rights 
• Foreshore ownership 
• Rights to control fishing, boating, filming, abstraction (subject to EA regulation)  

6. Sporting, hunting, and natural resource rights 

(Full list continues in the schedule; includes grazing, game, timber, peat, turf, etc.)  

Why these rights persist today 

The 1822 sale was not a typical manorial grant. It was a statutory alienation of royal prerogatives, creating what many call a “micro‑palatinate”—a private liberty and bailiwick with jurisdictional and property rights that cannot be extinguished without new legislation and compensation.

Thus: 

• The National Trust’s lease or expiration of a lease did not extinguish the lord’s rights. 
• Upon expiration, the lord under English law generally always resumes full dominion over the manorial waste, subject only to modern conservation statutes.

Bottom Line 

Seigneur George Mentz is the documented Lord of Ennerdale with Deeds, Vesting Deeds, and prior Leases in his possession. Yes, he holds legally recognized ownership and manorial rights over the 13,000 acres of waste. With the National Trust lease expired, those rights—including control, licensing, commercialization, water rights, and encroachment authority—return fully to the lordship to the extent possible in law, constrained only by national conservation law.