Estimates of the number of manors vary between 25,000 and 65,000 (Travers) whereas there are about 12,300 ancient parishes (Humphery-Smith 1995). TNA research guides L1 and L9 have good background information and help access what is available there, much of which is also available on film, of-course.
A list of currently available VCH volumes is given in the course English: Education, Health and Contemporary Documents.
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The Victoria County Histories, which can be found in larger libraries and on film, normally trace the ownership of manors but the series is not yet complete. Manorial records are private rather than public although there are legal provisions for their custody. The manorial system had its origins in Saxon England, developed under the Norman kings, but did not cover the whole of England and so manorial records exist for some areas but not others. Other manors were much larger, up to 150 square miles, and here the land was leased out except for the lord’s demesne lands which he farmed himself, or let out at fixed rent to a bailiff, the latter being the commonest situation from the 17th century. Some manors were small and the lord could be the occupier farming his own land, living in the home or barton farm or desmesne land. A land owner could also hold freehold properties with tenants which were not part of any manor and hence held no court. One land owner might hold several manors and tenants might therefore transfer from one part of his estate to another-a point to remember when an ancestor suddenly appears in or disappears from a certain parish. The land of a given manor was rarely coterminous with parish boundaries, either ecclesiastical or civil, and frequently contained a part of one parish, or parts of two or more parishes, not always contiguous to one another. Metropolitan (London and North Middlesex Family History Society) Vol 18 #3, page 137-143). Manors were often farms or multiple farms and could include other rural lands, but could also comprise a group of town houses (see Gibbens’ English Magistrates. A manor is a property for which the owner held a court for his copyhold tenants.
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