HOW TO WRITE
THE HISTORY OF A PARISH.
HOW TO WRITE
THE HISTORY OF A PARISH.
BY
J. CHARLES COX,
AUTHOR OF “NOTES ON THE CHURCHES OF DERBYSHIRE,” ETC.
“Every man’s concern with the place where he lives, has something
more in it than the mere amount of rates and taxes that he
has to pay.”--_Toulmin Smith._
LONDON:
BEMROSE & SONS, 10, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS;
AND DERBY.
1879.
ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL.
TO THE
REV. THOMAS PRESTON NOWELL BAXTER, M.A.,
(LATE FELLOW OF ST. CATHARINE’S COLL., CAMBRIDGE.)
RECTOR OF HAWERBY, AND RURAL DEAN,
WHO FIRST SUGGESTED
THE WRITING OF THIS LITTLE HAND-BOOK,
THESE PAGES
ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
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PREFACE.
Some of the Clergy of the Diocese of Lincoln are responsible for the
issue of this booklet. A much-needed county history of Lincolnshire is
now being projected, upon the basis of separate parochial histories.
A circular put forth in one of the rural deaneries was good enough to
refer in laudatory terms to the introduction to the first volume of
my _Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire_. This led to my being asked
to re-publish that introduction; but it applied so peculiarly to
Derbyshire that I felt it would be of small avail to those outside the
county. Hence I decided to put together some hints that might prove a
help to those who may be desirous of undertaking parochial history in
any part of the kingdom, whether manorial, ecclesiastical, or both. In
the first part of these pages I am indebted to Thomas’s “Handbook to
the Public Records,” and more especially to Sims’s invaluable “Manual
for the Topographer and Genealogist;” but I have not referred to any
class of documents with which I am not in some measure personally
conversant.
Those who have been engaged in any literary work are well aware how
large a portion of time is often spent in merely learning the titles
and somewhat of the contents of those books that treat of the different
branches of the subject selected. Various books connected with
parochial history, especially those that have been proved by experience
to be the best hand-books, are therefore mentioned in these pages to
facilitate reference. Space only has prevented me from considerably
adding both to their number and description, but any further knowledge
that I may have gleaned on topographical literature is heartily at the
disposal of any _worker_ who may privately apply to me.
I shall be grateful for any correction of errors, or for any suggestion
as to deficiencies.
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ABBREVIATIONS.
P.R.O.--For the Public Record Office. Almost the whole of our national
records, which were until recently in upwards of half-a-dozen different
buildings, are now under one roof in Fetter Lane, Fleet Street. All
documents mentioned in the following pages must be understood to be at
the Public Record Office, unless it is otherwise stated. Several of
the earlier folio publications of the Record Commissioners, to which
reference is herein made, are out of print, but they are to be found in
most of our public libraries.
B. M.--For the Library of the British Museum.
B.--For the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
C.--For the University Library, Cambridge.
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HOW TO WRITE THE HISTORY OF A PARISH.
Etymology.
Not only should the etymology of the name of the parish be carefully
considered, and its various forms of spelling be collected, from
Domesday Book downwards, but a list should be made of the whole of the
names of the physical features, such as hills, streams, and lanes, and
especially of the field-names. Field-names--which will often establish
the sites of disused chapels or manor-houses, of Celtic burials or
Roman roads, as well as help to decide the nationality of the colonists
that predominated in the district--can be sometimes gleaned from old
private estate maps, or other exceptional sources, but the “Award”
maps of Inclosure Commissioners from 1710 downwards, or the Tithe
Commutation maps of 1836, are the chief and most reliable sources.
These maps should be in most parish chests, but they have often
illegally strayed into the private hands of solicitors, churchwardens,
etc. When lost or difficult of access, the original maps can usually
be seen at the offices of the Copyhold Inclosure and Tithe Commission,
3, St. James’s Square, on payment of 2s. 6d.; but under certain Acts
the originals will be found, or rather ought to be found and to be
accessible, at the Clerk of the Peace’s office for the county.
The best hand-books on local etymology are--Taylor’s “Words and
Places,” and Edmund’s “Names of Places.” Leo on “The Local Nomenclature
of the Anglo-Saxons,” Charnock’s “Local Etymology and Derivative
Dictionary,” and Ferguson’s “River Names,” and “Teutonic Name System”
may also be consulted with advantage.
“Prehistoric” Remains.
If there are any so-called “Druidical” (almost invariably a complete
misnomer) or other “prehistoric” remains of that class, not a word
should be written respecting them until Fergusson’s “Rude Stone
Monuments” has been thoroughly digested. Though published in 1872, not
one of the old-fashioned antiquaries has made any serious attempt to
refute its conclusions.
The best work on tumuli, or barrows, is Canon Greenwell’s “British
Barrows.” See also Bateman’s “Ten Years’ Diggings in Celtic and Saxon
Grave Hills.” The two last essays of Sir John Lubbock’s “Scientific
Lectures” give a popular account of that branch of prehistoric
archæology which deals with the palæolithic and neolithic periods,
_i.e._, with the races who respectively used the chipped and ground
weapons of stone.
History of the Manor.
THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE, and other Old English chronicles, should
be consulted for possible early mention of the parish. Most of these
have been cheaply printed in an English dress in Bohn’s Antiquarian
Series. In Kemble’s “Saxons in England” will be found a good list of
the old tribal divisions into “marks.” Thorpe’s _Diplomatarium Anglicum
Ævi Saxonici_ is an admirable collection of early charters (with
translations); some of the wills contain many place-names; the volume
is indifferently indexed.
THE DOMESDAY BOOK, compiled in 1085-6, is preserved at the Chapter
House, Westminster. It gives particulars of all the different manors
throughout England, excepting those of Northumberland, Cumberland,
Westmoreland, and Durham. It was printed in two large volumes in 1783,
and a third volume of indexes and introductory matter added in 1811.
A most valuable “General Introduction” was published in 1833, by Sir
Henry Ellis. The Ordnance Survey have recently brought out a fac-simile
edition of the Domesday Book, produced by Photo-zincography, which can
be obtained in separate counties. The extended text and translation of
most counties can also be procured.
The Book of Exeter and the Book of Ely are of the same date, and
no doubt copied from the same returns as Domesday Book itself, but
they contain many more details. The former, preserved at Exeter
Cathedral, comprises the counties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon,
and Cornwall; the latter, now in the British Museum, relates to
Cambridge, Hertford, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Huntingdon. The Book
of Winchester (Society of Antiquaries) relates to that borough; it was
made in 1148. The Boldon Book is a survey of the county palatinate of
Durham, taken in 1183; there are three copies, two at Durham, and one
at the Bodleian. These four minor Surveys were published by the Record
Commissioners in one volume in 1816.
KNIGHT’S FEES. When England was subdivided by the Conqueror among his
vassals, the feudal custom of supplying the crown with a certain number
of knights was imposed upon them. The number of knights that had to be
furnished was specified in the infeoffment. These knights, in their
turn, held lands from the immediate tenants of the crown, which were
owned by homage, fealty, and a great variety of tenures, as well as by
direct payments in money. Some tenures were merely nominal, such as
a grain of cummin, or a red rose; others were of more or less value,
such as a pair of white gloves, a tun of wine, a gold spur, or a silver
salver; and others by such service as holding the lord’s stirrup,
keeping a pack of hounds, etc., etc. See Blount’s “Ancient Tenures.”
The lands of these knights were termed “Fees,” and composed the barony
of a crown vassal. A knight’s fee was supposed to be so much land as
would suffice to maintain him, and to enable him to present himself and
his retainers ready equipped for the field in times of emergency. Hence
a “Knight’s Fee,” as applied to land, represents no definite quantity,
but a variable amount, generally between one and five hundred acres of
cultivable land. The term is also sometimes used for the rent paid to
the lord for the fee.
It is easy, then, to see that it became essential to the Crown, both
for monetary and judicial purposes, as well national as local, to know
from time to time the exact position of their vassals and sub-vassals.
Hence, Inquisitions were held up and down the country before local
sworn juries, and the barons made returns of that which they held,
and which was held under them. These returns are among the earliest
of our national records; and though brief, are invaluable, from their
absolute authenticity, to the genealogist and local historian. The
chief documents of this class are the _Black Book of the Exchequer,
temp._ Henry II., the original of which is in the P. R. O., but three
manuscript copies are in the B. M., C., and B. respectively, and it was
published (but imperfectly, and not from the original) by Hearn, in
two vols., 8vo., last century; the _Scutage_ and the _Marshall Rolls,
temp._, Edw. I. & II., P. R. O.; various lists of Tenants in Capite
in our different public libraries; and, most important, the _Testa de
Neville_. The last-mentioned of these documents consists of two ancient
volumes compiled _temp._ Edw. II., now in the P. R. O. They consist
of Inquisitions, taken _temp._ Henry III. and Edw. I., respecting the
Fees held immediately or otherwise of the King, throughout the whole
of England, excepting the counties of Cambridge, Cheshire, Durham,
Lancashire, and Monmouthshire. These records were officially printed
in one vol., folio, in 1807; there are many errors in the spelling of
place-names, but these can for the most part be readily detected by any
one having local knowledge. Another folio volume, printed in 1802, is
the _Nonarum Inquisitiones_; it is of some value, and may, perhaps, be
fairly included under the head of “Knight’s Fees.” It consists, in the
main, of the finding upon oath by the parishioners, of the value of
the ninth lamb, fleece, and sheep, and in cities and boroughs of the
ninth of goods and chattels, which by an Act 14 Edw. III. were to be
levied as a tax for two years towards the expenditure in the Scotch and
French wars. The rolls abound in the names of jurymen, commissioners,
and landowners. The published volume only contains the returns from
twenty-seven counties, but the Nona Rolls for most of the missing ones,
_e.g._, Derby, Hertford, Northumberland, and Warwick, have since been
found. MS. indexes of these will be found in the small books lettered
“Exchequer Subsidies” in the search room of the P. R. O.
ROTULI. Under the general head of “Rolls,” some of the most important
of our national documents have to be briefly considered.
The Great Rolls of the Exchequer, otherwise called the _Pipe Rolls_,
are all but perfect from 2 Henry II. to the present time; and there is
one roll of 31 Henry I., the oldest national document now extant after
the Domesday Book. They relate to the revenues of the Crown, digested
under the heads of the several counties. They are of much interest and
utility in early pedigrees, and relate to a far wider range of subjects
than Crown lands, as the Crown revenues come from so great a diversity
of sources. The originals are in the P. R. O., but most of the rolls
are in duplicate at the B. M. Several volumes of transcripts are in the
B. M. and B. The Rolls for the 31 Henry I.; 3 John; 2, 3, and 4, Henry
II.; and 1 Richard I., have been published by the Record Commissioners.
The _Patent Rolls_ commence with 3 John, and are fairly perfect
up to the present time. On them are entered all grants of lands,
offices, honours, pensions, and particulars of individual or corporate
privileges, etc., etc. These invaluable Rolls are unfortunately not
indexed. A folio calendar of those from John to 23 Edward IV., was
printed in 1802, but it is only a capriciously made selection. Those
from the 3rd to 18th John have since been printed in full, with an
admirable introduction. In the B. M. are many volumes of selections
and extracts for particular periods. Manorial grants of “free warren”
in these rolls will often supply a missing link in the history of a
manor.
The difference between the documents entered on the _Close Rolls_,
and the Patent Rolls, is that royal letters patent were delivered
_open_, with the Great Seal appended, and were supposed to be of a
public nature and addressed to all the king’s subjects; whilst the
Close Rolls contain entries of such instruments as were despatched
_closed_ or sealed up, and were of a more private nature. These
rolls begin in 1204. From that time to 11 Henry III., they have been
printed in full in two folio volumes. There are various copies and
transcripts of particular parts in the B.M., B., and C., and in the
libraries of Lincoln’s Inn and Inner Temple. The rolls are of infinite
variety and importance. Among the subjects treated of are--Royal
Prerogatives, Homage, Fealty, Knight’s Service, Treasure Trove, Gold
and Silver Mining, Bail and Pardons, Livery of Lands, Assignment of
Dowers, Wardship of Minors, Repairs of Bridges, etc., etc. They often,
therefore, contain unexpected fragments of local history connected with
apparently insignificant parishes, and are even more fruitful than the
better known Patent Rolls.
The _Charter Rolls_ contain a good deal of duplicate matter to that
on the Patent Rolls. They chiefly consist of grants of privileges to
religious houses, cities, and towns, and grants of markets, fairs, and
free warren to individuals. Charters, like Letters Patent, passed under
the Great Seal; but a charter differed from a patent inasmuch as the
former was witnessed by the council or by such persons as were present
at its execution, and the latter was solely executed by the king. The
Charter Rolls extend from 1199 to 1483. A complete calendar of these
rolls, well indexed, was published in 1803, and the rolls themselves
of the reign of John, were also published by the Record Commissioners
in 1837.
The _Fine Rolls_ contain accounts of fines paid to the Crown for
licenses to alienate lands, for freedom from knight service, or being
knighted, for renewals of various charters, etc., etc. They begin
in the time of Richard I. The Fine Rolls of John, and extracts from
those of Henry III., have been published by the Commissioners in three
8vo. volumes. They are to be distinguished from the important _Pedes
Finium_, subsequently explained.
The _Originalia_ are described in the Public Records Report as “the
Estreats transmitted from the Court of Chancery into this (Exchequer)
office, of all grants of the Crown inrolled on the Patent and other
Rolls, whereon any rent is reserved, any salary payable, or any service
performed.” These rolls commence early in the reign of Henry III.
An abstract, in two folio volumes, of the Originalia from 20 Henry
III. to the end of Edward III., was published by the Commissioners
in 1805. Similar abstracts from 1 Richard II., to end of James II.,
were prepared for printing, but never published; the MS. of this work
is in the B. M. An index to the Originalia was published in 1793, by
Mr. Edward Jones, in two folio volumes. Those who have had occasion to
use Mr. Jones’s index know that the judgment “very useful, but very
imperfect,” is true in each particular.
The _Hundred Rolls_ will often prove to be of the greatest interest for
one period of manorial history. During the turbulent reign of Henry
III., the Crown revenues had been much diminished by the Tenants in
Capite alienating lands without license, and by powerful ecclesiastics
and laymen usurping the rights of holding courts, and committing other
encroachments. The people, too, had been greatly oppressed by exactions
and oppressions at the hands of sheriffs and other officers, and by
false claims to free warren and illegal tolls. One of the first acts
of Edward I., on his return from the Holy Land, at his father’s death,
was to remedy these abuses. The circuit of the itinerant justices was
only usually made once in seven years, therefore the king appointed
Special Commissioners for inquiring into these grievances throughout
the realm. These rolls are the result of the inquisitions taken in
pursuance of this commission. They afford evidence, upon the oath of a
jury of each hundred and town of--all demesne lands and manors then or
formerly in the hands of the Crown--all tenants in capite and tenants
in ancient demesne--alienations to the Church--rights of free warren,
fisheries, etc.--oppressions of nobility and clergy--exactions of
excessive toll--unlawful trading--encroachments on highways, etc., etc.
The whole of these rolls were published by the Record Commissioners in
1812-18, in two large folio volumes, but are not now to be purchased.
“The genealogist may estimate the assistance these volumes are capable
of affording, when it is mentioned that the Indices of Names contain
references to about 70,000 persons.” The mis-spelling of place-names
is sometimes a little misleading, but ordinary care will rectify this,
as the returns are arranged in counties. The rolls, as printed, may
be fairly relied on for historical purposes, without the trouble of
collating the originals.
PLACITA. The pleadings of our several courts, with the judgments
thereon, have been for many centuries entered on rolls. The greater
part of these are termed Placita, or pleading Rolls. Their important
bearing on manorial history is obvious. There is scarcely a manor in
the kingdom that had not occasion, on an average of at least once a
century, to put in an appearance in one or other of the courts on some
matter involving litigation.
Under our Norman kings, all pleadings were originally heard _Aula sive
Curia Regis_, in the hall or court of the king’s palace. In aid of the
King’s Court, itinerant justices were first appointed _temp._ Henry I.,
and were finally established 22 Henry II. Towards the end of the reign
of Richard I., the Curia Regis was subdivided into courts of Exchequer
and Chancery, whilst the king’s court still retained pleas immediately
touching the Crown, and also common pleas, both civil and criminal. The
Magna Charta, 17 John, separated the Common Pleas from the royal court,
after which the Curia Regis continued to be the superior court of law
for criminal matters, and early in the reign of Edward I. lost its more
ancient title and became known as the Court of King’s Bench.
The _Rotuli Curia Regis_ have been printed in full, from 6 Richard I.
to 1 John, by the Record Commissioners, in two 8vo. volumes. The same
rolls, in addition to those of the King’s Bench, down to the end of
the reign of Edward II., were, in 1811, elaborately calendared and
indexed by the Commissioners in a valuable folio volume, under the
title--_Placitorum in Domo Capitulari Westmonasteriensi asservatorum
Abbreviatio_, but the rolls are now in the P. R. O. The abstract has
been made after a fickle fashion, some pleadings are given in full,
whilst many others of more importance are condensed into a couple of
lines; and there is nothing in the volume to tell the student whether
they are abbreviated or not.
The earliest provincial courts were those of the Itinerant Justices, or
Justices in Eyre (from the Norman-French word _erre_, a journey); they
held criminal and common pleas, and also pleas of the forest. These
justices afterwards gave way to Circuit Judges, and the Justices in
Eyre then became only another name for the _Justices of the Forest_.
If there is or has been any royal Forest or Chace within the parish
under consideration, special search should be made for its records.
Most of the early proceedings relative to forests are entered on the
Patent Rolls; a considerable number of the ancient perambulations and
inquisitions have been printed in various reports made at different
dates. Copies of these reports, bound in two large volumes, can be
consulted at the P. R. O. Extracts from the rolls, relative to the
forests, for special periods may be found both at the P. R. O. and the
B. M. The forest perambulations for the reigns of Henry III. and Edward
I. have been completely indexed.
Those rolls that may properly be termed _Records of Assize_ commence 6
Richard I., and end with the reign of Edward IV. In the B. M. are many
MS. volumes of _Placita Itinerum_ pertaining to different reigns and
different counties.
In 1818 the Record Commissioners published an important folio volume,
entitled _Placita de Quo Warranto temporibus Edw. I., II., III._,
which forms an interesting sequel to the Hundred Rolls. The Hundred
Rolls, as already mentioned, gave a great mass of sworn information as
to abuses. Those persons thus charged were summoned to answer “_Quo
Warranto_” such and such things were done or left undone? or by what
right such and such manors, etc., were held? This volume contains
a full transcript of the roll of the pleadings in answer to these
summonses, and the judgments thereon. Its utility in manorial history
cannot be exaggerated, as the descent of the manor is often traced back
in these pleadings to the time of John or even earlier. The rolls are
arranged under counties, and include the whole of England, with the
exception of the palatinate of Durham.
The earliest records of the _Court of Chancery_ are of the 17th year
of Richard II., the previous documents having been destroyed in the
Wat Tyler rebellion. There are no petitions extant to the Chancellor
of the reign of Henry IV., and but few of Henry V., but from the
beginning of the reign of Henry VI. they seem to have been kept with
much regularity. Calendars of the Chancery proceedings of the reign
of Elizabeth were published in three volumes folio, 1827-32. In the
introduction to this work are many examples of the earlier proceedings
of that court from Richard II. downwards. It is hardly necessary to add
that the bills of complaint, and their answers, filed in this court,
often contain abundant information as to manorial descent. Numerous MS.
volumes of indexes to Chancery proceedings are at the service of the
searcher in the P. R. O.
The volumes known as the _Year Books_ contain reports in Norman-French
of cases argued and decided in the Courts of Common Law. They form the
basis of the “_lex non scripta_” of English jurisprudence, and are
worthy of attention on account of the historical information and the
notices of public and private persons which they contain. The frequent
disputes about heirship cause them often to be of value in manorial
history. These Reports begin in 1220, and an account of the different
books, their dates, etc., may be found in Worrall’s “_Bibliotheca Legum
Angliæ_,” 1788. Serjeant Maynard published an edition of early Year
Books, in eleven volumes, in 1679. Several of those of the reign of
Edward I. have been edited by the Record Commissioners. Lincoln’s Inn
Library, and the University Library, Cambridge, have a great number of
MS. Year Books. A work of much research, by Mr. Bigelow, has just been
published, entitled “_Placita Anglo-Normannica_,” it is a history of
the litigation and legal procedure of the temporal courts during the
period from the Norman Conquest to the middle of the reign of Richard
I. If there has been any early dispute about the manor or manorial
rights, this volume should certainly be consulted.
INQUISITIONES. _Inquisitiones post mortem_, are not unfrequently termed
“Escheats,” from the writs being directed to the county official called
the Escheator; but the term is incorrect, and should never be used, for
there is a class of documents correctly called _Escheat Rolls_, which
differ altogether from these inquisitions, and refer to the escheator’s
accounts of lands and property escheated to the crown from various
causes, and the profits and value of the same at different periods.
The _Inquisitio post mortem_, on the contrary, was an inquiry held on
oath by a jury of the district, summoned by virtue of a writ directed
to the county Escheator, on the death of every tenant in capite. The
jury had to inquire (1) of what lands the person died seized, (2)
by what rents or services the same were held, and (3) who was his
next heir and of what age; they had also to ascertain whether the
tenant was attainted of treason, or an alien, in which case the lands
reverted to the crown. The return of the jury, together with the writ
authorising the inquiry, were returned to the King’s Chancery, whence
a transcript was sent to the Exchequer, so that the proper officers
might be able to levy the duties and services thereupon due; for on
the death of each tenant in capite, a tax termed a “relief” was due
to the crown, and the heir could not take possession until the relief
was paid and homage done. Moreover, if the heir was a minor, the crown
administered the estates until he could make proof of his legal age
and perform homage. The Exchequer transcripts of these Inquisitions,
together in most cases with the writ, are still extant from the time
of Henry III. down to the end of the reign of Charles I., that is,
until the feudal land system was finally overthrown. Calendars, or
short abstracts of these Inquisitions, carefully indexed, have been
printed in four folio volumes by the Record Commissioners, 1806-1828,
up to the end of the reign of Richard III. These calendars, which are
invaluable for reference, must be used with caution, and should never
be quoted as proving the death of any person by a particular date, for
unfortunately not a few inquisitions that are not _post mortem_, but
_ad quod damnum_, are included amongst them. There are also many errors
in nomenclature, and in assigning manors to special counties; it is
therefore wisest to make the rule of never quoting these inquisitions,
unless the original has been seen, or a full transcript obtained. The
inquisitions subsequent to the time of Richard III. have not been
calendared. Private enterprise has more than once announced that such
a work would be taken in hand, and subscribers names obtained, but
up to the present time (1879) there seems no immediate prospect of
publication.
The Record Commissioners have also published a Calendar to the
Inquisitions of this class, pertaining to the Duchy of Lancaster, from
the time of Edward I. to Charles I.
Extracts and abstracts from these Inquisitions, covering particular
periods, or for particular counties, are numerous in our public
libraries; for lists of such MSS., see Sims’ _Manual_, pp. 125-8.
Another form of inquisition was the _Inquisitio ad quod damnum_,
which was a judicial inquiry, held by virtue of a writ directed
to the Escheator of the county, when any license of alienation of
lands, or grant of a market, fair, or other privilege was solicited.
A local jury was sworn to inquire whether if the claim was granted
it would interfere with any vested right, or be to the detriment of
the crown or some of its subjects--hence the name _ad quod damnum_.
These inquisitions, especially with relation to alienating lands to
religious houses, are often very valuable to the local historian, for
the jury in such cases had to state the amount, value, and nature of
the remainder of the lands of the intended donor. A calendar of these
records from 1 Edward II. to 38 Henry VI., was officially published
in 1803, and is bound up with the previously mentioned calendar of
the Charter Rolls. It should be remembered, as already stated, that
many inquisitions _ad quod damnum_, particularly the earlier ones, are
wrongly catalogued and arranged among the _post mortem_ inquests.
PEDES FINIUM. The _Pedes Finium_, or “Feet of Fines,” must be clearly
distinguished from the previously mentioned Fine Rolls, which are quite
a different class of record. The Fine here signified is no mulct of
money, but is so called because it is the _final_ agreement between
persons concerning any lands or rents or other matters whereof there
is any suit between them. The fine, or solemn contract recorded
before a competent judge, is described as having five parts--(1) the
original writ taken out against the cognisor, (2) the license of the
crown giving the parties liberty to accord, (3) the concord itself, (4)
the note of the fine, which is an abstract of the original concord,
and (5) the _foot of the fine_, which always began thus--“Hæc est
_finalis_ concordia facta in curia Dom. Regis apud Westm” etc. This
foot of the fine, which was the official summary of the concord, was
cut off in an indented line (hence the word _indenture_), so as to
tally with the part delivered to the suitor and prove its authenticity,
and retained by the court. There is no class of documents that has
been so continuously preserved in uninterrupted succession as these
Feet of Fines. No manorial history can be considered satisfactory
until these records have been carefully consulted, for they contain
the proceedings which have been adopted to convey estates, as well as
to free them from their entailment to issue, or from the dower of
wives. The earliest of these documents, viz., from 7 Richard I. to 16
John, have been officially published in two 8vo. volumes, under the
title--“_Fines, sive Pedes Finium; sive Finales Concordiæ, in Curia
Domini Regis_.”
Having thus run through the chief classes of documents bearing, with
more or less directness, on manorial history, it may be added that
further information should be sought in Mr. Thomas’ “Handbook to the
Public Records.” It may also be well to mention, that those who require
accurate transcripts of any of the records in Fetter Lane, need not
apply for officially certified copies; for reliable transcribers can
readily be met with who will do the work for less than half the sum
required for certified copies. If the amateur searcher does not know
any transcribers, the courteous gentlemen in charge of the Search Room
will probably make no difficulty about giving their address.
Those who may be desirous of gaining some knowledge of the character or
handwriting of ancient records, which can only be efficiently learnt by
practice, are recommended to consult Wright’s “Court-Hand Restored.”
It not only gives numerous alphabets and plates, illustrative of the
different styles in vogue at different periods, but has valuable lists
of abbreviations, of ancient place-names, and of debased Latin words
that are only to be found in legal or monastic documents. Each of the
earlier reigns appears to have had a set or uniform character of its
own; but in the reign of Elizabeth and subsequently, this clerical mode
seems to have been to a great extent abandoned, and each scribe to have
written after his own fancy. It is hence very noticeable that, as was
remarked by a late keeper of the Records, “the English records of the
16th and 17th centuries are in general more difficult to be read than
the Latin records of preceding ages.”
Civil or Domestic Architecture.
Any British, Roman, Danish, or Anglo-Saxon remains that there may be
in the parish, had, perhaps, better be described before the manorial
history is given. Every earthwork, mound, or ancient roadway should be
carefully noted. It is not possible to refer to any one, or even three
or four, satisfactory books on such subjects. Fosbrooke’s “Encyclopædia
of Antiquities” is out of date, but we know of no better compendious
work of reference. The two volumes of Wright’s “Essays on Archæological
Subjects,” will be found of much general use. Worsae’s “Primeval
Antiquities of Denmark,” translated and applied to the illustration
of similar remains in England, by W. J. Thoms, may be read with
advantage, but with the recollection that the hard and fast “ages” of
Danish antiquaries are, with greater knowledge, becoming exploded.
But all description of civil or domestic architecture, of the Norman
or subsequent periods, should be deferred until after the history of
the manor has been written, because that history will very likely throw
light on any such architectural remains.
If there is a castle, or its relics, within the parish, the probability
is considerable that it has already been well described by a county
historian, or in one or other of the numerous journals of our
Archæological societies. But it is equally probable that its history
has not been thoroughly written, and special search should be made with
that object at the P. R. O., beginning with the indexes to the printed
calendars already enumerated. There is no one efficient volume treating
of our mediæval castles that corresponds with Viollet-le-Duc’s
“Military Architecture of the Middle Ages,” but a translation of this
French work has been published by Parker, and it would be well to read
either that or the original.
Every effort should be made to identify the old manor-house, or its
site (often marked by a grass grown moat), and this should of course
be done with each manor, where, as is usually the case, the parish
has contained more than one. Oral tradition, in this as in other
particulars, will often be found a useful handmaid. Should the exterior
of the reputed manor-house be altogether unpromising, that should not
check further investigation. Several instances are known to us in
which modern brick casing or sash windows are but a screen to some of
the oldest domestic architecture extant, which may be found in the
back premises or outbuildings, or contain fine old chimney-pieces,
carved oak panelling, or ceilings of elaborate pargetting. Nor should
attention be only directed to manor-houses. All old domestic work
is worth chronicling, so rapidly is it disappearing both in town and
country; and the annalist of a parish should not be above transcribing
all the initials and dates so frequently seen on lintel stones.
As a rule, every house or cottage, not obviously modern, that has
stone buttresses, a moulded wall-plate or string-course, or bevelled
stone mullions to the windows, is worthy of careful examination.
Many interesting details, such as the site of chantry-houses, may be
thus brought to light, and the history in stone, and the history on
parchment, be found to tally in unexpected ways.
Domestic architecture should always be described by the century, and
not by the “periods” into which ecclesiastical architecture is usually
divided. The only book worth purchasing on the subject, is the somewhat
costly but admirable four volume edition of Parker’s “Mediæval Domestic
Architecture.” For the general “History of Architecture,” both
civil and religious, of all ages and countries, nothing can surpass
Fergusson’s last edition in four volumes, published by Murray in 1874.
Personal History.
The pedigrees and brief particulars of the Nobility can be readily
found. The most useful standard works are Dugdale’s “Baronage,”
Collins’ “Peerage and Baronetage,” Banks’ “Dormant and Extinct
Baronage,” and the “Baronagium Genealogicum,” or pedigrees of English
Peers, in five folio volumes, by Joseph Edmondson. Burke’s “Landed
Gentry” gives much information with respect to the principal families
of commoners, but the earlier genealogical statements that he prints
are often purely mythical. Several indexes to the many thousands of
printed pedigrees that are scattered up and down in topographical
and other works have been published, of a more or less faulty and
incomplete description, but a work of this class, now (1879) in the
press, entitled “The Genealogist’s Guide,” by Mr. George W. Marshall,
promises to be all that can be desired.
But a large portion of family history and pedigree, which will often be
essential to the elucidation of the monumental history of a parish, to
completing the links in lists of the lords of the manor, or furnishing
particulars with regard to smaller landholders, yet remains in MS. The
most accurate of such MSS. are at the College of Arms, and are not
ordinarily accessible except on payment of fees; but there is a fine
collection of heraldic visitations at the B. M., the chief of which are
among the Harleian MSS.
HERALDS’ VISITATIONS are said to have commenced in the reign of Henry
IV., but it was not until 20 Henry VIII. that a commission proceeding
from royal authority was issued. From then until the latter half
of the seventeenth century, visitations were made every twenty-five
or thirty years. The register books, kept by the heralds and their
assistants, contain the pedigrees and arms of the gentry of the
respective counties, and are often also illustrated by copies and
excerpts from charters and private documents. Many of these books are
lost, and the rest scattered throughout public and private libraries.
The archives of the College of Arms have the most important collection,
and next comes the B. M. There are a large number at the B., fifty-four
volumes in the library of Caius College, Cambridge, and forty in
that of the Queen’s College, Oxford. The earliest heralds’ registers
for the counties of Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucester, Hampshire, Kent,
Notts, Oxford, Surrey, Sussex, Wilts, Worcester, and Yorks, are of
the year 1530; for Berks, Devon, and Somerset, 1531; for Cheshire and
Lancashire, 1533; for Essex and Herts, 1552; for Suffolk, 1561; for
Lincoln, 1562; for Leicester, Norfolk, Stafford, and Warwick, 1563; for
Hunts, and Northampton, 1564; for Beds, and Bucks, 1566; for Derby,
Hereford, and Salop, 1569; for Middlesex, 1572; for Cambridge, Durham,
and Northumberland, 1575; for Cumberland and Westmoreland, 1615; and
for Rutland, 1618. The last visitation of several counties was taken
in 1634, but the majority were visited in 1662-4; and the last of all
was that of the county of Southampton, made by Sir Henry St. George,
in 1686. The general genealogist and antiquary cannot but long for
the issue of another royal commission, whereby the heralds might be
empowered, as of old, to destroy all false and self-assumed arms,
whether on carriages, plate, or monuments.
Sims’ “Index to the Pedigrees and Arms” contained in the Heralds’
Visitations in the B. M., is an accurate and useful book of reference.
The “Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist,” by the same
gentleman, is quite indispensable. Careful lists of family histories,
of all the principal topographical works, and of all MSS. of worth in
public libraries, are therein classified under the different counties.
WILLS are too obvious a source of information to need a word of
comment. At Somerset House is the most important and largest
collection, viz., those of the province of Canterbury. The original
wills in this office begin in 1404, and the transcripts in 1383. They
are complete only from December, 1660. In the office at York, for that
province, the wills begin in 1590, and the transcripts in 1389. Owing
to the probate privileges enjoyed by the various ecclesiastical courts,
there were not only registries for wills in every diocese, but numerous
peculiar and exempt jurisdictions in each diocese. The dates at which
wills begin in the different minor registries are so very varied, and
their condition and facilities, or even possibilities, of search so
multifarious, that it is impossible to give any useful abstract. The
Report on Public Records for 1837, and Sir Harris Nicolas’ “Notitia
Historica,” should be consulted. The power of probate was taken away
from the ecclesiastical courts by the Act of 1857.
The little-known RECUSANT ROLLS of the time of Elizabeth, give
information as to the humblest as well as the wealthiest parishioner
who refused to attend the services of the Established Church. These,
and many other similar class of documents, relative to the fining and
other grievous penalties attached to profession of the Roman Catholic
faith, extending up to a recent date, are to be found at the P. R. O.
Records of ATTAINDERS, FORFEITURES, SEQUESTRATIONS, and PARDONS, some
from the time of Edward II., will also be found at the same office,
and may be consulted with advantage by those tracing personal history,
if there is any cause to suspect their complicity in any of the
multitude of baronial feuds, rebellions, or religious persecutions that
led to the existence of so large a class of offenders. Sims’ “Manual”
should be consulted for exhaustive lists of this class of documents,
as well as for numerous lists of GENTRY and FREEHOLDERS of different
dates, pertaining to their respective counties.
MUSTER ROLLS, which give the names, rank, dwelling, and often other
particulars, of those able to bear arms in each county, may be of
interest to the local historian. The earliest of these returns, now
at the P. R. O., are of the reign of Henry III.; there are great
deficiencies up to the time of Henry VIII., but from that reign to
the time of Charles II, they are very voluminous. Lists of SHERIFFS,
MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, and MAYORS OF BOROUGHS, have been printed for
almost every county from an early date, and can readily be found at
public libraries. The names of lords of the manor, or other individuals
connected with the special parish treated of, should always be collated
with such lists, in order to see if they held any of these important
offices.
COUNTY RECORDS. The various documents that are or ought to be in charge
of the Clerk of the Peace, relative to all the multifarious business
transacted at Quarter Sessions, contain much that is of value relative
to personal or local history. But it would only be tantalising to
enumerate the different class of records that should be in the custody
of the county officials, for in the great majority of cases they are
in so much confusion as to be practically useless for any literary
purpose. Among the exceptions may be mentioned Leicestershire and
Derbyshire, in the latter of which counties they have been recently
admirably arranged; and also, to a certain extent, Devonshire, the
salient points of whose records have lately been published--see
“Quarter Sessions from Queen Elizabeth to Queen Anne,” by A. H.
Hamilton, a volume that aptly illustrates local government, and which
is useful as showing the class of information that may be gleaned from
such documents. They do not, as a rule, extend further back than the
time of Elizabeth.
BOROUGH RECORDS. These are in many instances of great antiquity; some
charters going back to the time of John. But their condition and value
are much varied, and there is no trustworthy general report. It is
hoped that a “Borough Records Society” will soon be formed for the
publication of our Municipal Archives.
In the six Reports already issued by the Historical Manuscripts
Commission the Archives of the following English boroughs have been
reported on:--Abingdon, Axbridge, Berwick-on-Tweed, Bridgewater,
Bridport, Cambridge, Coventry, Dartmouth, Faversham, Folkestone,
Fordwich, High Wycombe, Hythe, Kingston-on-Thames, Launceston, Lydd,
Morpeth, New Romney, Norwich, Nottingham, Rye, St. Albans, Sandwich,
Tenterden, Totnes, Wallingford, Wells, Weymouth, Winchester, and York.
The Report of the Municipal Corporation Commissioners, 1835, gives
certain information, more or less meagre, of all boroughs. See also
Merewether and Stephen’s “History of the Boroughs and Municipal
Corporations of the United Kingdom.”
Under the head of WORTHIES it may be worth while to consider whether
the parish has ever had amongst its residents, or on its baptismal
registers, the names of men of marked celebrity in any walk of life.
Nuttall’s edition of Fuller’s “Worthies of England,” published in
1840, in three vols. 8vo., Wood’s “Athenæ,” and any good Biographical
Dictionaries (_e.g._ Chalmers’), should be consulted.
Parochial Records.
Foremost under this head come PARISH REGISTERS. Burn’s “History of
Parish Registers in England” is the standard work on this subject.
The first mandate for keeping registers of baptisms, marriages,
and burials, in each parish was issued in 1538, but it is quite
the exception to find registers of this early date. This mandate
was repeated in more rigorous terms on the accession of Elizabeth,
1558, but not being regularly observed, it was ordained in 1597 that
parchment register books should be purchased at the expense of each
parish, and that all the names from the older books (mostly of paper)
should be therein transcribed from 1558; hence it happens that so many
parish registers begin with that year. It was at the same time ordered
that copies of the registers should be annually forwarded to the
episcopal registrar, to be preserved in the episcopal archives. This
injunction, however, was so imperfectly carried out, and the duplicates
when forwarded were so carelessly kept, that the diocesan copies of
registers are mere fragments of what they should be, and are in several
cases still in such confusion as to be practically inaccessible. The
earliest transcripts at Lincoln begin in 1587, and at Gloucester in
1571, but there are few dioceses that have any earlier than 1660.
Many parishes have lost their early registers, and they are usually
deficient or wanting during the Commonwealth. Official inquiries were
made of all the clergy in 1831, as to the exact date, condition, and
number of the parish registers in their custody, and abstracts of their
replies were published in a Blue Book in 1833. But it is not generally
known that the returns themselves, often containing more information
than was printed, are at the British Museum (Add. MSS. 9,335, etc.).
The dates there given are not, however, to be implicitly relied upon,
as unfortunately some registers have been lost or stolen since that
date, whilst others of an earlier date have happily, in some cases,
been restored or discovered in the like period.
Registers should be carefully looked through, not only for the purpose
of extracting the names of prominent or interesting families, but also
for the purpose of gleaning the innumerable little scraps of local
information that were not unfrequently interpolated in the earlier
pages, such as notes pertaining to excommunication, licenses for eating
flesh in Lent, penance, remarkable or eccentric characters, storms, and
weather observations, inventories of church goods, visitations of the
plague or sweating sickness, national events, etc., etc.
Many of the clergy and others find a difficulty in reading the earlier
registers. Reference has already been made to Wright’s “Court-Hand
Restored,” but the greatest help in deciphering them will be the
recollection that most of the letters of the ordinary hand of Elizabeth
and the Stuarts, which differ from those now in use, are the same as
those of the present German written characters, _e.g._, the letters
“h” and “r.” A few days’ steady practice in transcribing old writing,
beginning with the letters and words that can easily be read, ought to
be sufficient to master the stiffest hands in parochial records.
In case there are any old Meeting Houses, or congregations of
Independents, Presbyterians, Quakers, or other nonconformists in the
parish, it will be well, with regard to these registers, to consult
a Blue Book issued in 1841, called “Lists of Non-parochial Registers
and Records in the custody of the Registrar-General,” wherein a county
classification is observed; also a “Report on Non-parochial Registers,”
issued in 1857, wherein are enumerated those registers of the sects
that were still in private custody.