Graphical version

London Metropolitan Archives

SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL DEAN AND CHAPTER: FINANCIAL RECORDS


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/313/G

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL DEAN AND CHAPTER: FINANCIAL RECORDS

Date(s): 1222-1881

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 193 production units.

Name of creator(s): St Paul's Cathedral | London

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Saint Paul's Cathedral was probably founded in 604 by the King of Kent, Saint Ethelbert. The original wooden building was replaced by a stone church between 675 and 685; but this was destroyed by Vikings. The replacement building was destroyed by fire in 1087. The replacement cathedral was begun under the direction of Maurice, Bishop of London and chaplain to William the Conqueror. It was constructed in imported Caen stone and was higher and larger than the present building, topped by the tallest spire ever to have been built. The Cathedral precinct was walled in, and included a Chapter House, Saint Gregory's parish church, the Bishop's Palace, the Pardon Churchyard, a College of Minor Canons, the chapel of Saint Faith, Saint Paul's School, Paul's Cross, and a free-standing bell-tower. Paul's Cross was an important site for London life; sermons were preached here, proclamations made, and the folk moot for free citizens was held here. The cathedral itself was the site of many grand royal and ceremonial occasions: kings married here, lay in state here and gave thanks for military victories.

The Reformation caused great problems for the Cathedral, and the Dean and Chapter were unable to maintain the fabric. The walls of the Precinct crumbled and the open space around the Cathedral, as well as the nave itself, was used for business, selling of goods and meetings. Services were held in the choir. Extensive repairs were not begun until the 1630s, although they were interrupted by the Civil War and Cromwell's army used the nave as a cavalry barracks. The army smashed windows, mutilated statues and burned the woodwork. The nave roof fell in and the Bishop's Palace was destroyed. In 1663 the Dean and Chapter asked Christopher Wren to suggest how repairs could begin. Wren advocated destroying the existing building and starting again, which was rejected. He therefore drew up reconstruction plans which were accepted in 1666, 6 days before the Great Fire of London. The building was almost completely destroyed during the Fire, only the monument to poet and clergyman John Donne surviving.

Wren was forced to demolish the remainders of the walls using a battering ram. He made three designs for the new building; he is said to have burst into tears when his personal favourite was rejected. A design was finally selected in 1675, but Wren was given leave to adjust the plans if he chose to and he did make modifications, including the famous dome rather than a spired steeple. The rebuilding took 35 years, supervised throughout by Wren. He was one of the first people to be buried in the new crypt. Also buried in the crypt are Nelson, Wellington, and other distinguished soldiers, sailors, airmen, musicians, artists and writers.

Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Financial records of the Dean and Chapter of Saint Paul's Cathedral, London. Few financial records of the cathedral survive before the 16th century, when records of the Chamberlain and Receiver General appear with increased frequency (the two offices were combined in 1666).

Earlier records include:
* Register of rents and other payments due, ca. 1222-ca. 1225 (WD12) (CLC/313/G/001/MS25512);
* Account of expense of the Sacrist, 1276-80 and 1306-10 (CLC/313/G/020/MS25171/001-002);
* Accounts of the Keeper of the Bakehouse and the Brewhouse, 1340/1 (CLC/313/G/022/MS25172);
* Account of receipts from the collecting box near the north door, 1342-1344, with account of payments from the Cathedral Treasury, 1349 (CLC/313/G/023/MS25169). The accounts for 1342-1344 have been edited by HH Milman, Annals (1869), pp.516-18;
* "Quietus" (i.e. receipt) rolls for accounts rendered to the royal Exchequer, 1519-1724 (incomplete) (CLC/313/G/031/MS25439/001-046);
* Notebook of Michael Shaller, Virger and Under-Chamberlain, late 16th century, including financial accounts and some details of monuments (CLC/313/G/037/MS25532);
* Signed receipts for payments to Paul's Cross preachers, 1748-1749 and 1756-1757 (incomplete) (CLC/313/G/051/MS25599).

Many financial records for the 19th and early 20th centuries were almost certainly destroyed in the bombing of the Chapter House in 1940. The following early modern and modern accounts may be especially useful:
* Accounts of the Chamberlain and Receiver General, 1666-1805 (CLC/313/G/018/MS25643/001-045);
* Dean and Chapter ledgers, 1938-72 (CF136/1-17);
* Dean and Chapter cash books, 1930-1971 (CF135/1-12).

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Records arranged by MS number, assigned during cataloguing at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section. For a detailed discussion of the arrangement of the collection, see the fonds level description for Saint Paul's Cathedral, reference CLC/313.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The bulk of the archives of St Paul's Cathedral were transferred to the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in September 1980. They were catalogued by a member of Guildhall Library staff in around 1989. Other accessions were received from the 1960s onwards. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

For other series of accounts, see sections CLC/313/H-J, L, and O.

Accounts of the Keeper of the Bakehouse and Brewhouse, 1282-1283 and 1286-1287 (in CLC/313/L/F/002/MS25516 & CLC/313/B/016/MS25502). Both these accounts are edited by WH Hale, Camden Society, 1st series, vol.69 (1858), pp.165-72. Accounts of the Sacrist, 1310-12, CLC/313/L/H/001/MS25121/1887.

Cathedral accounts before ca. 1666 which include references to the City of London are described in D Keene and V Harding, Survey of Documentary Sources for Property Holding in London before the Great Fire (London Record Society, vol.22, 1985), pp.46-50. A 17th or 18th century transcript of a medieval register of the cathedral's almoner (British Library, Harley Ms 4080), has been edited by Maria Hackett, Registrum Eleemosynariae D. Pauli Londoniensis (1827 edn).

For the original register and for other documents relating to the office of almoner, ca. 1345, see St John's College Cambridge, Ms S.25, described by MR James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the Library of St John's College, Cambridge (1913), no.272, p.318. See also Davis, Medieval Cartularies, no.602.

DESCRIPTION NOTES Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: August to October 2010.


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Accounts | Financial records | Documents | Information sources
Chapters | Religious communities | Religious institutions
Church finance | Finance
Deans (ecclesiastical) | Clergy | Religious groups
Exchequer | Public administration | Government
Receipt | Financial records | Documents | Information sources
Religious buildings | Buildings | Architecture
Rent | Fees | Finance
Cathedrals x Religious buildings
Religion

Personal names

Corporate names
St Paul's Cathedral | London

Places
City of London | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe