SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL DEAN AND CHAPTER: DEAN AND CHAPTER ESTATES

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 CLC/313/L
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL DEAN AND CHAPTER: DEAN AND CHAPTER ESTATES
Date(s)	: 1100-1950
Level of description	: Collection View parent record
Extent	: 566 production units.
Name of creator(s)	: St Paul's Cathedral | London

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The cathedral and its officials had extensive land holdings in the City of London, as well as in Middlesex, Essex, Hertfordshire and elsewhere. It is important to distinguish estates held by the Dean and Chapter collectively, as here, from those held by the dean or other dignitaries and prebendaries individually, for which see sections CLC/313/M and CLC/313/N. The manors held by the Dean and Chapter collectively (and for which series of records survive) included:
Middlesex: Acton, Edmonton, Friern Barnet, Kingsbury, Norton Folgate, "Paul's House Bowes and Edmonton", Shadwell, Sutton Court, Tottenham Rectory and West Drayton;
Essex: Barling, Belchamp St Paul, Bewchamps, Boyton Hall, Chingford, Hawksbury, Heybridge, High Easter, Kirby, Mucking, Navestock, Runwell, Thorpe, Tillingham, Westlee and Wickham St Paul;
Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire: Caddington, Kensworth;
Hertfordshire: Codicote, Paul's Walden, Sandon, Therfield, Yardley alias Ardeley;
Surrey: Barnes.

In ca. 1872 the corporate estates and manorial lordships of the Dean and Chapter, with the sole exception of Tillingham in Essex, were transferred to the Ecclesiastical (later Church) Commissioners. In most cases the relevant manorial records held at LMA continue until the mid 20th century, as the result of separate deposits of records by the Church Commissioners. The Dean and Chapter were permitted to retain Tillingham, the only episcopal or cathedral estate not to be transferred to the Commissioners, because it was believed to be the oldest continuous landholding in England, having been given to the Dean and Chapter by Ethelbert, King of Kent, in ca. 604.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Dean and Chapter of Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, relating to estates owned by the Dean and Chapter, including court rolls, court books, financial accounts, rent accounts, rentals, surveys of the estates, registers of leases, and title deeds.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

This section is arranged in series as follows:
CLC/313/L/A: Court rolls and books;
CLC/313/L/B: Accounts;
CLC/313/L/C: Manorial accounts;
CLC/313/L/D: Estates rent accounts;
CLC/313/L/E: Rentals;
CLC/313/L/F: Estates surveys;
CLC/313/L/G: Registers of leases;
CLC/313/L/H: Title deeds;
CLC/313/L/I: Miscellaneous.
For a detailed discussion of the overall 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 appointments of manorial and estate officials, see section CLC/313/C; financial records, often including salary information for the cathedral's manorial officials, are in section CLC/313/G.

Early references to cathedral estates and manors include:
1086x1107, list of manors rendering payments in kind to the cathedral (CLC/313/B/001/MS25504). Edited by WH Hale, Camden Society, 1st series, vol.69 (1858), p.152.

Ca. 1130, survey of cathedral property in London (CLC/313/B/001/MS25504). Edited by HWC Davis in AG Little and FM Powicke eds, Essays in Medieval History Presented to TF Tout, (1925), pp.45-55.

1181, inquisition of cathedral manors (fragment of "Liber B", now Bodleian Library Ms Rawlinson B.372). Edited by WH Hale, "A Fragment of the Domesday of Ralph de Diceto", Camden Society, 1st series, vol.69 (1858), pp.109-117.

1181, inquisition of cathedral manors (CLC/313/B/001/MS25504). Edited by WH Hale, Camden Society, 1st series, vol.69 (1858), pp.140-152.

1222, "Domesday of St Paul's", also known as "Liber K", (CLC/313/L/F/001/MS25514).

ca. 1243-54, rental of Dean and Chapter revenue and expenditure (CLC/313/B/021/MS25509).

ca. 1290-ca. 1390, survey and visitation book, also known as "Liber I", (CLC/313/L/F/002/MS25516).

Late 13th century, rental of Dean and Chapter revenue and expenditure, (in CLC/313/B/021/MS25509). The manorial portions were edited by WH Hale, Camden Society, 1st series, vol.69 (1858), pp.154-64.

1315-1488, accounts of collectors of rents in London and its suburbs (CLC/313/L/D/001/MS25125/001-099).

Publication note:

Further reading:

Rosamond Faith, "Demesne Resources and Labour Rent on the Manors of St Paul's Cathedral, 1066-1222" in Economic History Review, vol.47 (1994), pp.657-78.

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

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.