Summary guide to the Durham Cathedral Archives

Reference code: GB-0033-DCD
Title: Durham Cathedral Archives
Dates of creation: 11th - 20th century
Extent: 357 metres: [of which 124 metres medieval]; medieval muniment-boxes
Held by: Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections
Origination: records of Durham priory and dependent bodies, pre-dissolution, and then of Durham cathedral

Introduction

The exceptionally well-preserved archives accumulated by the cathedral chapter from the late eleventh century onwards, together with significant extraneous material.
A substantial portion of the post-dissolution estate material was removed to London in the nineteenth century by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and so, although largely returned in 1956 and later, it forms the separate Church Commission Durham Dean & Chapter deposit.
The archives fall into two broad sections, dividing at 31 December 1539 on the dissolution of the large Benedictine monastic chapter founded in 1083, which had constituted Durham Cathedral Priory and its dependent cells; the post-dissolution chapter, comprising a dean and twelve major canons, came into formal existence on 12 May 1541.

Accession details

Placed in the University's care in 1948 (Department of Palaeography & Diplomatic until 1990; at the Prior's Kitchen 1951-1993), with subsequent accessions of twentieth-century material.
Before 1948 documents were commonly referred to as being in the Durham Treasury.

Access

Prior notification must be made before consultation.
Restricted access to records less than 100 years old, and no access to records less than 30 years old.

The Classes of the Medieval Archive

Original deeds, etc.: 1-11.

Inventories or Repertories: 12-16.

Cartularies: 17-27.

Locelli: 28.

Miscellaneous charters: 29.

Accounts: 30-43 (Durham office-holders), 44-59 (manors), 60-3 (livestock), 64-5 (coal-mining), 66-9 (proctors of churches), 70-9 (cells).

Rentals: 80-102.

Court rolls and books: 103-11.

Registers: 112-19.

Formularies, etc.: 120 et seq.

Fragments of manuscript books: 121 et seq.

Bibliography

Editions The Baptismal, Marriage, and Burial Registers of the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin at Durham, 1609-1896, ed. George J. Armytage, (Harleian Society Registers Vol. 23, 1897)
Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989)
“Some Durham College rolls”, ed. H.E.D. Blakiston, in M. Burrows ed., Collectanea. Third Series, (Oxford Historical Soc. 32, 1896)
“Letters from Durham registers, c. 1360-1390”, ed. W.A. Pantin, in Formularies which bear on the History of Oxford, ed. H.E. Salter, W.A. Pantin and H.G. Richardson (Oxford Historical Soc. ns 4, 1942)
Richard d'Aungerville of Bury: fragments of his register and other documents, ed. G.W. Kitchin, (Surtees Soc. 119, 1910)
Depositions and other Ecclesiastical Proceedings from the Courts of Durham, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 21, 1845)
Feodarium Prioratus Dunelmensis, ed. W. Greenwell, (Surtees Soc. 58, 1872)
Extracts from the account rolls of the abbey of Durham, ed. J.T. Fowler, (Surtees Soc. 99, 100, 103; 1898-1901)
Historiae Dunelmensis scriptores tres: Gaufridus de Coldingham, Robertus de Graystanes, et Willielmus de Chambre, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 9, 1839)
The Register of Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham, 1406-1437, ed. R.L. Storey, (Surtees Soc. 164, 166, 169, 170, 177 and 182, 1956-70)
Muriel E. Sobo, Parliamentary Survey of Muggleswick - 1649, Durham County Local History Society Documentary Series 8, 1995
Durham Annals and Documents of the Thirteenth Century, ed. F. Barlow, (Surtees Soc. 155, 1945)
Durham Episcopal Charters 1071-1152, ed. H.S. Offler, (Surtees Soc. 178, 1968)
Durham household book; or, the accounts of the bursar of the monastery of Durham from Pentecost 1530 to Pentecost 1534, ed. J.Raine, (Surtees Soc. 18, 1844)
The Statutes of the Cathedral Church of Durham, ed. A. Hamilton Thompson, (Surtees Soc. vol.143, 1929)
Priory of Finchale. The charters of endowment, inventories, and account rolls, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 6, 1837)
Halmota Prioratus Dunelmensis containing extracts from the halmote court or manor rolls of the prior and convent of Durham. A.D. 1296 - A.D. 1384, ed. W.H. Longstaffe & J. Booth, (Surtees Soc. 82, 1889)
Inventories and account rolls of the Benedictine houses or cells of Jarrow and Monk-Wearmouth, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 29, 1854)
Priory of Coldingham. The correspondence, inventories, account rolls, and law proceedings, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 12, 1841)
Handlists “Coldingham Priory materials”, (search-room typescript)
“dcdarcipiscopal issues: a calendar”
“Original Indulgences: a calendar, (search-room typescript)”.
169-91. “Original papal issues: a calendar”, (search-room typescript)
“English royal issues: a calendar”, (search-room typescript)
“Pontifical issues: a calendar”, (search-room typescript)
“Key to Greenwell & Blair”, (draft typescript)
“Medieval Accounting Material”, (search-room typescript)
“Evidence of Medieval Bindings”, (search-room typescript)
M.R. Foster, “The Magnum Repertorium: a users' guide”, (search-room typescript, 1982)
A.J. Piper, “Conspectus of Places in Medieval Material”, (search-room typescript, 1994)
“Selective Index of Persons and Places”, (search-room manuscript cards)
M.G. Snape, “Notes on the General Cartularies and Registers of the Priory of Durham ”, (search-room typescript, 1961; annotated)
A.J. Piper, “Thirteenth-Century Cartularies. A preliminary guide”, (search-room typescript, 1975; annotated)
Notes on the system of church leases in the post-Reformation period (typescript kept with the list of Dean and Chapter Registers) [further information on estate administration is contained in this]
A.J. Piper, “The Deeds and Cartulary of the Monastic Communar”, (search-room typescript, 1994)
“Post-Dissolution Materials Classed as Miscellaneous Charters” (chronologically arranged), (search-room typescript)
Studies M.M. Camsell, The development of a northern town in the later Middle Ages: the city of Durham, c.1250-1540, 3 vols, (D.Phil thesis, York,, 1985)
J. Conway Davies, “The muniments of the Dean and Chapter of Durham”, Durham University Journal ns 13 (1952), 77-87
R.B. Dobson, Durham Priory 1400-1450, (Cambridge, 1973)
W. Greenwell & C.H. Hunter Blair, Catalogue of the Seals in the Treasury of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, (Newcastle, 1921); first published in parts in Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series vols 7-17 (1911-20)
D. Marcombe, “The Dean and Chapter of Durham 1558-1603”, Durham University Ph.D. thesis, 1973
P. Mussett, Lists of Deans and Major Canons of Durham, 1541-1900, Durham 1974.
P. Mussett and P.G. Woodward, Estates and Money at Durham Cathedral 1660-1985, Durham Cathedral Lecture 1988
R.A.B. Mynors, Durham Cathedral Manuscripts to the end of the twelfth century, (Oxford, 1939)
W.A. Pantin, Report on the Muniments of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, (1939).
Guides G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain. A short catalogue, (London, 1958)
C. Donahue, The Records of the Medieval Ecclesiastical Courts. Part II: England, (Comparative Studies in Continental and Anglo-American Legal History 7; Berlin, 1994)
N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries ii, (Oxford, 1977)
W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, in Historical Essays in Honour of James Tait, ed. J.G. Edwards, V.H. Galbraith & E.F. Jacob, (Manchester, 1933), pp. 201-22
Local Maps and Plans from Medieval England, ed. R.A. Skelton and P.D.A. Harvey (Oxford, 1986)
D.M. Smith, Guide to Bishops' Registers of England and Wales, (London, 1981)

The Medieval Archive of the Dean and Chapter of Durham
Contents One of the most extensive medieval archives in Britain. As well as documents of importance for national history and for the history of the Western Church, the estate records, in the broadest sense, are of major significance for the social and economic history of north-east England. The collection is notable for the large number of original documents to which seals are still attached, see Catalogue of the Seals ... It also includes a small group of fragments of medieval manuscript books (liturgy, canon law, etc.) used in archival and other bindings.
There are some medieval documents in all the extraneous classes now part of the collection except Hunstanworth deeds (copies excepted) and Durham & Yorks deeds.
The principal elements in the collection are:
I. Deeds and other documents, such as records arising from litigation, that gave the monks title to their possessions and privileges, a high proportion of which survive as originals as well as in cartulary copies; see especially Classes (1)-(11), (17)-(29).
II. Records generated by the administration and exploitation of these possessions and privileges, ranging from accounts (30)-(79), rentals (80)-(102), court-rolls and court-books (103)-(111), to registered copies of documents sent out in the name of chapter (112)-(116) or the prior (117)-(119), documents arising from the exercise of such functions as electing bishops of Durham (28) and confirming episcopal grants, and inventories or repertories of various groups of deeds (12)-(16).
III. Materials reflecting the fact that the monks formed one of the most important Benedictine communities in medieval England, strategically placed in relation to the Border with Scotland, with a number of widely dispersed dependent cells, including a college in Oxford, which entailed involvement in a wide range of business, formal and informal, in England, Scotland and at the papal curia; see especially Classes (28)-(29) and (112)-(119). Some impression of the range of material can be gained from the selection printed in the long appendix to Historiae Dunelmensis scriptores tres: Gaufridus de Coldingham, Robertus de Graystanes, et Willielmus de Chambre, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 9, 1839).
Arrangement The arrangement of the material remains to a considerable extent as it was in 1539, although subject to major alteration in the nineteenth century in the case of the group of subject sub-classes known as 'Loc.' (28). In the nineteenth century a new class, Miscellaneous Charters (29), was created and this includes some post-dissolution material, almost all of it 16th or 17th century; this is the only class of medieval material to which additions have routinely been made, but a substantial number of items have also been removed from it in the course of recreating the medieval classes formed by the deeds of the almoner, the sacrist and Finchale priory (Elemos., Sacr., and Finc.), (9)-(11).
The medieval arrangement of the material broadly follows the three divisions, I-III, outlined above, but for I-II this is considerably complicated by the existence of the separate departments or obediences typical of a large Benedictine house, and of the dependent cells, each supported by their own endowments and separately administered from the main estate.
So, for instance, there are the deeds from which the almoner drew his income, a repertory of these deeds and two cartularies, the older of which also functioned to a limited extent as the almoner's register, rentals of his estate, and account-rolls recording his income and expenditure. The same pattern of material is found to a greater or lesser extent for the main monastic estate, administered by the terrar and bursar, on whom the cellarer and granator largely depended; the departments controlled by the almoner, the chamberlain, the communar, the feretrar, the hostiller, the infirmarer, and the sacrist; and the cells at Coldingham, Farne, Finchale, Holy Island, Jarrow, Lytham, Stamford, and Wearmouth, and Durham College in Oxford.
Finding-aids - an introduction The existing means of reference and finding-aids provide varying degrees of ready access to the material. Research that can be focussed on particular places has a good starting-point in the “Index of Places”. Research on particular persons is only served by the “Catalogue of Seals” and the “Selective Index of Persons and Places”, but the hierarchical arrangement of the main series of documents brings together some of the materials issued by popes, kings of England, archbishops of York, bishops of Durham, and the archdeacons of Durham and Northumberland; apart from the archdeacons these documents are calendared and covered by the “Selective Index”, with all papal originals and all dcdarcipiscopal issues in the collection calendared. Research requiring particular types of documents is only served by the arrangement of the materials, in particular the subject-arrangement of the Locelli, and the separate series of accounts and of halmote and marshalsey court-rolls.
W.A. Pantin, Report on the Muniments of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, (1939).
The only published general account; printed for private circulation and not widely available. Its principal focus is the history of the archive and its arrangement; it is not so readily used as a means of identifying the types of material that the archive contains, and it barely mentions the post-dissolution material.
R.B. Dobson, Durham Priory 1400-1450, (Cambridge, 1973).
The first section of the Bibliography, pp. 392-5, is the best brief conspectus of the medieval archive widely available. (Under "Repertorium Magnum", p. 393, the class dcdarcipiscopalia is omitted; some "Special collections", p. 395, are not mentioned.)
A.J. Piper, “Preliminary Index of Place-names in Medieval Material”, (search-room typescript, 1990).
Largely based on the existing catalogues, rather than the documents themselves, and consequently reproducing their defects. It is selective in its coverage, concentrating on charter material; such material leads on implicitly to the records created in the administration of particular properties, such as court-rolls, rentals, accounts, registers, etc.
A.J. Piper, “Conspectus of Places in Medieval Material”, (search-room typescript, 1994).
This is derived from the Preliminary Index, and simply lists all the places mentioned in that Index, but, instead of being arranged purely alphabetically, the places are divided by country (England, Scotland, Ireland, Bohemia, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland) and, for England and Scotland, by historic (pre-1974) county, parish by parish.
W. Greenwell & C.H. Hunter Blair, Catalogue of the Seals in the Treasury of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, (Newcastle, 1921); first published in parts in Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series vols 7-17 (1911-20).
This is the only available means of tracing some of the documents issued in the name of particular individuals or institutions, save in the cases noted for “Selective Index of Persons and Places”; obviously it does not cover unsealed documents or those that have lost their seals. Entries in the Catalogue for particular documents can be traced by means of “Key to Greenwell & Blair”, (draft typescript, available by arrangement).
“Selective Index of Persons and Places”, (search-room manuscript cards).
Includes subsidiary sections of cross-references by offices held and surnames. This covers the documents in “dcdarcipiscopal issues: a calendar”, and in classes (1)-(4) and (11).
Thematic or generic catalogues, etc.
G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain. A short catalogue, (London, 1958) (annotated search-room copy), pp. 39-41.
(With Cartuarium Vetus (18) entered as 'The Small Cartulary', no. 326), also registers inventories or repertories.
“Original Indulgences: a calendar”, (search-room typescript).
Does not cover documents issued by archbishops, see “dcdarcipiscopal issues: a calendar”, nor the lost Finchale indulgences printed in Priory of Finchale. The charters of endowment, inventories, and account rolls, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 6, 1837), pp. 169-91.
“Original papal issues: a calendar”, (search-room cards, typescript for class Papalia (1), otherwise manuscript).
For indexes, see (1).
“English royal issues: a calendar”, (search-room cards, typescript for class Regalia (2), otherwise, arranged by issuer, manuscript).
Covers originals and copies, but not absolutely all. For indexes, see (2).
“dcdarcipiscopal issues: a calendar”, (search-room typescript).
Covers originals and copies.
Durham Episcopal Charters 1071-1152, ed. H.S. Offler, (Surtees Soc. 178, 1968). Search-room copy with additions and corrections by Offler and others. Edits all known acta of bishops of Durham down to the death of Bishop William of Ste Barbe.
“Pontifical issues: a calendar”, (manuscript drafts: search-room photocopy for class Pontificalia (4); others available by arrangement).
In progress: covers documents of class Pontificalia and some others. For indexes, see (4).
“Coldingham Priory materials”, (search-room manuscript cards, arranged in sections: royal, bishops of St Andrews [missing?], private charters, registers, inquisitions, indulgences, others).
Most of the materials are found among Miscellaneous Charters, (29); the accounts of the prior and of the sacrist now form separate classes, (70)-(71).
M.M. Camsell, The development of a northern town in the later Middle Ages: the city of Durham, c.1250-1540, 3 vols, (D.Phil thesis, York,, 1985).
Contains a full conspectus of all deeds, rental entries, etc., relating to Durham city, arranged street by street and, so far as possible, property by property.
“Medieval Accounting Material”, (search-room typescript), itemized list.[“MAM”]
Covers all classes of accounts, items in other classes, and strays now elsewhere; summary listing only for taxation material. Evidence for dating, etc., of each document in the series of accounts, (30)-(79), set out separately (typescript cards, available by arrangement).
Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989).
Includes summary list of bursar's rentals and related material, pp. 11-14; editions of a valuation [c.1230 ?] (B.L., MS Stowe 930 fols. 60-61v), pp. 17-20, of a rent-roll of 1270 (Loc.IV:226), pp. 23-29, of rentals of 1340-1 and 1396-7 (Bursar's Books A fols. 21-36v and E fols. 25-48v), pp. 32-67 and 73-128, and of a rent-book of 1495-6 (Bursar's Book G); a gazetteer, pp. 199-227, giving brief details of the acquisition, development, structure and management of the properties forming the main monastic estate, for which the bursar acounted; indexes of persons and places, and of subjects. All index-entries for places included in “Preliminary Index of Place-names in Medieval Material”.
W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, in Historical Essays in Honour of James Tait, ed. J.G. Edwards, V.H. Galbraith & E.F. Jacob, (Manchester, 1933), pp. 201-22.
Lists (pp. 215-17) Durham registers (113)-(119) and formularies (120) seq., with proposed identifications (p. 211) in the 1421 chancery book-list.
Local Maps and Plans from Medieval England, ed. R.A. Skelton and P.D.A. Harvey (Oxford, 1986)
Four items: pp. 171-87, 189-94, 203-9 and 229-35.
“Evidence of Medieval Bindings”, (search-room typescript).
Summary descriptive list.

Original Deeds (1-8) are listed in (14), which contains references showing where most of the documents now missing are copied in (19-22). (14) is the current means of reference for (5-8) and its index is the source of entries in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”

Papalia
Reference: {Pap.}
Documents issued in favour of the monastic community by popes, with some associated material; most now missing.
Listed: (14).
Calendared, noting the whereabouts of copies of missing items: in Original papal issues: a calendar
Indexed: “Selective Index of Persons and Places”. Copied: almost all texts, including those now missing, in (19) or (21); earlier texts, in (17) and (18).

Regalia
Reference: {Reg.}
Documents issued in favour of the monastic community by kings of England, with some associated material; some now missing.
Listed: (14).
Calendared: in English royal issues: a calendar
Indexed: “Selective Index of Persons and Places”.
Copied: almost all texts, including those now missing, in (19) or (21); earlier texts, in (18).

Archiepiscopalia
Reference: {Arcip.}
Documents issued in favour of the monastic community by archbishops of York, with some associated material; some now missing.
Listed: (14).
Calendared: in Archiepiscopal issues: a calendar
Indexed: “Selective Index of Persons and Places”.
Copied: almost all texts, including those now missing, in (19) or (21); earlier texts, in (18).

Pontificalia
Reference: {Pont.}
Documents issued in favour of the monastic community by bishops of Durham, with some associated material; some now missing.
Calendared: in Pontifical issues: a calendar.
Indexed: “Selective Index of Persons and Places”.
Copied: almost all texts, including those now missing, in (19) or (21); earlier texts, in (17) and (18).

Archidiaconalia Dunelmensia
Reference: {Archid. Dun.}
Documents concerning the monastic community's churches in the archdeaconry of Durham, the prior's jurisdiction over them, and relations with the archdeacon of Durham; some now missing.
Calendared: Archidiaconalia Dunelmensia
Listed: (14), from which are derived entries in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”.
Copied: some texts in (19).

Archidiaconalia Northumbrensia
Reference: {Archid. Nort.}
Documents concerning the monastic community's churches in the archdeaconry of Northumberland, the prior's jurisdiction over them, and relations with the archdeacon of Northumberland; some now missing.
Calendared: Archidiaconalia Northumbrensia
Listed: (14), from which are derived entries in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”.
Copied: some texts in (19).

Specialia
Reference: {Spec.}
Documents concerning particular properties, etc., in Northumberland and Durham, topographically arranged, that formed part of the main monastic estate, the estates of the feretrar, the hostiller and the infirmarer, and the estates of the cells at Farne, Holy Island, Jarrow, Wearmouth and, together with (11), Finchale; some now missing.
Listed: (14), from which are derived entries in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”.
Skeleton listing (numbers and whether missing, transferred etc, with occasional descriptions): Specialia
Copied: almost all texts, including those now missing, in (19), (20) or (22); earlier texts, in (17) and (18).
A significant proportion of early charters are printed: Feodarium Prioratus Dunelmensis, ed. W. Greenwell, (Surtees Soc. 58, 1872), pp. 1-206 footnotes.

Eboracensia
Reference: {Ebor.}
Documents concerning particular properties, etc., in Yorkshire, Lancashire and elsewhere in southern England, topographically arranged, which formed part of the main monastic estate, the estate of the chamberlain, and the estates of the cells at Lytham and Stamford, and of Durham College Oxford; some now missing.
Listed: (14), from which are derived entries in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”.
Skeleton listing (numbers and whether missing, transferred etc, with occasional descriptions): Eboracensia
Copied: almost all texts, including those now missing, in (21); earlier texts, in (18).

Elemosinaria
Reference: {Elemos.}
Documents concerning the properties, etc., that constituted the estate of the almoner; some now missing.
Listed: repertory in (23), from which are derived entries in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”.
Skeleton listing (numbers and whether missing, transferred etc, with occasional descriptions): Elemosinaria
Catalogued before transfer from (29), and indexed as such in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”.
Copied: almost all texts, including those now missing, in (24); earlier texts, in (23).

Sacristaria
Reference: {Sacr.}
Documents concerning the properties, etc., that constituted the estate of the sacrist; some now missing.
Listed: (102), from which are derived entries in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”.
Skeleton listing (numbers and whether missing, transferred etc, with occasional descriptions): Sacristaria
Catalogued before transfer from (29), and indexed as such in Preliminary Index of Place-names.
Copied: almost all texts, including those now missing, in Ushaw College MS 25 (search-room photostat); a few, (102) fols. 12-17v.

Finchale deeds
Reference: {Finc.}
Documents concerning the properties, etc., that, with others in (7), constituted the estate of the Finchale priory; some now missing.
Calendared: in Finchale deeds: a calendar
Catalogued before transfer from (29), and indexed as such in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”.
Indexed: “Selective Index of Persons and Places”.
Listed: (15); also, c. 1900 (search-room manuscript).
Printed: most, together with Finchale charters in (7), Priory of Finchale. The charters of endowment, inventories, and account rolls, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 6, 1837), pp. 1-192, including (pp. 169-91) a group of indulgences now missing.

Inventories or Repertories
These list sections of (1-11), item by item, giving a brief description of each document, commonly that also found on the dorse of the original.
* -(13) record previous arrangements of documents now covered by (14).
*-(14) summarily described: G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain. A short catalogue, (London, 1958) nos. 339-42, with earlier, less comprehensive, inventories registered as nos. 333-38.

Repertory
Reference: Misc. Ch. 426
Dates of creation: 14th century
Extent: 25ff. 13¼" x 8½"
Inventory listing charters and local deeds.

Copy of Misc. Ch. 426
Dates of creation: 1797

Oxford Bodleian Library MS Carte 177
Dates of creation: [c.1380]
Extent: 39ff. 17⅛" x 11½"
Similar to *.
Search-room photostat
Calendared with (18).

Repertorium Parvum
Reference: {Rep. Parv.}
Dates of creation: Compiled c.1400.
Extent: 26+79ff. 11¼" x 6¾"
Inventory of archive in two parts.

Repertorium Magnum
Reference: {Rep.Mag.}
Dates of creation: Compiled c.1462 x 1464, with many added entries, down to c.1900, and also cross-references to (19-22)
Extent: 56+159ff. 15⅛" x 11¼"
Covers (1-8) in their present arrangement, some of which are now missing, and for (5)-(8) generally provides the most detailed descriptions available of individual documents.
This is the source for entries for (5)-(8) in “Preliminary Index of Place-names”, which also contains references to the index on pp. 1-56 at the front of (14).
For Almoner, see (23). Covers (9); compiled early 14th century.
For Sacrist, see (102). Covers (10); compiled c.1500.
Described: M.R. Foster, “The Magnum Repertorium: a users' guide”, (search-room typescript, 1982).

Repertory of Finchale records
Reference: {Rep. Finc.}
Dates of creation: compiled 1527+
Covers (11).

Repertorium - cellae de Coldingham
Reference: {Rep. Cold.}
Dates of creation: [c. 1700]
Covers deeds of Coldingham priory, now in (29).
For Coldingham, see also Misc. Ch. 1026 + 1025, 1224. 2646-47

Cartularies
Volumes containing copies of original documents in (1)-(11), etc. (17-26) summarily described: G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain. A short catalogue, (London, 1958), nos. 324-32, 345-6 and 343-4, with (18) entered as 'The Small Cartulary' (no. 326); Ushaw MS 25, ibid., no. 347.

Misc. Ch. 7177
Dates of creation: c.1220
Extent: 5ff. 16⅛" x 11½"
With Oxford Bodleian Library MS Carte 177 fols. 41-42 (search-room photostat). Fragments of similar date and content to (18); copies of documents in (1), (4) and (7).
Calendared: with (18) in Thirteenth-Century Cartularies. A preliminary guide.

Cartuarium vetus
Reference: {Cart. Vet.}
Dates of creation: Originally compiled c.1220s.
Extent: 173ff. 9¼" x 6½"
Copies of documents in (1)-(4) and (7)-(8), and also, for Scotland, in (29)
Surveyed: M.G. Snape, “Notes on the General Cartularies and Registers of the Priory of Durham …”, (search-room typescript, 1961; annotated).
Calendared: Thirteenth-Century Cartularies. A preliminary guide (search-room typescript, 1975; annotated).

Cartularia
Reference: {Cart.} I - IV
Copies of documents in (1)-(8), generally following the arrangement recorded in (13), which was later superseded by (14), in which references were inserted to (19)-(22).
Surveyed: as (18).

Cart. I.
Dates of creation: c.1407-10
Extent: 237ff. + iii. 13½" x 9½"
Mostly copies of documents in (1)-(2), (4)-(6), (3) and (7); compiled with (20) and (21) II fols. 1-152
Calendared: Cartulary I.

Cart. II.
Dates of creation: c.1407-10
Extent: 307ff. + xxii. 14⅛" x 9¾"
Mostly copies of documents in (7).
Calendared: Cartulary II.

Cart. III.
Dates of creation: c.1407-10; c.1500
Extent: 401ff. 13½" x 9¾"
Fols. ii, 1-152. Mostly copies of documents in (3) and (8); originally compiled as (19).
Fols. i, 1-48 and ii,153-356. Mostly copies of documents in (8), and (1)-(4); compiled c.1500.
Calendared: Cartulary III.

Cart. IV.
Dates of creation: compiled c.1500
Extent: 309ff. 13¾" x 10¼"
Mostly copies of documents in (7).
Calendared: Cartulary IV.

Almoner's small cartulary
Reference: {Alm. sm. cart.}
Dates of creation: Compiled early 13th - early 16th century
Extent: 117ff. 8¼" x 6"
pp. 1-38 and 67-234. Copies of documents relating to the almoner's estate, many in (9), and of documents issued in the name of the almoner, together with associated memoranda.
pp. 39-66. Repertory covering (9); originally compiled early 14th century.
Calendared: Almoner's small cartulary

Almoner's rentals & cartulary
Reference: {Alm. rntls & cart.}
Dates of creation: 15th century
Extent: 126ff. 14¾" x 10¼"
Fols. 1-70. Almoner's survey, rentals, arrears-lists, etc., 1424-1442.
Fols. 71-195 (leaves lost at the start). Copies of documents in (9) and (29); compiled c.1500.
Calendared: Almoner's rentals and cartulary.

Chamberlain's cartulary
Reference: {Cham. cart.}
Dates of creation: Compiled c.1300-1350
Extent: 12ff. + ii 10¼" x 6¾"
Copies of thirty documents relating to the chamberlain's estate, mostly in (8).
Calendared: Chamberlain's cartulary

Communar's cartulary
Reference: {Com. cart.}
Dates of creation: Compiled c.1500
Extent: 55ff. 11" x 7¾"
Copies of documents relating to the communar's estate, now in (29).
Calendared: Communar's cartulary

Infirmarer's rentals & cartulary
Reference: {Inf. rntls & cart.}
Dates of creation: 1420-1430
Fols. 1-2 and 11. Survey (damaged) of infirmarer's estate, c.1425.
Fols. 3-4. Infirmarer's rental, 1430.
Fols. 4-10. Copies of twelve documents relating to the infirmarer's estate in (7); compiled ca.1430.
Calendared: Infirmarer's rentals and cartulary

Ushaw College MS 25
Reference:
Extent: 131ff. + i 14½" x 9½"
['Liber sacriste'] (search-room photostat).
Copies of documents in (10); compiled c.1500.
For Sacrist's supplement to Ushaw MS 25, see (102) fols. 12-17v.
Calendared: manuscript draft available by arrangement.

Locelli
Reference: {Loc.}
Extent: Over 1500 items
The creation of a series of locelli dates from the late Middle Ages. The contents are chiefly medieval documents of legal and administrative business (but cf. XXIX), rather than title-deeds (but cf. XXXVI). The principle of arrangement was to bring together materials concerning a particular subject in a single locellus. The medieval arrangement no longer obtains, although a reconstruction of it would be possible from endorsements of documents, many of which are now classed as Miscellaneous Charters. A summary description of the arrangement as it stood in the seventeenth century is to be found in (14) fols. 155v-157v.
The present arrangement is presumably the work of Joseph Stevenson, who was engaged on cataloguing the cathedral's muniments 1841-48; he preserved the principle of arrangement by subject, but apparently undertook major re-organization of the details. The changes have left some locelli devoid of documents (XI-XII, XV, XXII-XXIII, XXVI, XXX-XXXVI, XXXVIII-XL), and one with only a single item (XXIV:79). Documents were added later, when appropriate, by the Revd. Canon William Greenwell, Chapter Librarian 1862-1907, and by others.
Catalogued (search-room photocopy of manuscript slips) by J. Stevenson, W. Greenwell and others, with documents in Latin described in Latin.
Summary conspectus:
Detailed conspectus of Loc.I:
Calendared: Locelli

Miscellaneous Charters
Reference: {Misc. Ch.}
Extent: c. 7300 items
A class created c.1850 and including c.850 items of post-dissolution material, almost all of it 16th or 17th century vouchers for expenditure. This is the only class of medieval material to which additions have routinely been made, but a substantial number of items have also been removed from it in the course of recreating the medieval classes formed by the deeds of the almoner, the sacrist and Finchale priory {Elemos., Sacr., and Finc.}, (9); (10) and (11), and in creating the two series of Coldingham accounts, (70) and (71).
The original principle was to arrange the material whenever possible alphabetically according to the place to which it referred, with most properties belonging to Coldingham treated as 'C', but it seems that further material was brought into the class once this process was under way and so could not be placed appropriately. There is also a good deal of material.
The principal groups of charter material are:

The deeds of the communar, identified in A.J. Piper, “The Deeds and Cartulary of the Monastic Communar”, (search-room typescript, 1994), pp. 2-8, with their late medieval arrangement reconstructed, pp. 9-16; most copied in (26).

Deeds, etc., of Coldingham priory, identified and calendared in “Coldingham Priory materials”, (search-room manuscript cards); earlier texts copied in (18).

Deeds for property in Darlington belonging to William of Walworth [d. c.1352]: Misc. Ch. 1529-1656.

Claxton family deeds, deposited 15th century, together with Haswell Deeds; draft conspectus

Formularies, see (120) seq.

Skeleton calendar: Miscellaneous Charters
Catalogued (search-room volumes, manuscript or, for final volume (nos. 6000-7308), draft typescript transcript) by J. Stevenson, W. Greenwell and others, with documents in Latin described in Latin up to no. 5991.
Summary conspectus of nos 1-5999:
Post-dissolution: “Post-Dissolution Materials Classed as Miscellaneous Charters” (chronologically arranged), (search-room typescript).
Among the Thematic and Generic Catalogues, those that include material in this class are:

“Original Indulgences: a calendar”;

“Original papal issues: a calendar”;

“English royal issues: a calendar”;

“dcdarcipiscopal issues: a calendar”;

Durham Episcopal Charters 1071-1152 (nos. 27, 35a-b);

Coldingham Priory materials;

“The development of ... the city of Durham”;

“MAM”;

“English monastic letter-books”;

Local Maps and Plans;

“Evidence of Medieval Bindings”.

Accounts

Accounts of Durham Office-holders or obedientiaries

Almoner's rent-rolls
Reference: {Alm. r-rolls}
Dates of creation: 1290 ? - 1346
Extent: 11 items Listed: MAM, p. 77
Mentioned: Extracts from the account rolls of the abbey of Durham [EARD], Vol. i, ed. J.T. Fowler, (Surtees Soc. 99, 1898), pp. 199 and 206.

Almoner's accounts
Reference: {Alm. acs}
Dates of creation: 1339 - 1536
Extent: 230 items Listed: MAM, pp. 77-81
Printed, extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. i, pp. 199-258.

Bursar's accounts
Reference: {Bur. acs}
Dates of creation: 1278 - 1537
Extent: 302 items Listed: MAM, pp. 2-13
Printed, extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. ii-iii, pp. 484-707.

Cellarer's accounts
Reference: {Celr. acs}
Dates of creation: c.1300 - 1535
Extent: 442 items Listed: MAM, pp. 14-24
Printed, extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. i, pp. 1-112.

Chamberlain's accounts
Reference: {Cham. acs}
Dates of creation: 1334 - 1533
Extent: 115 items Listed: MAM, pp. 82-4, including receiver in Yorkshire (1 frag.).
Printed, extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. i, pp. 165-98.

Communar's accounts
Reference: {Com. acs}
Dates of creation: 1416 - 1538
Extent: 32 items Listed: MAM, pp. 85-6
Extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. ii, pp. 285-98.

Feretrar's accounts
Reference: {Feret. acs}
Dates of creation: 1375 - 1538
Extent: 149 items Listed: MAM, pp. 87-9
Printed, extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. ii, pp. 420-83.

Granator's accounts
Reference: {Gran. acs}
Dates of creation: 1294 ? - 1534
Extent: 118 items Listed: MAM, pp. 28-9

Hostiller's accounts
Reference: {Hos. acs}
Dates of creation: 1302 - 1529
Extent: 198 items Listed: MAM, pp. 90-4
Printed, extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. i, pp. 113-64.

Infirmarer's accounts
Reference: {Inf. acs}
Dates of creation: 1352 - 1535
Extent: 112 items Listed: MAM, pp. 99-100
Printed, extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. i, pp. 259-84.

Sacrist's accounts
Reference: {Sacr. acs}
Dates of creation: 1318 - 1536
Extent: 117 items
Listed: MAM, pp. 100-4, including Sacristheugh and receiver in York and Holtby.
Printed, extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. i, pp. 372-419.

Terrar's accounts
Reference: {Ter. acs}
Dates of creation: 1391 ? - 1513
Extent: 26 + 1 items Listed: MAM, p. 1
Extracted, mentioned: EARD, vol. ii, pp. 300-8.

Bursar-Cellarer indentures
Reference: {Bur-Celr. inds}
Dates of creation: 1360 - 1537
Extent: 111 plus 1 items Listed: MAM, pp. 25-7

Bursar-Granator indentures
Reference: {Bur-Gran. inds}
Dates of creation: 1396? - 1537
Extent: 99 items
Listed: MAM, pp. 31-2.

Manorial Accounts
All these series relate to manors in Co. Durham. With the exception of (49), which formed part of the hostiller's estate, they all belonged to the main estate, administered by the bursar and terrar and supporting the cellarer and granator. Two accounts survive for the manor of Wingate, which belonged to the cell at Finchale: Loc.VII:4 and 4*, see “MAM”, p. 120.

Bearpark accounts
Reference: {Beapk acs}
Dates of creation: 1327 - 1407
Extent: 31 items Listed: MAM, pp. 37-8.

Belasis accounts
Reference: {Bels. acs}
Dates of creation: c.1300-1350 and 1305-6
Extent: 2 items Listed: MAM, p. 38

Bewley accounts
Reference: {Bewl. acs}
Dates of creation: 1305 - 1408
Extent: 23 items Listed: MAM, pp. 39-40

Billingham accounts
Reference: {Bill. acs}
Dates of creation: 1327 - 1344
Extent: 15 items Listed: MAM, pp. 40-1

Dalton accounts
Reference: {Dalt. acs}
Dates of creation: 1305 - 1344
Extent: 8 items Listed: MAM, p. 41

Elvethall accounts
Reference: {Elv. acs}
Dates of creation: 1383 - 1529
Extent: 60 items Listed: MAM, pp. 95-6

Ferryhill accounts
Reference: {Fery. acs}
Dates of creation: 1316 - 1447
Extent: 8 items Listed: MAM, p. 42

Fulwell accounts
Reference: {Fulw. acs}
Dates of creation: 1331 - 1413
Extent: 36 items Listed: MAM, pp. 42-3

Heworth with Wardley account
Reference: {Hew. ac.}
Dates of creation: 1277-8
Extent: 1 item Listed: MAM, p. 43

Houghall accounts
Reference: {Houg. acs}
Dates of creation: 1369 - 1426
Extent: 32 items Listed: MAM, p. 43-4

Ketton accounts
Reference: {Ket. acs}
Dates of creation: 1296 - 1410
Extent: 46 + 1 items Listed: MAM, pp. 44-6 and 61

Merrington accounts
Reference: {Merr. acs}
Dates of creation: 1376 - 1382
Extent: 8 items Listed: MAM, p. 46

Pittington accounts
Reference: {Pitt. acs}
Dates of creation: 1277 - 1452
Extent: 58 items Listed: MAM, pp. 47-8

Wardley accounts
Reference: {Ward. acs}
Dates of creation: c.1289 - 1376
Extent: 19 items Listed: MAM, pp. 49-50

Westoe accounts
Reference: {West. acs}
Dates of creation: 1326 - 1408
Extent: 30 items Listed: MAM, p. 51

Enrolled manors accounts
Reference: {Enr. man. acs}
Dates of creation: 1296 ? - 1326
Extent: 15 items Listed: MAM, pp. 33-6

Livestock Accounts

Enrolled livestock accounts
Reference: {Enr. lstk. acs}
Dates of creation: 1310 - 1423
Extent: 23 + 2 items Listed: MAM, pp. 53-8

Stock-keeper's accounts
Reference: {Stkpr acs}
Dates of creation: 1337 - 1404
Extent: 5 items Listed: MAM, p. 52

Holme accounts
Reference: {Holm. acs}
Dates of creation: 1415 - 1482
Extent: 39 items Listed: MAM, pp. 60-1

Muggleswick accounts
Reference: {Mugl. acs}
Dates of creation: 1421 - c.1488?
Extent: 49 items Listed: MAM, pp. 62-3

Accounts, etc. of Coal-mining
Records of various kinds relating to coal-mining on monastic properties in Co. Durham (Aldingrange, Bearpark, Broom, Ferryhill, Ketton, Rainton), arising from either direct exploitation or leasing.

Mines accounts
Reference: {Mines acs}
Dates of creation: 1409 - 1453
Extent: 18 items
Principally records of miscellaneous disbursement of mining revenues.
Listed: MAM, pp. 66-7
Extracted: EARD, vol. iii, pp. 708-13.

*
Detailed records of mining, 1436-41: Bursar's book F (86) fols. 1, 17, 20-36v, 43v, 47-49, 51.
Described in detail with (80)-(93): typescript available by arrangement.
Listed: MAM, pp. 66-7

Terrar's coal-mine receipts
Reference: {Ter. mine recs}
Dates of creation: 1446-53
Detailed records of mining.
Described in detail with (80)-(93): typescript available by arrangement.
Listed: MAM, pp. 66-7

Accounts of Proctors of Churches
The revenues from tithes and ecclesiastical dues recorded in (66) and (67) formed part of those of the main estate, administered by the bursar and terrar; those in (68) and (69) belonged to the hostiller's estate.

Proctor of Norham accounts
Reference: {Norh. acs}
Dates of creation: 1299 - 1535
Extent: 134 + 1 items Listed: MAM, pp. 69-72.

Proctor in Scotland accounts
Reference: {Scot. acs}
Dates of creation: 1325 - 1368
Extent: 10 items Listed: MAM, p. 73.
Printed, with one exception: Priory of Coldingham. The correspondence, inventories, account rolls, and law proceedings, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 12, 1841), pp. ii-lv.

Proctor of Durham St Margaret accounts
Reference: {St Mar. acs}
Dates of creation: 1447 - 1529
Extent: 22 items Listed: MAM, p. 97.

Proctor of Durham St Oswald accounts
Reference: {St Os. acs}
Dates of creation: 1332 - 1529
Extent: 23 items Listed: MAM, p. 98.

Cell Accounts

Coldingham prior's accounts
Reference: {Cold. pr. acs}
Dates of creation: 1342 - 1425
Extent: 44 items Listed: MAM, pp. 108-9.
Printed or extracted: Priory of Coldingham. The correspondence, inventories, account rolls, and law proceedings, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 12, 1841), pp. xv-lxxxv.

Coldingham sacrist's accounts
Reference: {Cold. sacr. acs}
Dates of creation: 1311 - 1413
Extent: 27 items Listed: MAM, p. 110.
Printed or extracted: Priory of Coldingham. The correspondence, inventories, account rolls, and law proceedings, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 12, 1841), pp. i-cvii.

Farne accounts
Reference: {Farn. acs}
Dates of creation: 1357 - 1537
Extent: 210 items Listed: MAM, pp. 111-4.

Finchale accounts
Reference: {Finc. acs}
Dates of creation: 1303 - 1529
Extent: 228 items Listed: MAM, pp. 115-20.
Most printed: Priory of Finchale. The charters of endowment, inventories, and account rolls, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 6, 1837), pp. i-ccccxiv.

Holy Island accounts
Reference: {HIs. acs}
Dates of creation: 1308 - 1537
Extent: 248 items Listed: MAM, pp. 121-5.

Jarrow accounts
Reference: {Jar. acs}
Dates of creation: 1303 - 1537
Extent: 219 items Listed: MAM, pp. 126-30.
Printed or extracted: Inventories and account rolls of the Benedictine houses or cells of Jarrow and Monk-Wearmouth, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 29, 1854), pp. 1-135.

Lytham accounts
Reference: {Lyth. acs}
Dates of creation: 1310 - 1534
Extent: 193 items Listed: MAM, pp. 131-4.

Oxford accounts
Reference: {Oxf. acs}
Dates of creation: 1389 - 1542
Extent: 211 items (57 termly) Listed: MAM, pp. 66-7, pp. 141-4, including foundation accounts and Frampton church.
Seven printed: H.E.D. Blakiston, “Some Durham College rolls”, in M. Burrows ed., Collectanea. Third Series, (Oxford Historical Soc. 32, 1896), pp. 41-72.

Stamford accounts
Reference: {Stam. acs}
Dates of creation: 1364 - 1533
Extent: 57 items Listed: MAM, pp. 135-6.

Wearmouth accounts
Reference: {Wrm. acs}
Dates of creation: 1321 - 1534
Extent: 187 items Listed: MAM, pp. 137-40.
Printed or extracted: Inventories and account rolls of the Benedictine houses or cells of Jarrow and Monk-Wearmouth, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 29, 1854), pp. 139-232.

Rentals
The documents described as rent-books, (87)-(90), (92)-(96) and (98)-(100), differ from rentals in having between each entry a space in which details of payments were normally recorded, illustrated Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989), p. 130 and cf. pp. 30 and 72.
80-93 and *. Described in detail: typescript available by arrangement.

Feodarium
Reference: {Feod.}
Dates of creation: 1430
Principally a survey of the freeholdings of the main monastic estate, 1430.
Printed, except pp. 70-4: Feodarium Prioratus Dunelmensis, ed. W. Greenwell, (Surtees Soc. 58, 1872), pp. 1-92.

Bursar's books A - M.
Reference: {Bur. bks}

Bursar's books A-E.
Principally bursar's rentals, from the period 1334 ? - c.1403.
Listed: Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989), p. 12.

Bk. A. Bk A fols. 21-36v.
Printed: Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989), pp. 32-67.
Bk A fols. 72v-73.
Printed: Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989), pp. 68-70.

Bk. E.
Bk E fols. 1-22 has elements of a survey not found in other rentals, c.1411.
Bk E fols. 25-48v.
Printed: Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989), pp. 73-128.

Bk F.
Bursar's receipts-book 1432
Accounting material relating to coal-mining 1436-41, and Bearpark stud account 1439-42.
Listed (mining material): “MAM”, pp. 66-7)

Bursar's books G-J.
Principally bursar's rent-books, from the period 1495-1518.
Listed: Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989), p. 14.

Bk G. Printed: Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989), pp. 133-97.

Bk K.
Dates of creation: 1530 -1534
Details of bursar's annual expenses and purchases, currently recorded, 1530-34.
Printed: Durham household book; or, the accounts of the bursar of the monastery of Durham from Pentecost 1530 to Pentecost 1534, ed. J.Raine, (Surtees Soc. 18, 1844).

Bursar's books L-M.
Principally bursar's rent-books, for 1538-9 and 1539-40.
Listed: Durham cathedral priory rentals I: bursar's rentals, ed. R.A. Lomas & A.J. Piper, (Surtees Soc. 198, 1989), p. 14.

Bk M ff. 5-91. Original entries printed: Feodarium Prioratus Dunelmensis, ed. W. Greenwell, (Surtees Soc. 58, 1872), pp. 302-31.

* Varia, 1535-56: Misc. Ch. 7283.

Almoner's rentals
Reference: {Alm. rntls}

For Almoner 1424-1442: see (24).

Almoner's rent books I
Reference: {Alm. rntls 1501-3}
Dates of creation: 1501 - 1504
Almoner's rent-books for three consecutive years, 1501-2, 1502-3 and 1503-4; Bound as one, each with some material relating to expenditures.

Almoner's rent books II
Reference: {Alm. rntls 1532-7}
Dates of creation: 1532 - 1537
Almoner's rent-books for five consecutive years, 1532-1537; Bound as one, each with some heads of expenditure.

Communar's rentals
Reference: {Com. rntls}

Communar's rentals I
Reference: {Com. rntls c.1453-1458}
Dates of creation: 1453 - 1458
Communar's rental for c.1453 and rent-books for eight consecutive six-monthly terms, 1454-1458; Bound as one, some with a little material relating to expenditures, etc.
Transcribed: fols. 25-32 (Pentecost term 1455), typescript available by arrangement.

Communar's rental, c.1530
Reference: {Com. rntl c.1530}
Dates of creation: c. 1530 Transcribed: typescript available by arrangement.

Hostiller's books
Reference: {Hos. bks} Described in detail: draft typescript available by arrangement.

Hostiller's rent-book I
Reference: {Hos. bk 1523-4}
Dates of creation: 1523 - 1524
Hostiller's rent-book for one year, 1523-4, with some heads of expenditure.

Hostiller's rent-book II
Reference: {Hos. bk 1524-5}
Hostiller's rent-book for one year, 1524-5, with some heads of expenditure.

Hostiller's rent-book III
Reference: {Hos. bk 1525-34}
Dates of creation: 1525 - 1534
Hostiller's rent-books for nine consecutive years, 1525-34; Bound as one, with some heads of expenditure.
Described in detail: draft typescript available by arrangement.

For Infirmarer c.1425 and 1430: see (27).

Sacrist's rentals
Reference: {Sacr. rntls}
Dates of creation: 1329 - 1384
Rentals for 1329-33, 1336-62, 1363, 1368-70, 1375-82 and 1384-5, with some other material, including survey of Trinity chantry endowments.

Sacrist's repertory & rental
Reference: {Sacr. rep. & rntl}
Dates of creation: 1500
ff. 1-10. Repertory covering (10); compiled c.1500.
ff. 12-17v. Copies of sacrist's deeds; compiled c.1500.
ff. 21-30v. Sacrist's rental, 1500-1.
ff. 1-10: summarily described: G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain. A short catalogue, (London, 1958), no. 348.

Court Rolls

Marshalsey rolls
Reference: {Marsh. rolls}
Dates of creation: c.1370 - 1425
Extent: 13 items
Records of the prior of Durham's enforcement in his fee of the assize of bread and ale and other market matters covered by what were known in the palatinate of Durham as 'Articuli marescalciam tangentes'.
Listed
Extracted: EARD vol. ii, pp. 327-71.

Halmote rolls
Reference: {Halm. rolls}
Dates of creation: c.1295 - 1507
Extent: 205 items
Court-rolls of the prior of Durham's halmote court, of which there were normally three tourns each year, in spring, summer and autumn; as the spring tourn fell before 25th March it was the third in the year by medieval reckoning and the summer tourn the first.
Land transactions are also recorded in the Halmote court-books, (105)-(107), and cease to be recorded on the rolls after 1467-72.
A little material relating to Edmundbyers, Shoreswood and Norham is Loc.IV: 115, 117 and 98.
“List, with evidence for dating, etc., of each roll”
Extracted, up to 1384: Halmota Prioratus Dunelmensis containing extracts from the halmote court or manor rolls of the prior and convent of Durham. A.D. 1296 - A.D. 1384, ed. W.H. Longstaffe & J. Booth, (Surtees Soc. 82, 1889), of which the proposed second volume has not been published.

For the hostiller's courts in Elvet and at Shincliffe, see Loc.IV.

For the prior of Finchale's halmote court at Softley, see Misc. Ch. 7257-63.

Court Books, etc.

Halmote court-books
Reference: {Halm. bks}
More or less current record of land transactions in the prior of Durham's halmote court, cf. (104).
Described in detail: draft typescript available by arrangement.

Halmote court-book I.
Dates of creation: 1400-39

Halmote court-book II.
Dates of creation: 1440-91
With index of tenants, manor by manor.

Halmote court-book III
Reference:
Dates of creation: 1492-1528
With index of tenants, manor by manor.

Crossgate borough court-books
Reference: {Crsg. bks}
More or less current record of proceedings in the court of the sacrist's borough of Crossgate (Durham) alias the Old Borough.

Crossgate court-book I.
Reference:
Dates of creation: 1498-1524 and 1530-31 Printed in: Records of the Borough of Crossgate, Durham 1312-1531, ed R.H. Britnell (Surtees Society 212, 2008), p.66-288, 324-341, 347-354.

Crossgate court-book II
Reference:
Dates of creation: 1524-28 Printed in: Records of the Borough of Crossgate, Durham 1312-1531, ed R.H. Britnell (Surtees Society 212, 2008), p.289-324.

Ecclesiastical judicial acta
Arising from the prior of Durham's officiality or quasi-archidiaconal jurisdiction in parish-churches in the archdeaconry of Durham appropriated to the cathedral chapter.
Summarily described: C. Donahue, The Records of the Medieval Ecclesiastical Courts. Part II: England, (Comparative Studies in Continental and Anglo-American Legal History 7; Berlin, 1994), p. 163, no. 05.3.

Capitula generalia prioris Dunelm
Reference: {Cap. prior.}
Dates of creation: 1435-1456 Printed extracts: Depositions and other Ecclesiastical Proceedings from the Courts of Durham, ed. J. Raine, (Surtees Soc. 21, 1845), pp. 26-37.

Court-book of the Prior's official
Reference: {Off. bk}
Dates of creation: 1487-1498

Registers
Volumes compiled for the convenient preservation of copies of outgoing documents, very similar in principle to bishops' registers; for older practices, see (112).
Other miscellaneous material commonly included. Generally created more or less contemporaneously, but see (112). In several of the formularies (120) seq. there are some documents in which the details of names, places, etc. have not been suppressed, so that they function to some degree as classified registers.
Summarily described, except Misc. Ch. 7071a: D.M. Smith, Guide to Bishops' Registers of England and Wales, (London, 1981), p. 269; also, Misc. Ch. 5723, W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 217 no. 17.

Registers
Reference: {Reg.} I - V.
Broadly distinguished from (117)-(119) by containing copies of documents issued in the name of the whole community rather than the prior alone.
Summarily described: (113)-(116), W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 215 nos. 1-4.
Surveyed: M.G. Snape, “Notes on the General Cartularies and Registers of the Priory of Durham ...”, (search-room typescript, 1961; annotated).

Reg. I.
An early 15th century compilation of copies of documents issued in the community's name, mostly grants or leases of land, presentations to churches or confirmations of episcopal grants, from as far back as the twelfth century, many of which survive, generally in the form of counterparts, in (29); also copies of more general material, such as “Boldon Book” and the Modus tenendi parliamentum.
Calendared: Register I

For Priory register, 1265-70 + 1283, see 1.2.Archid.Dun.7 (a roll).

For Priory register, 1308-9 (16 items), see Loc.XIII:21 (a roll).
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, pp. 216-17 no. 13.

Reg. II.
Dates of creation: 1312-1401
Current register.
Calendared: Register II

Reg. III.
Dates of creation: 1401-1444
Current register.
Calendared: Register III

Reg. IV.
Dates of creation: 1444-1486
Current register.
Calendared: Register IV

Reg. V.
Dates of creation: 1486-1538
Current register.
Calendared: Register V

Four leaves of a current register
Dates of creation: 1538-9
Extent: 4ff.
Durham County Record Office, D/SA/X164
Search-room photostat

For Sede vacante documents 1406, see Misc. Ch. 5723, 1.12.Pont.6, Cart. III fols. ii, 145-150v, and Misc. Ch. 7071a.

**, 117-119 and ***
Broadly distinguished from (112)-(116) by containing copies of documents issued in the name of the prior, rather than the whole community, largely informal correspondence and records of his functions as monastic superior; sometimes called letter-books.
Summarily described: ** and (117)-(119), W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 216 nos. 5-8.
Surveyed: M.G. Snape, “Notes on the General Cartularies and Registers of the Priory of Durham ...”, (search-room typescript, 1961; annotated).

B.L. MS Cotton Faustina A.vi
Reference: [Reg. Parv. I]
Originally compiled as a formulary, with some classified sections, but with an increasing number of the additions from c.1380 onwards including details of names, dates, etc.
Search-room photostat.
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 216 no. 5; also, G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain. A short catalogue, (London, 1958), no. 351.

Small registers
Reference: {Reg. Parv.} II - IV Mentioned: G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain. A short catalogue, (London, 1958), no. 351 as "Reg. Parva I-III".

Reg. Parv. II.
Dates of creation: 1407-1445
Current small register, 1407-1445 with gaps.
Calendared: Registrum Parvum II

Reg. Parv. III.
Dates of creation: 1446-1481
Current small register, 1446-81.
Calendared: Registrum Parvum III

Reg. Parv. IV.
Dates of creation: 1484-1519
Current small register, 1484-1519.
Calendared: Registrum Parvum IV

*** 1522-1525
Two leaves of a later small register, 1522 and 1525: (121) no. 41.
2ff.

For Almoner: see (23), and (121) no. 39.

Formularies etc.
Compilations of copies of documents, letters, etc., assembled as examples of standard forms, well-expressed sentiments, etc., commonly with details of names and places reduced to nominal letters or entirely omitted.

B.L. MS Stowe 930 fols. 15-26v
Mostly copies of documents originating from Durham Cathedral Priory; compiled later 13th century.
(DUL microfilm available).
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 216 no. 9.
Described: Durham Annals and Documents of the Thirteenth Century, ed. F. Barlow, (Surtees Soc. 155, 1945), pp. xxxiv-v.
Items listed: ibid., pp. 238-41.

Most items edited: Durham Annals and Documents of the Thirteenth Century, ed. F. Barlow, (Surtees Soc. 155, 1945), pp. 85-202.

B.L. MS Cotton Faustina A.vi [Reg. Parv. I]
Mostly copies of documents issued in the name of the prior of Durham, originally compiled mid-14th century as a formulary, but with an increasing number of the additions from c.1380 onwards including details of names, dates, etc.
(Search-room photostat).
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 216 no. 5; also, G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain. A short catalogue, (London, 1958), no. 351.

Durham Chapter Library MS C.IV.25.
Dates of creation: Compiled later 14th century.
Mostly copies of letters or documents originating from Durham Cathedral Priory.
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 217 no. 15.

Registrum papireum diversarum literarum
Reference: {Reg. dcdpap.}
Extent: 127 leaves
Copies of letters and documents from various sources, in blocks, including some found in another formulary (Lambeth Palace MS 221), some involving Thomas Cobham bishop of Worcester (1317-27), some state letters (some fictitious), and a few originating from Durham Cathedral Priory, together with a portion of John Wyclif's De civili dominio; compiled in its present form late 14th century.
Calendared: Registrum papireum diversarum literarum
Described: W. A. Pantin, “Letters from Durham registers, c. 1360-1390”, in Formularies which bear on the History of Oxford, ed H.E. Salter, W.A. Pantin and H.G. Richardson (Oxford Historical Soc. ns 4, 1942), pp. 219-20.
Not noticed by W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, although entered (as N) in the 1421 chancery book-list, which he prints (p. 211) with a different tentative identification.

See also: Loc.I:60 (a roll). Copies of documents concerning elections of a prior and two bishops of Durham, 1261-74, compiled later 13th century.

See also: Misc. Ch. 5712, mm. 1-8 (a roll). Mostly copies of letters or documents originating from Durham Cathedral Priory; compiled later 13th century.
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 216 no. 10.
Described: Durham Annals and Documents of the Thirteenth Century, ed. F. Barlow, (Surtees Soc. 155, 1945), p. xxxiv.
Items listed: ibid., pp. 233-8.
Selected items edited: ibid., pp. 85-202.

See also: Loc.III:40 (a roll). Mostly copies of letters or documents originating from Durham Cathedral Priory; compiled late 13th century.
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 216 no. 11.
Described: ibid., pp. xxxv-vi.
Items listed: ibid., pp. 241-5.
Selected items edited: ibid., pp. 85-202.

See also: Misc. Ch. 5672 (a roll). Copies of letters, together with a few documents issued by bishops of Durham; compiled 13th and 14th century.
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 216 no. 12.

See also: Misc. Ch. 421 (15 leaves). Mostly copies of letters or documents originating from Durham Cathedral Priory, but some from the bishop's administration, c.1370-81; compiled late 14th century.
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 217 no. 14.

See also: Misc. Ch. 7213 (2 leaves). Perhaps originally part of Misc. Ch. 421 above.

See also: Misc. Ch. 423 (22 leaves). Copies of materials concerning ecclesiastical cases relating to Durham churches; compiled 14th and 15th century.

See also: Loc.X:15 + Loc.XIV:8b (roll). Copies of documents concerning the business of the archdeacon of Durham, c.1260; compiled later 13th century.

See also: Loc.XX:24 (roll). Copies of materials concerning English ecclesiastical cases, 1245-66; compiled later 13th century.

See also: Misc. Ch. 418 (1 leaf). Copies of letters in Anglo-Norman; compiled late 14th century.
Summarily described: W.A. Pantin, “English monastic letter-books”, p. 217 no. 16.

See also: Misc. Ch. 7232 (211 leaves). Copies of documents mostly issued by Thomas Wolsey as bishop of Lincoln, archbishop of York or legate a latere, 1514-26, but with some other material, largely from the dioceses of Lincoln or Salisbury; compiled earlier 16th century.

Fragments of Medieval Books

Endpapers & Bindings
Reference: {Endp.}
Extent: 37 pieces
Pieces of 37 medieval manuscript books and of 11 or more medieval or post-medieval documents, removed from the bindings of books in the archives or in the cathedral library. Most of the documents appear to be from the cathedral archives, including (no. 38) a bursar-granator indenture (43) for 1464-5, and (no. 41) a continuation of (117)-(119), for 1522 and 1525.
Described: E.M. Fewster, “List”, (search-room typescript, 1968; additions, A.J. Piper, 1974; annotated).
Fragments of 23 of the books, and one document, described: N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries ii, (Oxford, 1977), pp. 507-11.

Misc. Ch. 5670
Dates of creation: earlier 11th century
Extent: 1f.
Leaf of a psalter.
Described R.A.B. Mynors, Durham Cathedral Manuscripts to the end of the twelfth century, (Oxford, 1939), p. 29 no. 23.

Fragment of Compilatio II
Dates of creation: early 13th century
Extent: 1f.
Binding-liner of (80).
Described with (80)-(93).

Fragment of a troped three-part Gloria
Dates of creation: mid-14th century
Extent: 1f.
Flyleaf of (26)
Described: N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries ii, (Oxford, 1977), p. 507.

Parts of John Wyclif, De civili dominio bk 3
Reference:
Dates of creation: late 14th century
Extent: 16ff.
(120) f. 109r-124v.

Post-Dissolution Archive
Records of the functions of the dean and chapter, and of the administration of their estates. The former category includes records of chapter meetings and acts, of cathedral services and repairs, of the dean and chapter's spiritual jurisdiction and of the schools, university and other involvements of the dean and chapter outwith the cathedral and precincts. The latter category includes records of the chapter's manorial courts, administrative records relating to corps lands (assigned to individual canons) and to leasehold property, plans and surveys, accounting records, records of title, timber plantations and industry.
Durham priory, dissolved on 31 December 1539, was refounded as a cathedral in May 1541. The cathedral is governed, in accordance with the statutes issued to it in 1555 and subsequently revised and reissued, by a dean and chapter of (initially) twelve residentiary canons. The dean and chapter is responsible for all the work of the cathedral and for the administration of the cathedral estates.
Historical outline When Durham priory was refounded as a cathedral in 1541, the great majority of the estates belonging to the former monastery were granted to the new body. (Receiver's book 2 includes notes on which monastic obedientiaries previously held the separate post-dissolution properties: see under class G/AB.)
During the Commonwealth (1649-1660), the cathedral chapter was abolished and much of the land was sold off. Virtually no records survive from this period. The chapter was reinstated at the Restoration in 1660 and the estates were reacquired, the previous sales being deemed invalid.
The cathedral's estates made Durham among the wealthiest cathedrals by the nineteenth century, and some were used to endow the University of Durham in 1832. Under the Cathedrals Act 1840 (3 & 4 Vict, c.113), the estates that belonged separately to the dean and individual canons were abolished and transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as the relevant stalls became vacant, six of the twelve canonries were to be suspended on vacancy, and the incomes of the deanery and canonries were to be regulated.
From 1868 to 1872, a complete review and reorganisation ( “commutation”) of the cathedral's estates was carried out. By an Order in Council dated 27 November 1872, the bulk of the estate was taken over by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the remainder being deemed large enough to yield for the dean and chapter a sufficient annual income. Many estate records, including counterpart leases and rentals, were removed to London about 1870: as they cease to be relevant to current administration, they have been returned to Durham, and now form the separate Church Commission Durham Cathedral Estates deposit. At or around the same time, the leasehold properties were sold (enfranchised) to the tenants, or surrendered to the dean and chapter and re-let on regular agricultural tenancies or short-term leases.
Some of the classes of records date from immediately after the foundation of the cathedral in 1541, and continue in an unbroken sequence (apart from the Commonwealth years, 1649-1660) until c.1870 at least. Some of the other classes listed here are more recent groups of records, or are artificial classes, created as a home for some of the wide variety of loose papers, especially from the 18th-20th centuries.
Certain classes have been listed previously, using a variety of conventions regarding reference codes and class descriptions. Existing short codes, where they already exist, have been retained within the list, and new (non-mnemonic) codes created for all other classes. The classes have been grouped into an overall structure, to enable the user to see more clearly what the collection contains.
In particular, the separate classes which were listed as “Loose Papers” during the 1960s have been incorporated into the guide, along with as much of the additional loose material currently referenced as “St Helens'” and other miscellaneous classes as can be easily identified from existing notes. As more of this material is sorted and listed, the guide to the records will be revised and expanded.
Although belonging to a separate collection, this guide includes references to items and series that are deposited as part of the Church Commission Durham Cathedral Estates deposit (reference CCD), as this deposit is stored alongside the Durham Cathedral Archive and should be used with them. The CCD series and items included in this guide have been incorporated into the appropriate section and reference code, but will carry CCD reference numbers on the actual items.
Modern records that are still used for current estate administration, including some material from c.1870, is retained by the dean and chapter or their land agent.

Foundation, statutes and members of the cathedral
Reference: DCD/A The cathedral was founded by a charter of Henry VIII on 12 May 1541, and endowed (from the estates of the former monastery) by a charter of 16 May 1541.
Whether Henrician statutes were ever drawn up for or delivered to Durham is uncertain, but no copies survive, and they were certainly not confirmed. The first confirmed statutes were issued by Mary, and confirmed by the great seal on 20 March 1554/5. The Marian statutes were not revised until the late 19th century.
The statutes set out the procedures for the governance of the cathedral and meetings of the dean and chapter. They also establish the number of major canons (or prebendaries, initially 12), of minor canons, lay clerks, choir boys, masters and scholars of grammar, poor men (bedesmen) and other positions, and the rules for their residence and payment etc.

DCD/A/A. Foundation and endowment charters. Marian statutes and subsequent revisions to the statutes and constitution

DCD/A/B. Records of the dean and major canons (prebendaries) - collations, residence records etc

DCD/A/C. Records of other members of the Cathedral foundation (minor canons, lay clerks, bedesmen, honorary canons, cathedral community)

DCD/A/D. Episcopal visitation of the cathedral

Online catalogue

Chapter meetings and acts
Reference: DCD/B The chapter consists of the dean and major canons or prebendaries, with the dean as its head. Under the Marian statutes, the chapter was to meet fortnightly, with General Chapters held on 20th November and 20th July. From the number of the major canons, the chapter elected a vice-dean, a treasurer and a receiver at the annual audit in November. The dean's consent was required for all leases, appointments and other formal documents issued by chapter ( in causis gravioribus , Marian statutes, chapter 7).
In addition to the cathedral's own business, the chapter confirmed a number of episcopal appointments and leases. Confirmation by the chapter was required for such documents if they were to be valid beyond the life or tenure of a particular bishop.
The constitution and statutes of 2000 make the dean chairman of the chapter, and add the chapter clerk and two lay persons to the membership, as well as adjusting the rules for meetings of chapter and making provision for an additional Council to oversee the work of chapter.

DCD/B/A. Chapter acts and meetings

DCD/B/B. Documents issued by the chapter

DCD/B/C. Other records of the chapter (relating to elections of bishops, spiritual patronage and Chapter benefices, secular appointments, York Convocation)

Online catalogue

Records relating to cathedral services
Reference: DCD/C

DCD/C/A. Installation books

DCD/C/B. Registers of baptisms, marriages and burials

DCD/C/C. Registers of services

DCD/C/D. Registers of preachers

DCD/C/E. Inventory of plate

DCD/C/F. Offertory accounts

DCD/C/G. Altar books

DCD/C/H. Orders of service

DCD/C/I. Sunday service notes

DCD/C/J. Service schedules

DCD/C/K. Posters

DCD/C/L. Leaflets and flyers

DCD/C/M. Precentors' records

DCD/C/N. Vergers' diaries

DCD/C/O. Vergers' records (other)

DCD/C/P. Stewards' records

DCD/C/Q. Visitor records

DCD/C/R. Diary Committee

Online catalogue

Spiritual jurisdiction
Reference: DCD/D Scope of jurisdiction The dean and chapter exercised spiritual jurisdiction in certain parishes within the counties of Durham, Northumberland and Yorkshire, roughly equivalent to the jurisdiction exercised by archdeacons elsewhere. The main groups of parishes concerned are as follows:

A number of individual parishes and chapelries scattered throughout County Durham and Northumberland, which together made up the “officialty” of the dean and chapter.

A group of parishes around Northallerton in Yorkshire, known as the Allertonshire peculiar.

A group of parishes around Howden in Yorkshire, known as the Howdenshire peculiar.

The dean and chapter also claimed the right to exercise “ordinary” (episcopal) jurisdiction within the diocese when the see was vacant. This right was regularly (and remains) disputed with similar rights claimed by the archbishop, or at other times the dean and chapter, of York.
The dean and chapter's officialty jurisdiction was abolished in 1842 (Northumberland parishes) and 1882 (Durham parishes). The Allertonshire and Howdenshire peculiars were abolished in 1846.

DCD/D/A. Dean and chapter's own jurisdiction

DCD/D/B. 'Ordinary' (episcopal) jurisdiction, sede vacante

DCD/D/C. Extraneous jurisdiction (chiefly episcopal and archidiaconal)

Online catalogue

Manorial court records
Reference: DCD/MAN
Dates of creation: 1560-1809
Extent: 9 volumes & 16 boxes Historical outline The new dean and chapter in 1541 took over an estate some of which was leased and some held as copyhold. They quite soon began to encourage or press their copyhold tenants to become lessees, and after a major dispute between the chapter and their tenants in the 1570s the Privy council and the Council of the North in 1577 ordered the tenants to accept leases of a pattern specified by the two councils. After this, the dean and chapter's manorial courts had much less business, although their records continue into the 18th or early 19th century.
The dean and chapter's manors were:

Billingham, in which the townships were Belasis, Billingham, Blakiston, Bruntoft, Cowpen Bewley, Newton Bewley, Wolviston;

Crossgate, Durham City;

Elvet, Durham City, which included Shincliffe;

Merrington, in which the townships were Aycliffe, Barmpton, Burdon, Chilton, Cleatlam, Coatham Mundeville, Coatsay Moor, East Merrington, Ferryhill, Hamsterley, Heighington, Hett, Hillcrooks, Hilton, Hunwick, Landieu, Middlestone, Morton Tinmouth, Newhouse, Newton Ketton, Nunstainton, Osmundcroft, Sadberge, Skerningham, Staindropshire, Wackerfield, Westerton, Woodham;

Muggleswick, in which the townships were Brandon Walls [=Rookhope], Burnhope, Bushblades, Cornsay, Eddysbridge, Edmundbyers, Greencroft, Hill House [location unknown; last mention in the records 1679, and up to that date it is always a blank entry], Iveston, Kyo, Londhouse and Stony Heap, Muggleswick, Pedam's Oak, Peth, Pow, Rowley Gilett, Stotfoldburn, Whitehall;

Westoe, in which the townships were Felling, Follingsby, Fulwell, Harton, Hebburn, Hedworth, Over and Nether Heworth, Jarrow Slake, Monkton, Poulter Close, Shields Heugh, South Shields, Southwick, Sunderland, Wallsend, Wallsend Pans, Wardley, Westoe, West Pans, Whitehouse.

MAN/1-7. Court rolls, arranged by manor

MAN/CB. Court books (each covering several manors)

MAN/E. Estreat rolls

MAN/MISC. Miscellanea

MAN/PP. Petitions and presentments

Online catalogue

Plans, surveys and valuations
Reference: DCD/E
Surveys and valuations of the dean and chapter's estates, many with associated plans. Also other plans of dean and chapter properties.

DCD/E/A. Surveys of the leasehold estate

DCD/E/B. Miscellaneous surveys and valuations

DCD/E/C. Other maps and plans (including Enclosure Awards)

DCD/E/D. Ordnance Survey plans

Online catalogue

Records of leasehold properties
Reference: DCD/F Most dean and chapter property was held on the basis of renewable leases. The leases were usually for a term of 21 years, and were repeatedly renewed after only 7 years. A fixed “reserved” rent was payable annually, which was far below the nominal market or “rack” rent for the property. Therefore, a “fine” was additionally payable on renewal of the lease, every 7 years. This fine was considerably higher than the annual rents, and was calculated to recover the difference over 7 years between the value of the reserved rents and the market value of the property. The renewal of the leases was by “contract” with the lessees, and many of the records in this section relate to these contracts and the collection of fines for lease renewals.
Repertory to rentals and plans on counterpart leases
Many of the counterpart leases, particularly from the mid 19th century, include small plans of the property being leased. Many of these plans have been recently (1980s ff.) copied, and listed alongside the descriptions of the properties from the Church Commission schedule of counterpart leases. The list includes cross-references to pages in the Notitia Books and Renewals Book 4 (called the “Great Book”).
Using the copy plans and list, searchers can both check the physical location of leasehold properties, and access the relevant items or pages in the major classes of records relating to the leasehold properties, viz:

counterpart leases (listed in the Church Commission schedule)

Notitia Books (rentals with details of lease renewals: see below)

Renewals Books (predecessors to the Notitia Books: see below)

Note that this repertory covers only the first three Notitia Books (for Durham and Northumberland), and excludes properties in South Shields. It is available as typescript within the searchroom. It is currently being extended to include remaining boxes of counterpart leases.
Mussett, P. and Woodward, P.G., Estates and money at Durham cathedral, 1660-1985 , Durham Cathedral Lecture, 1988 (Durham, 1988)

Counterpart leases
Reference: DCD/F/A
Very few original counterpart leases are held in the main Durham dean and chapter deposit. Most are held in the Church Commission deposit (see below).
The schedule to the counterpart leases within the Church Commission Durham Cathedral Estates deposit is available in the searchroom and on the internet.
Catalogue
DCD/Loc.XXIX:
This class (among the pre-dissolution records of Durham Cathedral) includes counterpart leases for ca.1549-1599. A manuscript list of these leases is kept in the searchroom.
CCD:
Counterpart leases from ca.1700 are in the Church Commission Durham Cathedral Estates deposit.

Counterpart leases within the Durham Cathedral Archive
Reference: DCD/F/AA
Extent: ca.5 boxes
Some counterpart leases and assignments, mainly 17th-18th centuries, are held among the miscellaneous boxes from the 1979 deposit.
Some leases and licences to alienate may be held among the St Helens deposit.
card index
The St Helens boxes are briefly listed on cards. The cards are available for consultation within the searchroom at 5 The College, although they include deeds, leases and some other estate material, without differentiation.

Records of contracts (lease renewals)
Reference: DCD/F/B The contracts were the renewals of leases, typically every 7 years, for a lump sum or fine agreed (contracted) between the lessee and the dean and chapter.
Although unlisted, many of the records within this section can be quickly located for readers at 5 The College. Advance notice of requirements is however advised.

Contracts books
Reference: DCD/F/BA
Dates of creation: 1734-1833
Extent: 2 volumes
Annual lists of lessees contracting or renewing leases, arranged by initial letter of lessees' names. The annual lists are lettered, and the separate contracts in them numbered, up to 1755/56: these letter/number references are used in the Renewals books.
DCD/F/CA
Annual lists of contracts for 1660-1734 are bound at the back of Renewals Book 1. Each list is lettered and the contracts numbered. The lists are arranged alphabetically by initial of lessees' names (as for the later volumes), for 1673/4-1676/7 and from 1689/90.

Daybooks for contracts
Reference: DCD/F/BB
Dates of creation: 1824-1870
Extent: 5 volumes
Lists of contracts for each year, in date order, with notes of payments of fines and seal fees.
Several of the volumes are labelled waste book or waste contracts. Some include up to three columns headed L, C and E, marked with ticks as if counting years (?). The volume for 1837-1844 also includes university leases for 1842-1850.

Lists of leases and licences to alienate
Reference: DCD/F/BC
Dates of creation: 1672-1734, 1821-1892
Extent: 6 volumes
Apart from the first volume, these volumes appear to have been drawn up to assist in the collection of seal fees and/or to trace the leases, counterparts and licences issued by the dean and chapter. Two are labelled waste book. They include only very sparse information on the leases or licences themselves.

The earliest volume is a list of leases sealed from 1672 to 1734, arranged in separate sections according to the initial letter of lessees' surnames. Within each section, the leases are grouped by year, and within each year grouping, they are listed in alphabetical order by lessee.

Other volumes typically include details of leases, with notes of the delivery and receipt of the lease and counterpart. The backs of the volumes are used to briefly record licences to alienate. These volumes are arranged in date order according to the notes of the delivery or receipt of the leases, which in many cases is several years after the dates of the leases themselves (at some periods, the leases may only have been entered in these volumes when they expired or new leases were granted).

One volume includes details of licences to alienate, including both the lessee's names and the names of the tenants to whom the property is to be alienated, with details of fees, ca.1840-1891.

Leases from the dean and chapter could not be assigned by the chapter tenants without first obtaining a licence to alienate.

Notes and calculations for contracts
Reference: DCD/F/BD
Dates of creation: 1836-1858
Extent: 5 volumes
Notebooks containing worked calculations for the fines to be paid by lessees on renewals

Records of renewals and rents, arranged by property
Reference: DCD/F/C
These two sets of volumes act as the main key to, and easiest way of accessing, the records of the administration of the dean and chapter's leasehold estates, from the Restoration in 1660 to the enfranchisement of the estates in the 19th century.

Renewals books
Reference: DCD/F/CA
Dates of creation: ca.1660-1790s
Extent: 7 volumes and 1 box
Records of dean and chapter property by township and tenement, with details of successive issues and renewals of leases
Book 2 includes a memorandum towards the back of the book relating the history and use of the volume and its predecessor, book 1. A typescript copy of this note is kept in the searchroom, at the front of the lists of post-Dissolution records.
All the Renewals books include additional notes, plans, surveys etc, pasted into the book or, in some cases, kept separate (see list below).
List of volumes Most of the renewals books form part of the Church Commission Durham Cathedral Estates deposit. The Church Commission (CCD) numbers are included in the following list.
The Renewals books are as follows:

1. ca.1675-1714 (but covering lease renewals from 1660). Also described as Dr Cartwright's rental in book 2, and apparently referred to elsewhere as the Treasurer's book. Includes yearly lists of contracts (lease renewals) towards the back of the volume, for 1660/61-1733/34, some additional notes on and surveys for particular townships, and indexes of names and places. Transcribed (and extended) in book 2. (CCD 235423)

1A. ca.1714-1722. Described (in memorandum at back of book 2 - see above) as being compiled by [Posthumus] Smith. Single gathering, unbound (boxed), not numbered.

2. 1660-1750s (compiled ca.1722). This volume began as a fair copy of book 1, extended with lease renewals and additional notes to about 1750, and is the easier volume to consult. See above for a reference to the memorandum describing the history and use of this volume. (CCD 235424 1/2; also loose notes from volume, boxed, reference CCD 235424 2/2; also loose page 18 from volume, kept with CCD 235424 2/2)

3 & 3A. 1660-1760s (probably compiled ca.1730s). A fair copy of the renewals information from book 2, cross-referenced both to that volume and the Receiver's book, and slightly extended, but with less information on the history of the individual leaseholds. (CCD 235425 1/2; also loose notes from volume, boxed, reference CCD 235425 2/2; book 3A covers South Shields and Heworth Common, and forms part of the main deposit of Durham Cathedral Archive)

4. 1740s-1790s (probably compiled 1750s). A continuation of, and cross-referenced to, book 2, which it calls “Great Book”. (CCD 235426 1/2; also loose notes, boxed, reference CCD 235426 2/2)

5A-B. 1775-1778. A fair copy of rental information from the leasehold estates for c.1775 in two volumes, with occasional updated renewals information up to 1778. The properties are numbered in a single sequence, from 1 to 1788 and include cross-references to the Receivers' Books (which the volumes may have been compiled from). Additional notes are not included, and these two volumes appear to be a false start for a replacement renewals book. These volumes form part of the main deposit of Durham Cathedral Archive, and are not currently numbered within the series of Renewals Books.

The most useful of the volumes for consultation purposes are numbers 2 and 4. Note that both books 2 and 4 are described in different places as the “Great Book” (book 2 is thus described within book 4, and book 4 within the first Notitia book).
The order of townships within each Renewals Book is that normally used for estate records of the dean and chapter, in a route around County Durham which is supposed to be that once taken by the dean and chapter's Receiver when collecting rents. Roughly this route ran from Durham City north to Gateshead, east to South Shields, south to Hartlepool and Billingham, west to upper Weardale, via Aycliffe and Spennymoor, and back towards Durham via Edmondbyers and Muggleswick. (A map showing the route with the main townships where the dean and chapter held properties is available in the searchroom.) Entries for Northumberland, mining leases and rectories (leases of tithes) are at the end of each volume.
Within each township, the tenements are listed in a consistent and apparently traditional, but not obviously geographical, pattern.
DCD/F/BA
The second half of book 1 is effectively the first of the series of Contract books.

Notitia books
Reference: DCD/F/CB
Dates of creation: 1790s-ca.1870
Extent: 6 volumes
A continuation of the series of renewals books, recording lease renewals property by property.
The Notitia books include cross-references to Renewals book 4 (called G[reat] Book), and in some cases to the Receiver's books. Six-figure references to leases within the Church Commission Durham Cathedral Estates deposit are also included for most properties (in red ink or blue pencil). Many of the entries end with a note of the enfranchisement or surrender of the leasehold, including a cross-reference to the Enfranchisement Registers where appropriate (for enfranchisements before 1809).
All the notitia books are among the Church Commission Durham Cathedral Estates deposit, references CCD 167098-167103.
The Notitia Books list the townships in alphabetical order, in a departure from the normal order used in other dean and chapter estate records. Within each township, the tenements are usually listed in the same order as in the Renewals Books.
The first three volumes are used for properties in County Durham, excluding South Shields. Volume 4 contains entries for Northumberland, mining leases and wayleaves, and rectories (leases of tithes). South Shields properties are listed in volumes 5-6.

Enfranchisement of church leasehold
Reference: DCD/F/D From the middle of the 19th century, a series of acts, in particular 14 & 15 Vict c.104, enabled or encouraged cathedrals to sell outright (enfranchise) their leasehold properties, or to convert them to ordinary agricultural tenancies. (The records of the latter tenancies, from c.1870, are described in the section Records of the estate, above.)
DCD/S/C
The post-Dissolution records include some documents relating to campaigns against enfranchisement by local Church Leaseholders' Associations, including documents apparently from the office of John Tiplady, solicitor, who appears to have worked for the leaseholders.

Enfranchisement registers
Reference: DCD/F/DD
Dates of creation: 1805-1809, 1833, 1839
Extent: 3 volumes
Registered copies of conveyances of leasehold properties enfranchised to dean and chapter leaseholders, transcribed alongside the immediately preceding leases (in date order according to the conveyances: leases date from 1803). The entries include cross-references to the Notitia Books, and each volume has an index of purchasers.
The label from the original binding of each volume (preserved inside the volume on rebinding) states Land Tax Book, the properties having been enfranchised for the purpose of redeeming land tax. Most of the properties are in Durham City, but there are also conveyances of properties in South Shields, Heworth, Cleatlam, Ferryhill and Croxdale.
Nature and types of document All three volumes are from the Church Commission deposit, referenced as follows:

1. Conveyances dated 1 May 1805 to 9 April 1807, reference CCD 235427

2. Conveyances dated 13 September 1805 to 16 April 1808, reference CCD 235428

3. Conveyances dated 16 April 1808 to 20 July 1809, reference CCD 235429 (most of volume is blank)

DCD/B/BA
The registers numbered 139A-140B contain conveyances of reversions of leasehold properties, in connection with enfranchisement, for 1853-1871. Volume 141 contains mainly surrenders by leaseholders to the dean and chapter, with some conveyances, 1859-1871.
All these volumes include indexes of leaseholders purchasing (or surrendering) property, with brief descriptions of the property in the index. Volumes 139A and 140B have also been indexed on cards by person and place. This card index is available in the searchroom.

Receivers' records
Reference: DCD/G The Receiver was a member of chapter, elected annually at the General Chapter held in November. He was responsible for the collection of money from the dean and chapter's estate, and in particular for the collection of the annual or reserved rents from the tenants. He was also responsible for repairs to buildings (excluding the Cathedral and precincts).
Although most of these classes are not yet listed online, typescript lists are available within the search room. Advance notice of requirements is advised.

Rentals (books and rolls)
Reference: DCD/G/A

Receivers' rolls
Reference: DCD/G/AA
Dates of creation: ca.1550-1606
Extent: 2 boxes
Rolls recording total rents received, arranged by township in the normal estate order (with Durham first, followed by Northumberland and spiritual rents/tithes). Rents for individual properties and tenants' names are not given.

Receivers' books
Reference: DCD/G/AB
Dates of creation: 1541/2-1869/70 (with gaps in 16th and 17th centuries)
Extent: 259 volumes
Rentals, recording tenants and rents property by property, in the usual estate order

Accounts of receipts of rents and arrears
Reference: DCD/G/AC
Dates of creation: 1662-1674
Extent: 6 volumes
Rentals arranged by property, with notes of rents received and arrears, together with lists of arrears received and summary totals of rents and arrears.

Partial rentals
Reference: DCD/G/AD
Dates of creation: 1771-1840
Extent: 2 volumes
Lists of tenants, with brief descriptions of properties, and details of reserved rents paid, arranged by township. Only the area around South Shields, Wallsend, Heworth and Gateshead is included. The first volume includes a list of improvements, late 18th century, loose at the end.

Draft rentals and other lists of rents
Reference: DCD/G/AE
Dates of creation: 1824-1835
Extent: 1 notebook & 0.5 box
Rough or draft rental for Durham tenants only, 1825-1831
Schedules of reserved rents to be collected. arranged by township and giving tenants' names and rents only, 1824-1835

Records of arrears
Reference: DCD/G/B Lists of arrears in rents were compiled for the annual audit in November, and these may be accompanied by notes on the collection of outstanding arrears.

Arrears rolls
Reference: DCD/G/BA
Dates of creation: 1577-1624, (undated)
Extent: 1 white tray
A small and mixed group of rolls, including lists of arrears and notes on collection
Some of the rolls are fragile and unfit for production.

Arrears books
Reference: DCD/G/BB
Dates of creation: 1544-1562, 1647
Extent: 5 volumes
Annual lists of arrears remaining unpaid, arranged by property

Arrears statements
Reference: DCD/G/BC
Dates of creation: 1910-1933
Extent: 1 volume
List of outstanding arrears for each annual audit, arranged by property, with notes of their collection over the next year

Collection of tithe rentcharges
Reference: DCD/G/C
Records of the collection of rentcharges fixed by commutations under the 1836 Tithe Act, and some records of tithe redemption under the 1936 Tithe Act

Schedules of rentcharges to be collected
Reference: DCD/G/CA
Dates of creation: ca.1840s-1920s
Extent: 2 bundles
Extracts from tithe apportionments for particular townships (made under 1836 Tithe Act), with notes on collection of rentcharges

Calculations of rentcharges
Reference: DCD/G/CB
Dates of creation: 1846-1881, 1905-1906
Extent: 1 bundle & 1 volume
Printed tithe commutation tables, 1846-1881
Account of rentcharges and rates to be collected (both for Dean and Chapter and for others), 1905-1906

Calculations of redemption annuities
Reference: DCD/G/CC
Dates of creation: 1936-1967
Extent: 2 items
Tables and schedules of redemption annuities under the 1936 Tithe Act

Accounting records
Reference: DCD/G/D

Receivers' / Treasurers' indentures
Reference: DCD/G/DA
Dates of creation: 1545-1617
Extent: 1 box
Indented receipts and counterparts for money handed over by the receiver to the treasurer, listing the separate payments made each year. Note that both the receiver's and treasurer's copies are held together in a single sequence.
A few of the indentures are fragile and unfit for production.

Transumpts of accounts
Reference: DCD/G/DB
Dates of creation: 1572-1614
Extent: 2 volumes
Summary annual accounts, listing the receipts under their main headings; also include similar accounts for the treasurer in the same volume

Receivers' wages books
Reference: DCD/G/DC
Dates of creation: 1895-1906, 1937-1976
Extent: 4 volumes
Weekly records of payments of wages, apparently from the Chapter Clerk's office. Headings give brief indications of the properties and works for which wages are paid.
As well as collecting the rents, the receiver was usually responsible for repairs to dean and chapter properties (excluding the cathedral and precincts).

General accounts
Reference: DCD/G/DD
Dates of creation: 1634-1635, 1751-1841, 1894-1975
Extent: 43 volumes
Day books and ledgers. The earliest volume, covering receipts for 1634-1635, includes the receiver's accounts for the year, as well as a couple of extracts from the treasurer's accounts.
The series of general account books are as follows:

Day books of receipts, 1634-1635 & 1751-1841 (15 volumes, shelves 154a-155a)

Day books of receipts and payments, numbered 1-4, 1894-1909 (4 volumes, shelves 155a-156a)

Ledgers, numbered 1-6, 1894-1909 (6 volumes, shelves 156a-157a)

Day books of receipts, numbered 1-11, 1909-1975 (11 volumes, shelves 154c-155c)

Day books of payments, numbered 1-7, 1909-1975 (7 volumes, shelf 155c-156c)

Drafts signed (day books of payments, deposited 12/4/1995), 1915-1939 (2 volumes, shelf 157a)

Agents' or bailiffs' records
Reference: DCD/G/E The receiver has regularly employed an agent or agents to collect the rents from the leasehold tenants and manage the estate on a day-to-day basis. The main agent is called the sub-receiver, and different parts of the county have usually had their own agents or bailiffs under the sub-receiver. As well as collecting rents, the agents were regularly employed in surveying and valuing of the estate, especially from the 19th century.

Sub-receiver's (Agent's) in-letters
Reference: DCD/G/EA
Dates of creation: ca.1853-1871
Extent: ca.2 bundles
Some letters written to the sub-receiver or agent have been deposited alongside letters to the Registrar or Clerk.

Agent's out-letters
Reference: DCD/G/EB
Dates of creation: 1787-1852
Extent: 6 volumes
Letter books of various agents

Agents' accounts
Reference: DCD/G/EC
Dates of creation: 1824-1833
Extent: 3 notebooks
Records of receipts and payments kept by John Leybourne, acting for Matthew Woodifield, agent or bailiff

Personal and extraneous records
Reference: DCD/G/ED
Dates of creation: undated [c.1770s-1814]
Extent: 2 volumes
Commonplace book (mainly notes on mathematics and architecture) belonging to Thomas Gibbon (bailiff, 1777-1796), and accounts of his executor (compiled by Matthew Woodifield, successor as bailiff)

Administration of the corps lands
Reference: DCD/H
Apart from the rentals and valuations mentioned in this section, very few records survive of the administration of the corps lands. The main estate records of the dean and chapter (such as the Notitia Books and Receivers' Books) record these lands as being leased to the respective prebends at (fossilised) reserved rents, without any further detail.
Some of the property belonging to the dean and chapter came to be administered separately from the main body of the estates, for the benefit of the dean or individual canons as individuals rather than as a body. In this respect, Durham differs from other New Foundation cathedrals.
The details of which lands were assigned to which canons or stalls are established in the 1555 statutes. The 1556 amendments to the statutes include a provision for the dean and chapter to allot a share of tithes to each stall. The lands assigned to each stall were known as its corps (pronounced as corpse). and the tithes as its by-corps. In addition, ten parcels of meadow in Durham were allotted to the ten senior canons annually, and were known as their hay-corps. The corps lands are included in the receivers' books as being leased to the individual dean and canons, who paid the annual reserved rent for the lands in return for their full profits.

DCD/H/DRA. Deanery rentals and accounts

DCD/H/SRA/1-12. Stall rentals and accounts

DCD/H/LP27. Sede vacante stall profits (Sterne v Sharpe, 1754-1780)

Online catalogue

Management of the timber
Reference: DCD/J
Nature and types of document The records of the timber plantations and wood fund relate mainly to the use of timber for repairs, both on the cathedral and College properties and on leasehold properties further afield. Although some of the records could have been properly listed within other sections, they are brought together in this section for convenience of use, and because this seems to better reflect the nature of the records and management of the wood fund and plantations.

Records of timber supplied
Reference: DCD/J/A
Dates of creation: 1574-1616, 1792-1815
Extent: 1 white tray & 1 volume
Warrants and orders for the felling and/or delivery of timber, often with details of the timber to be supplied, its destination and the use to which it was to be put, 1574-1616. Day book of timber delivered, 1792-1815.

Records of plantations
Reference: DCD/J/B
Dates of creation: 1752-1823
Extent: 3 volumes
Valuations of timber and accounts relating to the planting of timber plantations.
The last volume (Muggleswick timber valuation) includes Grain accounts for 1824-1828 at the back of the volume.

Wood fund accounts
Reference: DCD/J/C
Dates of creation: 1709-1868
Extent: 2 volumes & 2 notebooks
Day books of receipts and payments, 1842-1868, and annual accounts drawn up for the audit, 1709-1833

Miscellaneous documents
Reference: DCD/J/LP8
Dates of creation: 1580-1828, (undated)
Extent: 1 box
This class includes records relating to the management of timber, wood fund accounts, and felling of timber for repairs. It consists of loose papers, and overlaps with the other classes in this section in terms of content.
Online catalogue

Miscellaneous estate records
Reference: DCD/K Online catalogue (classes prefixed DCD/K/LP only)

Deeds etc
Reference: DCD/K/A
Dates of creation: mainly late 18th-19th centuries
Extent: c.100 boxes
Miscellaneous deeds and leases of dean and chapter properties
These boxes are currently referenced as St Helens material. As well as deeds and leases, they also contain much related financial, legal and administrative material, most of which should ultimately be removed into other classes within this guide. They have not been sorted, and the documents are currently stored as originally found within cupboards and drawers within St Helen's Chapel, in The College.
Card index
Listed on cards, which are available for consultation within the searchroom at 5 The College. Users should note that many of the cards carry only the briefest indication of the places covered by the various bundles and boxes.

Commutation of estate by Ecclesiastical Commissioners
Reference: DCD/K/B
Dates of creation: 1870s-1900s
Extent: ca.3 boxes & 4 volumes
Records relating to the appropriation of the dean and chapter's estates by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1870, and their subsequent re-allotment and transfer back to the chapter's management
The volumes include a schedule of deeds and leases transferred to the Commissioners; three of these volumes are marked up with page references to the Notitia Books.

Records of agricultural tenancies
Reference: DCD/K/C
Dates of creation: 1850s-1940s
Extent: ca.4 boxes
Agricultural tenancy agreements for chapter property (renewable year on year)

Leases (modern)
Reference: DCD/K/D
Extent: c.1 box
Some modern leases and counterparts survive, mainly for industrial purposes, and typically for c.21 years.

Assigments of leasehold property (modern)
Reference: DCD/K/E
Extent: 1 bundle
Some assignments survive, relating to properties leased on terms of 999 years by the dean and chapter. The assignments seem to relate mainly (entirely?) to properties in Heworth, leased in the 1920s.

Documents relating to rectories, vicarages, parishes, townships etc, listed under place names
Reference: DCD/K/LP1
Dates of creation: 16th-20th centuries
Extent: 7 boxes
As well as documents relating to property and tithes, these classes include records of spiritual and civil administration, and other non-estate material.
Place name order

Miscellaneous documents relating to property
Reference: DCD/K/LP3
Dates of creation: 1543-1842, 1899, (undated)
Extent: 2 boxes
This class is similar to K/LP1, but includes the more general documents which do not relate to a particular place or for which the place is unidentified.

Miscellaneous records relating to tithes
Reference: DCD/K/LP4
Extent: 0.5 box
General or unidentified items relating to tithes
Many items relating to tithes are included in series DCD/K/LP1.

Records of collieries
Reference: DCD/K/LP5
Dates of creation: 1574-1827, (undated)
Extent: 2 boxes

Records of lead mines
Reference: DCD/K/LP6
Dates of creation: 1685-1827
Extent: 1 folder

Records of quarries
Reference: DCD/K/LP7
Dates of creation: 1698-1826, (undated)
Extent: 2 folders

Records of salt pans and salt manufacture
Reference: DCD/K/LP9
Dates of creation: 1606-1826, (undated)
Extent: 0.5 box

Documents relating to Improvement Commissioners for River Wear
Reference: DCD/K/LP28
Dates of creation: 1736-1754, (undated)
Extent: 1 folder
The documents mainly concern a proposed bill dated 1737 for extending the powers of the River Wear commissioners, which was objected to by the dean and chapter (and some others, including the mayor and aldermen of Durham), as prejudicing their own trade and colliery interests in favour of the interests of those trading from the lower reaches of the river.

Treasurers' records
Reference: DCD/L The treasurer was a member of chapter, and was elected annually at the General Chapter held in November. He was responsible for the payments of all stipends, salaries and other bills, and for the repair of the cathedral and precincts and custody of ornaments and documents. The treasurer also received the fines arising from renewals of leases.

DCD/L/A. Audit

DCD/L/B. Accounts (general)

DCD/L/C. Accounts (specific funds)

DCD/L/D. Wage and employment records

DCD/L/E. Miscellaneous financial documents

Online catalogue

Chapter Clerk (previously called Register)
Reference: DCD/M

Subject files
Reference: DCD/M/A
Dates of creation: ca.1880s-1970s
Extent: ca.6 shelves
Office files of correspondence and other papers relating to various subjects, and previously kept in the chapter clerk's office.

Out-letter books
Reference: DCD/M/B
Dates of creation: 1777-1857
Extent: 11 volumes
Copies of the register's or clerk's out-letters

In-letters
Reference: DCD/M/C
Dates of creation: 1830s-1840s
Extent: 3 boxes & 4 small trays
Yearly bundles of letters. Some years seem to have several separate bundles of in-letters, and the arrangement of the bundles is not clear.

Appointments of chapter clerks
Reference: DCD/M/D
Records relating to the appointment of registrars

Financial records
Reference: DCD/M/E
Dates of creation: 1890-1973
Extent: 33 volumes
Day books for cash received and paid out, including Receivers', Treasurers' and other funds (within a single series of cash books), apparently from the Chapter Office. Also postage book, 1927-1930.

Legal records
Reference: DCD/M/F
Extent: ?? boxes
Records relating to various court cases etc

Architects and fabric repairs
Reference: DCD/N

Records relating to repairs and architectural schemes (general/various)
Reference: DCD/N/A
Records relating to repairs etc, including architects' reports, that cannot easily be subdivided by particular location.

Historical records of repair works carried out
Reference: DCD/N/AA
Dates of creation: 1700-1867
Extent: 2 volumes & 1 bundle
Volumes summarising expenditure on repairs carried out to the cathedral and precincts, and to other churches and parsonage houses, from 1700 to 1867, drawn up following an order of chapter dated 20 November 1842 (report for 1700-1842 compiled mainly from treasurers' books)
The volume covering repairs to other churches also includes records of augmentations and endowments of schools.

Architects' reports
Reference: DCD/N/AB
Dates of creation: 1830, 1861-1866, 1913-1922, 1944-1975
Extent: 2 volumes & loose reports
Reports by various architects including their comments and recommendations for repairs to the cathedral and related buildings

Specifications and agreements for repairs and building contracts
Reference: DCD/N/AC
Dates of creation: 1839-1865
Extent: 1 tray & 1 bundle
Articles of agreement and specifications with particular labourers for various repairs and building contracts, including several contracts for extramural buildings

Architects' records of repairs (general)
Reference: DCD/N/AD
Dates of creation: 1922-1925
Extent: 1 box
Architects' labour schedules etc.

Hayton Lee & Braddock files
Reference: DCD/N/AE
Dates of creation: ca.1930s-1970s
Extent: 15 boxes
Files of correspondence, copy plans and other papers relating to particular projects. Many (but not all) of the files carry reference numbers (beginning d/c), although these do not seem to relate to the folder letters used for the Hayton Lee & Braddock drawings.

Curry files
Reference: DCD/N/AF
Dates of creation: 1976-1997
Extent: 23 boxes
Files of correspondence, plans and papers deposited by Ian Curry, consultant architect

Records of particular repairs and buildings
Reference: DCD/N/B
Miscellaneous papers, plans and other records relating to particular repair and building schemes, arranged geographically.
Several of these classes are currently almost empty of records - more documents are expected to be found among currently miscellaneous or unlisted boxes to add to these classes. The class descriptions currently mention any items that can fairly easily be located, but these should be treated merely as examples of the kinds of records that are available, many still unlisted. Most of the records listed so far are kept among the St Helens' series of boxes: the staff at 5 The College can locate the records, but prior notice may be required.
The classes in this section are not original groupings, and many of the records are properly records of the clerk, treasurer or other chapter officers, rather than of the architect. They have been sorted into classes within this section for convenience.
The arrangement of classes within the section follows the geographical layout of finding aids for some of the collections of architectural drawings (see next section).

Cathedral and environs (as a whole)
Reference: DCD/N/BA
Dates of creation: 1906-1926
Extent: 0.5 box
Records of keys and locks

Cathedral exterior
Reference: DCD/N/BB
Dates of creation: 1914, 1918
Extent: 2 envelopes
Documents relating to the lightning conductor and tower flagstaff

Cathedral interior (including organ, stained glass and furnishings)
Reference: DCD/N/BC
Dates of creation: 1876-1941
Extent: c.1 box
Documents relating to the Moule memorial (1922-1924), organ (1905-1941), lectern, Nine Altars stained glass (1876-1882) and Bishop Butler memorial (1897-1898)

Cloister and claustral buildings
Reference: DCD/N/BD
Dates of creation: 1890-1895
Extent: 1 volume & c.2 bundles
Documents concerning the reopening of the chapter house (Lightfoot memorial)

Precincts of the cathedral (College and Deanery)
Reference: DCD/N/BE
Dates of creation: 1897-1945
Extent: c.0.5 box
Records relating to stained glass formerly kept in the 10th canon's house (1906-1907), to dilapidations to the deanery and College houses (1897-1918), and to a proposed central feeding scheme for the College (1944-1945)

Extramural buildings
Reference: DCD/N/BF
Extent: ? none

Architects' drawings
Reference: DCD/N/C The separate classes reflect primarily the different architects or firms who have deposited the drawings. They are arranged and listed in various ways, according to the particular architect.

Architectural drawings
Reference: DCD/N/CA
Dates of creation: 19th century
Extent: 7 trays, 78 bundles
Drawings, many by George Pickering, architect, the Chapter's clerk of works 1842-53, others by Philip Hardwick, George Jackson, Anthony Salvin, Ignatius Bonomi, C. Hodgson Fowler. Relate to the cathedral and associated buildings, and to a few other buildings on the Peninsula in Durham City.

Hayton, Lee & Braddock drawings
Reference: DCD/N/CB
Dates of creation: 19-20th centuries
Extent: 800 drawings (stored flat)
Drawings by Anthony Salvin, E.R. Robson, C. Hodgson Fowler, W.G. Footitt, Mervyn Macartney, W.D. Caro?R.A. Cordingley, Donald McIntyre; there are no drawings by Sir Gilbert Scott. Relate almost entirely to the cathedral and associated buildings.

Pace drawings
Reference: DCD/N/CC
Dates of creation: [1954-1975]
Extent: 7 trays (plus outsize box), 450 drawings
Relating to the cathedral and associated buildings, by George Pace, consultant architect to the Dean and Chapter 1954-75

Insall drawings
Reference: DCD/N/CD
Dates of creation: 1969-1972
Extent: 4 drawers
Drawings relating to survey of and schemes for houses in The College (excluding the deanery)

Curry drawings
Reference: DCD/N/CE
Dates of creation: [1976-1992]
Extent: 450 drawings (stored flat)
Relating to the cathedral and associated buildings, by Ian Curry, consultant architect to the Dean and Chapter, during the period 1976-92

Tracings of St Cuthbert's coffin
Reference: DCD/N/CF
Dates of creation: 1979
Extent: 1 tray
Tracings of the coffin by Stephen Dickinson, with a sheet of accompanying notes

Schools and University
Reference: DCD/P The statutes of the cathedral established a chorister school and a grammar school. The University of Durham was founded in 1831 by the appropriation of parts of the dean and chapter estates, and remained under the governance of the dean and chapter until 1909.
Very few of the records of the schools and university that survive among the Durham Cathedral Archive have been listed in any way. The following sections provide a framework of classes, together with a few references to such records as have been identified so far. Many more records may be identified on closer inspection of the St Helens' series of boxes, and other records may be held elsewhere (such as within the schools or the Chapter Library).

Chorister school
Reference: DCD/P/A The origins of the Chorister School are uncertain, although a group of boys of the monastery features in the monastic accounts from 1414-15. The school was refounded by the statutes of the new cathedral, after its re-foundation in 1541.
Note that the Song school founded by Bishop Langley on Palace Green in 1414 appears to have been a quite separate school, which survived as a preparatory school for the Grammar School until c.1690.
Crosby, Brian, Come on choristers!: a history of the Chorister School, Durham (c.1999)

Records relating to the constitution or governance of the school
Reference: DCD/P/AA
Dates of creation: 1905-1906
Extent: 1 volume & part box
Records relating to reorganisation of the school and other matters

Financial records
Reference: DCD/P/AB
Dates of creation: 1853-1870, 1922-1975
Extent: 6 volumes & part box
Books of accounts and receipts

Records relating to building work and fabric
Reference: DCD/P/AC
Extent: ? none

Records relating to admissions and scholarships etc
Reference: DCD/P/AD
List of candidates and printed agreements relating to caution money (St Helens 208); Fowler prize (St Helens 195)

Other administrative records
Reference: DCD/P/AE
Records relating to staff and other matters

Grammar school
Reference: DCD/P/B The medieval origins of the grammar school (now Durham School) are uncertain. The school was reorganised by Bishop Langley in 1414, when he founded a school under two chaplains, one to teach grammar and the other to teach song. The grammar school was refounded at the reformation, under the statutes of the new cathedral. At this time, it was amalgamated with the Almonry school of the priory.
The Song School of Bishop Langley (also called the Petty School) remained separate from the dean and chapter's Song School (now Chorister School), and acted as a preparatory school for the Grammar School until its closure in 1690.
Durham School Register , ed. by D.A. Bickmore, 4th edn (1968), pp.xxi--xxxi

Records relating to the constitution or governance of the school
Reference: DCD/P/BA
Dates of creation: 1665-1976
Extent: 2 volumes
17th century records relating to the Langley foundation (grammar and song schools on Palace Green), with some later records (including 20th century minutes)

Financial records
Reference: DCD/P/BB
Dates of creation: 1894-1976
Extent: 25 volumes
Books of accounts, ledgers, day books and cash books

Records relating to building work and fabric
Reference: DCD/P/BC
Include specifications for the new school site across the river, and work on the organ.
Langley's original buildings on the east side of Palace Green were destroyed in 1640, and new buildings were erected on the west side of Palace Green in 1661. In 1844, the school moved across the river to its present site.

Records relating to admissions and scholarships etc
Reference: DCD/P/BD
Records of the Kings Scholars

Other administrative records
Reference: DCD/P/BE
Records relating to staff and other matters

External reports and inspections etc
Reference: DCD/P/BF
Reports of examiners and school inspectors

University of Durham
Reference: DCD/P/C Whiting, C.E., The university of Durham, 1832-1932 (1932)

Establishment of the university
Reference: DCD/P/CA
Dates of creation: 1831-1842
Extent: 1 volume & loose papers
Records relating to the establishment of the University of Durham, in particular the transfer of an initial endowment of land from the estates of the dean and chapter
Records consist mainly of copies of chapter acts and orders.

Governance and constitution
Reference: DCD/P/CB
Dates of creation: 1841, 1862-1865
Records relating to the statutory and constitutional basis of the university, and to changes in its governing structures. In particular, papers relating to the 1862 Royal Commission that was set up to enquire into the reasons for the university's decline during the 1850s.

Administrative and general
Reference: DCD/P/CC
Extent: 1 box
Records relating to the ongoing administration of the university, including appointments and miscellaneous correspondence

Trusteeships etc
Reference: DCD/Q
Ex officio responsibilities of the Dean and/or Chapter of Durham, other than those connected with Durham cathedral, the two schools or the university

Hartwell charity
Reference: DCD/Q/A
Dates of creation: 1725, 1772, 1792-1942
Extent: 1 box
Mainly accounts and financial information. Early items (from Loose Papers class 26) include a declaration regarding a beneficiary of the charity (1725) and papers relating to charges against the dean over their handling of the Hartwell charities (1770s).
The Hartwell charity was established by the will of William Hartwell, prebendary, in 1725. It owned an estate in Fishburn. The income from the estate was used for the following purposes: for tradesmen in Durham, a school at Stanhope, exhibitions to university, clergymen's widows, and insolvent debtor prisoners. The charity's trustees included members of the chapter.

Northallerton grammar school
Reference: DCD/Q/B
Dates of creation: 1895-1896
Extent: 2 envelopes
Documents relating to Charity Commission scheme for the school
The dean and chapter were represented on the board of governors of the school, according to a scheme drawn up by the Charity Commission in 1896. A letter from the Commissioners refers to the dean and chapter's long connection with the school from before 1321 and of the appointment of the master which appears to have been exercised more or less intermittently by them.

Heighington grammar school
Reference: DCD/Q/C
Extent: ? none The dean and chapter appointed the master and trustees of this school.

Maltby library
Reference: DCD/Q/D
Dates of creation: 1855-1915
Extent: 1 envelope
Declaration of trust by Bishop Maltby in 1855, with subsequent apppointments of new trustees
Bishop Maltby left a collection of books to the use of the university, with the condition that it be kept as a separate collection. The dean and chapter (or members of chapter) were among the trustees.

Ann Carr's charity (for Durham Blue Coat school)
Reference: DCD/Q/E
Dates of creation: 1760-1818
Extent: 1 volume
Accounts
By her will proved December 1748, Ann Carr left a legacy of £500 to the Blue Coat school in Durham, “for the education of poor children”. The legacy was to be administered by the dean and chapter. A.F. Leach (in the Victoria County History , vol.1, p.402) says that the legacy is “now [1905] invested in land known as Pelaw Leazes, let for £10 a year”.
The Blue Coat school was founded c.1718, and was situated in the Market Place until c.1812, when it moved to a site on Claypath.

Deans' records
Reference: DCD/R

Extraneous material
Reference: DCD/S
Records of other bodies, apparently not formally connected with the dean and chapter. Most were probably the personal interests of members of chapter or of the chapter clerk. The classes are not listed in any particular order.
Online catalogue (covering series beginning DCD/S/LP only)

Durham Infirmary
Reference: DCD/S/A
Dates of creation: undated [post 1818]
Extent: 1 bundle
7 copies of the rules for the infirmary (printed), marked with the names of some of the canons and staff of the cathedral (probably subscribers or trustees in their own right)
Paper is watermarked 1818.

Chester West and Durham rural deaneries
Reference: DCD/S/B
Dates of creation: 1876-1919
Extent: 0.5 box
Minutes of Chester West rural deanery, 1876-1877, and of Durham rural deanery, 1880-1918 (in same volume), with some loose accounts for Durham rural deanery, 1917 and 1919. Visitation articles from churches in the deanery, for visitations by the rural dean, c.1906-1917.

Deeds etc from Tiplady's office
Reference: DCD/S/C
Dates of creation: 17th-19th centuries
Extent: 18 boxes
Many relate to enfranchisement of Dean and Chapter leasehold estates, and specifically to the Church Leaseholders' Association (which campaigned against enfranchisement of leasehold properties, on behalf of tenants).

Records of various incumbents and parishes
Reference: DCD/S/D
There are a few records that belong properly to various incumbents or parishes, including livings that were not in the dean and chapter's patronage. These records have probably originated from the papers of particular canons.
Records found relate to Ferryhill and Ellingham.

Extraneous estate plans
Reference: DCD/S/E
Plans of non-dean and chapter estates, possibly administered by chapter officers or staff

Subscriptions to charities
Reference: DCD/S/F
Records of subscriptions by members of chapter or other residents of The College to various charities, apparently collected by the chapter clerk

Other spiritual bodies
Reference: DCD/S/G
Extent: 1 volume and loose papers
A few (stray) records of the bishop of Durham and other spiritual bodies
Includes bound copy of printed acts of parliament affecting the bishop's estates (mainly Inclosure Acts)

Durham and York deeds
Reference: DCD/S/H
Dates of creation: 1647-1828
Extent: 0.5 box, 19 items Given by Canon SL Greenslade in 1958

Hunstanworth deeds
Reference: DCD/S/I
Dates of creation: 1545-1642, 1687-1688
Extent: 1 box, 15 items Given to Durham Dean and Chapter by Major JB Joicey

Commission of sewers and court of sewers
Reference: DCD/S/LP30
Dates of creation: 1628-1659, (undated)
Extent: 0.5 folder The commissioners of sewers included the bishop of Durham and other officers of the Palatinate.

Claim of Thomas Drummond to the earldom of Perth
Reference: DCD/S/LP31
Dates of creation: 1826-1834
Extent: 0.5 folder The chapter clerk appears to have supported this claim and Thomas Drummond's subsequent legal campaign to retrieve the earldom.

Hunter manuscripts
Reference: DCD/S/LP32
Extent: 0.5 folder
A series of antiquarian transcripts in Hunter's hand, for documents dating from the 13th to 17th centuries

Records of civil administration
Reference: DCD/S/LP33
Dates of creation: 1697-1703, 1817-1836, (undated)
Extent: 1.5 folders
Records from constables etc, mainly addressed to the overseers of The College, relating to taxes, rates and jurors

Antiquarians' transcripts and notes
Reference: DCD/S/LP34
Extent: 2 folders
Documents of post-dissolution date, but relating to pre-dissolution records, together with a few 17th century documents

Unclassified documents
Reference: DCD/T
Groups that cannot be fitted into any of the above sections, containing documents on a variety of subjects and from many different sources

DCD/T/CC. Charter for Durham College, 1657

DCD/T/LP35. Miscellaneous correspondence

DCD/T/LP36. Other unclassified documents

DCD/T/NC. Newcastle Borough Charter, 1737

DCD/T/OH. Lists of office holders

DCD/T/YB. 'York Book' (akin to a precedent book, late 16th century)

Online catalogue
See also the Miscellaneous Charters series, which though chiefly comprised of medieval charter material also includes bills, vouchers and other material for the period 1540-1650

Other cathedral officers
Reference: DCD/U
Dates of creation:
Records of the archaeologist, organist, education and other departments

Extraneous material

Register of Bishops Bury (frag.) and Hatfield
Reference: {Reg. Hat.} Summarily described: D.M. Smith, Guide to Bishops' Registers of England and Wales, (London, 1981), pp. 267-8 (Bury) and 268-9 (Hatfield).

Register of Richard Bury
Dates of creation: 1343-1344
Extent: 8ff Printed: Richard d'Aungerville of Bury: fragments of his register and other documents, ed. G.W. Kitchin, (Surtees Soc. 119, 1910), pp. 22-64.

Register of Thomas Hatfield
Dates of creation: 1350-1380 (with gaps)
Extent: i+viii+183+iii ff. A negative microfilm is available at PGFilm 124

Register of Bishop Langley
Reference: {Reg.Lang.}
Dates of creation: 1406-1437
Extent: iii+iv+i+299+i+iv+iii ff. Summarily described: D.M. Smith, Guide to Bishops' Registers of England and Wales, (London, 1981), pp. 369-70.
Edited, with index: The Register of Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham, 1406-1437, ed. R.L. Storey, (Surtees Soc. 164, 166, 169, 170, 177 and 182, 1956-70).
For later episcopal registers, see Durham Diocesan Records

Register of recognizances
Reference: {Lib. recog.}
Dates of creation: Late 15th century
More or less current record of undertakings and similar business in the bishop of Durham's chancery, 1462-76.

Wolviston guild-book
Reference: Misc. Ch. 7233 + Loc.X:6.
Dates of creation: 1480-1520
Extent: 128 leaves Current lists of members, notes of receipts, of expenses on annual feasts, on a small stipend and on repairs to the chapel of St Mary Magdalene in Wolviston (Co. Durham), and of debts, c.1480 - c.1520, also (Loc.X:6 p. 1) an inventory of the chapel, 1486.

Haswell deeds
Reference: {Hasw.}
Dates of creation: 12th century - 1457
Extent: c.100 items Presumably deposited 15th century together with Claxton family deeds in (29).
Calendared: Haswell deeds

Sherburn Hospital deeds
Reference: {Sherb.H.}
Dates of creation: c.1138-1525 but mostly 13th century
Extent: c.100 items
Deeds concerning property in Co. Durham (Whitwell, Sherburn and Quarrington Moor, Whitton, with Stillington and Thorpe Thewles, Garmondsway, Raisby and Quarrington, Bishopton and Grindon, Redmarshall and Smallmoor, Cassop, Hartlepool, Gateshead, Coxhoe, and Bishop Auckland) belonging to the hospital founded near Durham c.1183; deeds transferred to the Dean & Chapter c.1900.
Calendared, with index of persons and places: M.G. Snape, Calendar (1988), with introduction recording other items which have either been lost or are now in Durham County Record Office.

Silksworth deeds
Reference: {Silksw.}
Dates of creation: 15th - 19th century
Extent: c.250 items
Deeds concerning property in Silksworth, Sunderland, Stainton, Bishopwearmouth and other nearby parishes, belonging to the Middleton and Ettrick families, also materials relating to Robert Hilton's charity for the poor; given to the Dean & Chapter in 1958 by Canon S.L. Greenslade.
Preliminary listing: draft manuscript notes available by arrangement.
Abstracts of 132 items in this collection, 1313-1837, are bound into 2 volumes of the Grindon Deeds collection (GRI 1/1-2). As items are cross-referenced by numbers in red ink marked on both series, these abstracts may serve as a temporary catalogue to those original deeds in the collection to which they refer.