WARMINGTONS (Hitchin office), The Records of J R Eve and Son (Bedford and Hitchin)

The draft list is intended as an interim catalogue enabling bundles to be identified and produced for use. The eventual aim is to provide a full catalogue after the material has been fully evaluated and weeded. The list includes an indication of property and/or people involved, the firm's original bundle number (given in brackets), and the date (taken from list or file cover). The descriptions are taken from the firm's list and from information given on the bundle wrappers, but some additional information (given in square brackets) has been supplied by the cataloguer.

The bundles contain the firm's working papers, and generally include correspondence, valuations, financial papers, draft legal documents, and sale particulars etc.

The records were rough sorted on site. Original bundles have been retained intact. The firm provided bundle lists of the records (in numerical order), and these have been used to facilitate further sorting. The Bedfordshire bundles have been arranged in alphabetical order by parish, and then in chronological order. This work was undertaken by two young volunteers, Miss Ellen Collier and Miss Nicola Talbot, who also prepared a draft list. Final checking and bundle numbering was carried out by Record Office staff (mainly by Trevor Cunnick). The collection has been fully indexed in the Record Office subject index.

Acc.No.6922

Records deposited by Warmingtons (Hitchin Office), The Estate Office, Offley Hoo, Great Offley, Hitchin, Herts., SG5 3ED, in July 1991.

The records listed below came originally from the offices of J.R.Eve & Son of Bedford and Hitchin. They passed into the custody of Warmingtons by business descent. The records had been stored for some years in outbuildings at Offley Hoo. In 1991 the firm offered them to the Hertfordshire County Record Office as a gift, but on examination it became clear that the records included a large proportion of Bedfordshire material. It was therefore decided that the material should be divided between the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire County Record Offices. It was also agreed that material for other areas should be sent to the appropriate repository.