Testamentary record: filed papers for the deaneries of Croydon and Shoreham

The series includes wills, inventories, court acts, warrants for administration, bonds, renunciations of administration and appointments of guardians. All the loose records relating to individual cases have been grouped together and given a single reference.

VH 96/1-2945 Deanery of Croydon, 1614-1812

VH 96/2949-6945 Deanery of Shoreham, 1614-1841

Prior to 1858, when the Principal Probate Registry was set up, wills were proved in the ecclesiastical courts. The courts of the Archbishop's Peculiar of the Arches, Croydon and Shoreham had jurisdiction over the wills of residents of these three deaneries unless they enjoyed bona notabilia or significant chattels outside the peculiars, in which case their wills were proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. From the Restoration, the Peculiars of the Arches, Croydon and Shoreham were for the most part administered together.