DEEDS

CATALOGUE REFERENCES

THE NUMBERS ASSIGNED TO THE DEEDS IN STEVENSON'S CALENDAR AND IN THE SUPPLEMENT HAVE BEEN RETAINED. DOCUMENTS SHOULD BE ORDERED EITHER BY THE PREFIX 'GBR/J/1/' AND THE NUMBER GIVEN OR BY THE D3269 or D3270 REFERENCE

Deeds relating to City, charity and Hospital property are inextricably mixed in Stevenson's Calendar and Supplement; since the Corporation administered both charity and Hospital property until 1835, this 'Estates' section of the catalogue includes records relating to property which after 1835 came into the possession of Gloucester Charity Trustees (D3269) and the Governors of Gloucester United Schools (D3270). The following schedule of deeds therefore includes cross-references to deeds not included in Stevenson's Calendar but which were originally part of the city archives. These are listed in V. A. Woodman, Supplement to Calendar of the Records of the Corporation of Gloucester compiled by W. H. Stevenson (Gloucester City Library, typescript, 1966) and in the catalogues of records deposited by Gloucester Charity Trustees (D3269) and the Governors of Gloucester United Schools (D3270).

Note: GBR/I/1/41, Stevenson's Calendar and Supplement include numerous leases as well as title deeds.

For ease of reference, the schedule approximately follows the order of the sections in GBR/I/1/41, the main division being between the City and Hospital records. Charters, grants of privileges and deeds of gift of general importance are listed at the beginning of each section. Individual properties in the city are grouped, as in GBR/I/1/41 and the rentals, by North, East, South and West wards. Property in the county is listed by parishes which have been rearranged in alphabetical order, out-county property being placed at the end of each section. The spelling of street-names and field-names has been standardised in accordance with A. H. Smith, Placenames of Gloucestershire, 1964-65, except where specifically indicated. Abuttals, parties and other information given in Stevenson's Calendar, the Supplement and D3269 and D3270 calendars have been omitted. Most charters and some deeds were included by W. H. Stevenson in his report to the Historical Manuscripts Commission, 12th Report, Appendix, Part IX, 400-418, 'Records of the Corporation of Gloucester', and such references are noted in the schedule.

<span class="wrapper"><p>[See also D3117</p> <p>This artificial collection of 'city deeds', transferred to the G.R.O. by Gloucester Library, includes some earlier deeds relating to property purchased by the Corporation in the 19th and 20th centuries. Deeds from other sources will sometimes be found to relate to Corporation property sold c.1800, 1856 and later in the 19th century. There is a calendar of this collection, arranged by streets in alphabetical order, and a personal names index to part of the collection.]</p></span>

The account given to the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society on Wednesday, 18 June 1888, by W. H. Stevenson of the calendaring of the records of the city of Gloucester (Transactions B.G.A.S., XIII, 59-61) makes it clear that any original order had been destroyed. He found evidence of careful arrangement 'probably 200 years ago' when the records were sorted and placed 'in drawers in the strong room of the Town Clerk', but most of the documents found by Stevenson were 'mixed up in a most indescribable fashion'. Several royal charters, including the 'lost' charter of Henry II, were found in a box purporting to contain papers relating to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, while another 'lost' charter, the charter of King John, was among papers 'thrown away as if of no value'. Before making his report to the Historical Manuscripts Commission, W. H. Stevenson had to put the documents in order, and in the absence of any guide as to their original sequence adopted a purely chronological arrangement based on evidence explained at length in the introduction to his Calendar of the Records of the Corporation of Gloucester (Gloucester, 1893). This arrangement severely limits its usefulness to the archaeologist or historian interested in a particular building or site today, especially since he omits the 'measurements of the properties conveyed and the enumeration of the rents and services due therefrom' (preface to Stevenson's Calendar).

Charters had been 'lost' as early as 1596 and were recovered from private hands in suspicious circumstances (GBR/B/2/1 f.234; B/3/1 f.163v). From time to time, beginning with a committee appointed in 1659 (GBR/B/3/3 p.98), efforts were made to put the records in the Treasury at the Tolsey in order, and to prevent any future irregularity in the custody or withdrawal of documents belonging to the city. In 1703/4 another committee was set up to inspect the contents of the Treasury and the Mayor's Cupboard, put them in good order, and retrieve any records remaining in private hands (GBR/B/3/8 pp.127, 514, 580, 629). In 1710 it was agreed that part of the room called the 'Massroom' at the Tolsey should be made into an office to keep the city records in (GBR/B/3/8 p.302). It was later decided that some kind of register was needed, and a 'Scheme for the Regulating and Putting in Order the Records, Books and Writings belonging to the City of Gloucester whereby to have upon any occasion Speedy Recourse' was drawn up in 1719/20. In the following year, Samuel Worral, a proctor of the Consistory Court (Gloucester Journal 25 November 1723) and member of the Common Council, was allowed 30 guineas for 'Transcribing and Methodising in a large folio the Antient and other Charters and Grants belonging to this Corporation'. The actual order of the documents was determined by Richard Furney, the Gloucester antiquarian, then master of Crypt School (GBR/B/3/9 ff.38, 77, 93, 105; B.G.A.S. Library, Furney MS3.C; Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, I, 385-7).

Since W. H. Stevenson completed his Calendar, this volume has fortunately come to light (GBR/I/1/41). It is entitled 'An Abstract or Abridgmt of the several Charters and Grants of Priviledges, Wills and Deeds of Gift together with other Records belonging to the City of Gloucester and the several Hospitals of St. Bartholomew's, St. Margaret's and St. Mary Magdalen's alias King James's with an Alphabetical Index thereto whereby Recourse may be had to the Originals now remaining in the Treasury and Cupboards of the said City. A.D. MDCCXX'. The order of the deeds as transcribed in this volume is not occasionally without some confusion, especially for Westgate Street, but the following key to properties, based on GBR/I/1/41, is intended to restore the original archival order as far as it can be determined. The measurements and rents omitted by Stevenson are given in the transcripts of the deeds in GBR/I/1/41, and the revised order together with this information should be of value in tracing the pre-16th century history of properties which cannot otherwise be linked with the later rentals and lease books. In case the searcher wishes to compare the version given by Stevenson and later cataloguers with the transcript in GBR/I/1/41, the folio and number of the document as listed in that volume is given in the 'GBR/I/1/41' column of the schedule. This number is often endorsed on the deed in a 17th-century hand.