Testamentary records: filed papers for the deanery of the Arches

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

<span class="wrapper"><p>The records cover the period 1620-1832 although few pre-Restoration records have survived, since the bulk of the collection was destroyed along with other records in the Fire of London, 1666. (There are a few medieval wills in the Archbishops' Registers: See: Index of Wills recorded in the Archiepiscopal Registers at Lambeth Palace, by J. Challenor Smith, 1919, reprinted from The Genealogist, N.S. Vols. xxxiv-v.) The court of the deanery appears to have lost its pre-eminence in testamentary matters by the middle of the 18th century; after c. 1750 there are a mere 171 testators and for two thirds of these there is only a caveat recorded in the Caveat Books. There are only two post-1800 cases although the separate jurisdiction over the Peculiars was not abolished until 1845.</p> <p>At least six of the early wills contained in the series are copies, probate having been granted in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury; also of the pre-1700 cases which have only references to Caveat Book entries, 61 have been identified in the printed Indexes to P.C.C. Wills. (Indexes to the wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury were published by the British Record Society, Index Library publications.</p> <p>This suggests that where there is only a caveat in the records of the Peculiar of the Arches, the main testamentary records will probably be found in the P.C.C., the Arches caveat having been recorded as a precautionary measure.</p></span>

The records of the Peculiar of the Arches and the majority of the composite volumes were transferred from Somerset House to Lambeth Palace Library in 1954.

The court for the deanery was held in St. Mary le Bow and was presided over by the Dean of the Arches. This court of first instance for residents of the deanery was quite distinct from the Court of Arches which was the Court of Appeal for the province of Canterbury.

The wills of residents of the Peculiar of the Arches were proved either in the court of the deanery, or in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury if the testator enjoyed possessions valued at more than £5, 'bona notabilia', or possessions within other dioceses or jurisdictions. However an analysis of the records of the deanery has indicated that in practice the division between the two courts was not clear cut. Wills of some wealthier testators were proved by the Dean of the Arches or his surrogates and during the late 17th and early 18th centuries it was not unusual for inhabitants who died outside their parish or were temporarily resident in the deanery to have their estates administered under the supervision of the Dean of the Arches. Similarly the series includes wills of sailors and others who died at sea.