County Borough of Doncaster: Charters and Associated Records

Doncaster received twelve royal grants of rights, culminating in the grant of corporate status and other privileges by king Edward IV in 1467 and the acquisition of the manor of Doncaster from the Crown in 1505. These grants endowed the town with its own constitutional history until the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 remodelled borough government in England and Wales on a uniform basis. The letters patent of 1505, 1549 and 1604 do not survive. Their provisions are known because they are repeated in later grants or, in the case of that of 1604, from the copy enrolled in Chancery. Two studies of the provisions of the charters and their decoration are to be found in G H Martin and others, 'Doncaster: A Borough and Its Charters' (Doncaster, Waterdale Press, 1994), which also includes a summary of their contents. Royal charters and letters patent of 22 May 1194, 17 Dec 1381, 18 May 1445, 30 Oct 1467, 13 May 1532, 9 May 1559, 2 May 1664, 25 March 1685, 10 Nov 1688; Transcriptions and translations of charters 1771-1946; Grant of arms to the county borough 28 Mar 1927

Unless otherwise stated, everything over 30 years old is available for inspection