LIBERTY OF ROMNEY MARSH

RD/Rm/A ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS 1604-1860

RD/Rm/AC1-2 General assembly of bailiffs, jurats and commonalty 1604-1816

RD/Rm/AO1-3 Officers' appointments 1818-1852

RD/Rm/AM1-5 Weights and measures 1805-1835

RD/Rm/AW1-2 Wreck of the sea 1822-1860

RD/Rm/F FINANCIAL RECORDS 1796-1888

RD/Rm/FAc1-4 Chamberlains' accounts 1798-1846

RD/Rm/FAz1 Miscellaneous accounts 1803-1808

RD/Rm/FV1 Bills and vouchers 1796-1888

RD/Rm/I INCORPORATION AND PRIVILEGES 1547-1895

RD/Rm/IC1-2 Charters 1547-1604

RD/Rm/IL1-5 Law suits, etc. affecting charter rights 1744-1895

RD/Rm/J JUDICIAL RECORDS 1587-1917

RD/Rm/JCi1-21 Coroner's Court: inquisitions post-mortem 1745-1853

RD/Rm/JQ Quarter Sessions 1610-1903

RD/Rm/JQs1-9 Sessions books 1610-1882

RD/Rm/JQr1-56 Sessions rolls 1819-1873

RD/Rm/JQb1-3 Miscellaneous sessions papers 1724-1876

RD/Rm/JQg1 Dymchurch gaol 1864

RD/Rm/JQo1-12 Oath rolls 1712-1903

RD/Rm/JQp1-14 Special sessions 1710-1857

RD/Rm/JP1-6 Petty sessions 1878-1917

RD/Rm/JR1-5 Court of record: court books 1587-1709

RD/Rm/JRz1-11 Court of record: miscellaneous 1608-1785

RD/Rm/R REGISTRATION AND DEPOSIT 1751-1866

RD/Rm/RO1-2 Officers' declarations 1828-1866

RD/Rm/RF1 Freemen's certificates 1751-1766

RD/Rm/RC1-6 Clerk of the Corporation, Clerk of the Peace and Justices Clerk: correspondence, etc. 1790-1864

Records are open for consultation unless otherwise indicated.

These were received as follows:

November 1953: Records of the Liberty of Romney Marsh, 1547-1917

Deposited by the Bailiff, Jurats and Commonalty of Romney Marsh per the Clerk to the Corporation, New Hall, Dymchurch

RD/Rm/AC1-2; RD/Rm/AO1-3; RD/Rm/AM1-5; RD/Rm/AW1-2; RD/Rm/FAc1-4; RD/Rm/FAz1; RD/Rm/FV1; RD/Rm/IC1-2; RD/Rm/IL1-5; RD/Rm/JCi1-21; RD/Rm/JQs1-9; RD/Rm/JQr1-56; RD/Rm/JQb1-3; RD/Rm/JQg1; RD/Rm/JQo1-12; RD/Rm/JQp1-14; RD/Rm/JP1-6; RD/Rm/JR1-5; RD/Rm/JRz1-11; RD/Rm/RO1-2; RD/Rm/RF1; RD/Rm/RC1-6

LIBERTY OF ROMNEY MARSH

General note: This series of archives relates to one of the most peculiar of all local jurisdictions, being in effect a 'municipal corporation' administering a tract of agricultural land. Unfortunately a fire at Dymchurch in the late 16th century destroyed the early records of the corporation yet nevertheless the remainder form a most valuable and interesting accummulation. Among the peculiarities of this jurisdiction are the election annually of justices (no commission of the peace was ever granted), the spreading of coroner's duties among the bailiff and jurats and the complete independence from the County authority until the 19th century. By 1842 it was decided that the East Kent gaol at Canterbury should serve in place of the Dymchurch gaol, although the idea of a separate prison did not die until 1866; from 1876 the County constabulary was responsible for the liberty; the effect of the 1883 Municipal Reform Act and the 1888 Local Government Act was to abolish the separate Quarter Sessions and leave the liberty as an independent Petty Sessional division, and the judicial powers and rights of the coroner were not finally abolished until the Justice of the Peace Act of 1949. The peculiar nature of the liberty is indicated in the character of the extant records. For an account of this jurisdiction, see: Teichman Derville, The Level and the Liberty of Romney Marsh (1936)