MAYORS FILES

These files, often referred to as Portmote Files, contain writs, examinations and subsidiary papers of the Mayors' Portmote Court, but Mayors' Files is a more accurate title, as their contents are clearly administrative as well as judicial. The existing artificial classes of Mayors' letters, Military Papers, Royal Proclamations, and Apprenticeship indentures have obviously been removed from these files at an earlier date. Many of the 16th and 17th century files also contain much Sessions material, no doubt due to the position of the Mayor as chief magistrate in the city, and the files of minutes of Petty Sessions held in the Inner Pentice are still attached to some of the Mayors' Files from the mid 18th century onwards.

The early files often contain material relating to several mayoralties, but from the end of the 16th century a separate file was usually started for each Mayor.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Unfortunately the following documents are filed in large bundles still attached to the original leather thong. They are very dirty and impossible to consult without the possibility of damaging the documents.

They form part of the City Record Office Conservation Programme but each file takes several months to repair. The City Record Office contains several hundred of these files and it will take some considerable time to complete the programme.

If you urgently need to consult the documents please speak to the Archivist about the possibility of some remedial conservation work being carried out.

The files affected are:

ZM/F/104-108, 124-253