Report on the Manuscripts of the Corporation of Beverley

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The records are kept in an upper room in the Town Hall next to and approached from the Council Chamber, through a heavy strong-room door, the key of which is in the custody of the Town Clerk. On the Council Chamber side it is reasonably fireproof, the wall being extremely thick, and probably on the two outer sides, but on one side it is enclosed by a wall only one brick thick; the floor is of stone, and the room below, used by the Police, is not much frequented.<br><br>The Charters are in drawers in a press made for the purpose. Documents belonging to charities (which have not been examined) are in similar drawers. The Account Rolls are kept in wooden boxes. The valuable Town Books, together with the miscellaneous documents described below, were, when found, somewhat in disorder.<br><br>The extant Records are only a scanty remnant of the magnificent series that once existed, and many were, like the valuable Book of the Provost of Beverley now restored to the Minster, only recovered a few years ago from the executors of a local antiquary, Mr. Gilliatt Sumner.<br><br>The Records consist of: -<br><br>1. The Charters. A list of these is given in the History and Antiquities of the Town and Minster of Beverley by George Oliver, Vicar of Clee, published at Beverley, 1829, at p. 377. It begins with the celebrated Charter of Archbishop Thurstan of York, which has been printed, from Rymer's Faedera, in Bishop Stubbs's Select Charters (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1870). Most of these Charters have been given with some fulness either in Oliver's History or in the more elaborate Beverlac, or the Antiquities and History of the Town of Beverley and of the Provostry and Collegiate Establishment of St. John's, by George Poulson, 1829, 2 vols.; or will appear in the Calendars of Patent Rolls or Papal Bulls. They are, therefore, only noticed here so far as they appear in the Town Books. The Corporation possess an ela