Surveys and valuations of ecclesiastical property
- 1254 The Valuation of Norwich ed. W.E. Lunt
(1926). In 1254 the pope ordered a new assessment of clergy property for
taxation. The returns survive for eight dioceses in England and Wales:
Bangor, Durham, Ely, Lincoln, Llandaff, London, Norwich and St Asaph.
- 1288-92 Taxatio Ecclesiastica
(Record Commission 1802). In 1288 Pope Nicholas IV granted Edward I 1/10 of
the ecclesiastical income of England and Wales to pay for a crusade.
Between 1288 and 1292 a survey was made for this tax, which lists benefices
worth more than six marks (£4) for most of the country. It mentions c.8,500
churches and chapels, but hospital chapels were exempt. It can be searched
online by modern or medieval name of the church.
- 1341 Nonarum Inquisitiones in Curia Scaccarii,
temp. Regis Edwardi III (Record Commission 1807): Another valuation
for taxation, covering much of 27 English counties : Bedfordshire,
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire,
Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Lancashire,
Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire,
Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Sussex, Wiltshire,
Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Yorkshire.
- 1388 Survey of guilds and fraternities in England.
Returns in National Archives C47/38-46; listed in List and Index Society
26; those written in English are published in J. Toulmin Smith, English
Gilds, Early English Text Society vol. 40.
- 1535 Valor Ecclesiasticus temp Henry VIII
(Record Commission 1810-34): Henry VIII's survey of ecclesiastical
property in England and Wales, made after he broke with Rome, taking over Church taxation
which had previously gone to the pope. Covers monasteries, cathedrals,
churches and hospitals staffed by clergy.
- 1540 Royal commissioners surveyed monastic property in
Ireland; the results are summarised in Letters and Papers, Foreign
and Domestic, Henry VIII.
- 1546, 1548 Surveys of chantries, collegiate churches and
free chapels in England and Wales. (Hospitals included in 1546). The
returns are in National
Archives E301, with a few strays in C47/7/3, E117/8/23b, E36/110-113
and E315/374-375. There are published transcripts for some counties. London
and Middlesex Chantry Certificate 1548, London Record Society
vol. 16 (1980) is online.
- 1560s The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of
Benefices, Records of Social and Economic History, New Series 21
(1995): a survey of the income of church properties in Scotland.
- 1676: Compton Ecclesiastical Census: census of religious
affiliation within the Provinces and Canterbury and York, listing total
numbers of Conformists, Papists and Nonconformists. The returns were
published in A. Whiteman (ed.), The Compton Census of 1676: A
critical edition (1986).
- 1711 John Ecton, Liber Valorem et Decimarum
: Being an account of the valuations and yearly tenths of all such
ecclesiastical benefices in England and Wales, as now stand chargeable with
the payment of first-fruits and tenths ... (1711) is a directory of
benefices by diocese and deanery, listing patrons, incumbents, dedications,
appropriations and income.
- 1786 John Bacon, Liber Regis vel Thesaurus Rerum
Ecclesiasticarum (1786) is similar to Liber Valorum.
- 1851 National Archives HO129: the religious census for
all places of worship in England and Wales gives attendance at services on
30 March 1851 and information on the buildings. Some local record offices
have a copy on microfilm of the return for their county.