The Parliamentary Surveys of the Cambridgeshire properties of the Dean and Chapter of Ely 1649-1652. Edited by William Franklin

The period 1642-4 saw the financing of the parliamentary armed forces hastily improvised from one month to the next. Parliament tried to fund the army for what they thought would be limited and short-lived war by raising loans. When these became insufficient they turned to the sequestration of estates of the Crown and active papists. When that did not suffice they ordered the raising of money from the counties, then they abolished the principal offices of the Church of England, including that of bishops and deans and chapters, and sold off their lands.

In the sale process surveyors were appointed to determine the nature of properties owned by the deans and chapters and to produce full and exact surveys of the properties to be sold. The Cambridgeshire surveys of the properties of the Dean and Chapter of Ely are amongst the most complete to survive of anywhere in England. Amongst seventeenth century documents these surveys are unique, they detail every piece of property for the Ely capitular estate, including its occupier, its true annual value and the tenural arrangement at the time of the survey.

Paperback: 304 pages