General correspondence and papers of the Commissioners of Crown Lands and predecessors relating to estates and manors in England and Ireland held by the Crown and sold before the end of 1940. The files concern lettings, sales, purchases, easements, repairs and improvements to buildings, boundaries, roads, inclosure awards, tithes, rent charges, market tolls, escheats, heriots and all aspects of estate management of the various Crown properties. Much of the correspondence is with surveyors, solicitors, receivers and other interested parties, such as the Land Revenue Record Office, the Office of Works, the Duchy of Cornwall Office, the Duchy of Lancaster Office, etc. Those files relating to Ireland contain correspondence with the Quit Rent Office in Dublin.
The papers in the files are quite varied, and in addition to letters in, draft letters out and the related minutes, the files contain reports, memoranda, petitions, printed copies of bills and acts of parliament, newspaper cuttings, manuscript copies of ministers' accounts and parliamentary surveys (obtained from documents in the Public Record Office), plans, receipts, some original Treasury warrants, court orders and copy affidavits, and other miscellaneous material.