Records of the Treasury of the ReceiptE 40c1100-1603Exchequer: Treasury of Receipt: Ancient Deeds, Series A
This series consists of deeds of properties which the Crown had acquired from private individuals and which were stored in the Treasury of the Receipt of the Exchequer.
It consists almost entirely of records of conveyances, but also includes some bonds and wills.
Among the estate archives which remain identifiable within the series are those of a variety of attainted individuals, including, for example, Hugh le Despenser, father and son, William and Robert Catesby (respectively Richard III adherent and the gunpowder conspirator), Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. The records of the forfeited estates of Wolsey and Cromwell incorporate the archives of certain religious houses: deeds relating to the priories of Wix, Mountjoy and St Peter's, Ipswich (all suppressed by Wolsey) can be found in some quantity, whilst the priory of St Pancras, Lewes, acquired by Cromwell after the Dissolution, is particularly well-documented. One of the largest distinguishable archives is that of the priory of Holy Trinity (or Christchurch), Aldgate, suppressed in 1532; its possessions seem eventually to have fallen to the Crown after the forfeiture of the duke of Norfolk in 1572. In many cases, deeds were withdrawn from the Exchequer and passed to the subsequent purchaser of an estate.