Catalogue description Public Record Office: Maps and plans extracted to flat storage from various series of records of the Duchy of Lancaster

This series contains maps, plans and architectural drawings, extracted from various series of records created or accumulated by the Duchy of Lancaster (DL). Many pieces were formerly held in the series DL 31.

There is no common subject matter. Many of the maps and plans relate to boundaries of manors and to extents and valuations of premises under special commissions of survey issued in suits pending in the Duchy Court. Counties principally represented are Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire and Middlesex. Of particular note is MPC 1/50/1, dating from 1658, and showing Enfield Chase as divided between the Commonwealth and the Commons. The series includes the maps and plans made during special commissions.

As far as possible, places depicted on maps or drawings are identified in catalogue descriptions by the names given on, or contemporary with, the documents themselves, although spellings have been modernised and standardised to facilitate searching. Where there has been a significant change to the name of a place or that of the political or geographical area in which it is situated, the current name is usually given in brackets after the name taken from the document. If it has not been possible to identify the place named, the name given on the map or drawing is noted in inverted commas. If no place is named, and the location cannot be identified, this is noted explicitly in the description. Places now in the London area, but outside the City of London, are identified according to the county or borough in which they were situated at the date when the map or plan was produced.

Most of the maps and plans in this series are described in Maps and Plans in the Public Record Office. I: British Isles, c.1410-1860 (London, HMSO, 1967). A list of all documents transferred by the Duchy of Lancaster Office in 1868 was printed as an appendix to the 3oth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, and a list was published in List of the Records of the Duchy of Lancaster preserved in the Public Record Office (PRO Lists and Indexes XIV).