Various manorial survey documents for crown lands, property which had passed into crown hands from, for example, the Marcher lordships, or property which had been the subject of an official enquiry. The principal types of documents are custumals, extents, rentals, surveys, terriers and valors. They were drawn up periodically by a number of different estate officials. Few documents date from later than 1685.

The series was formerly known as Rentals and Surveys (General Series), Rolls. It was created artificially from records taken from three key Exchequer sources during the late nineteenth century, namely, Miscellanea from the Queen's Remembrancer's Office, the Treasury of the Receipt of the Exchequer and the Augmentation Office (LR 2 and LR 13). Some records were also taken from those of the Palatinate of Chester (CHES).