Catalogue description Registers recording Affidavits for Burials in woollen

The registers record date, name and abode of the deceased and date that the affidavit for burial in woollen was brought. There is a gap in the series between 1711 and 1736. The latter two volumes of the series do not record the affidavits.

The Burial in Wool Acts of 1667 and 1678 were intended to support the wool trade and laid down that all corpses should be buried in wool and no other material whatsoever. A relative of the deceased was required to swear an affidavit, which was to be recorded in the registers, within 8 days of the burial to state that a 'woollen burial' had taken place, or else a £5 fine was incurred. An alternative was a 'naked burial' for those who could not afford wool, or a fine. The Acts were only repealed in 1814. In 1678, the Parish Clerks of Manchester purchased a separate Register to record the affidavits required by the Act. The series was continued upto 1795, though the affidavits cease to be recorded in the latter two volumes of the series, and it would appear that these registers had by then become the main paper original register of burials. There is a gap in the series between 1711 and 1736. Burials for this period are recorded in MS 5-6.