Catalogue description Exchequer: Augmentation Office: Duchy of Cornwall Records

A miscellany of records relating to the Duchy of Cornwall, with a few records relating to the administration of later medieval princes of Wales in the Marches.

Most of them were formerly in the custody of the auditor of the Duchy. They include assession rolls, that is, records of conventionary leases on the 17 assessionable manors of the Duchy in Cornwall; particulars of Haveners' accounts, recording customs and prisage in the ports of Cornwall and Plymouth in Devon; particulars for grants of lands and office in the lands of the duchy in the various counties which comprised its estate; brief states and subsidiary documents relating to accounts of the receiver-general of the duchy; inquisitions post mortem and of lunacy; a few records of the duchy council; documents concerning the coinage and pre-emption of tin; warrants to the auditor and other papers concerning the lands and revenues of the duchy.

Large numbers of related documents are kept in the Library and Archive of the Duchy of Cornwall Office, London. This archive is private and access is at the discretion of the Duchy archivist.

Exchequer, Augmentation Office, 1554-1833

A useful overview of the 14th and 15th-century records of the duchy, relating to Cornwall only, is provided by J Hatcher, Rural Economy and Society in the Duchy of Cornwall 1300-1500 (Cambridge, 1970) For later periods, see G Haslam, 'The Elizabethan Duchy of Cornwall, an estate in stasis', in The Estates of the English Crown, 1558-1640, ed R W Hoyle (Cambridge, 1992) Also, G Haslam, 'Jacobean Phoenix: the Duchy of Cornwall in the principates of Henry Frederick and Charles', in The Estates of the English Crown, ed Hoyle