Catalogue description Exchequer: Office of First Fruits and Tenths: Entries of Payments of Tenths

Records of the amounts payable for, and payments of, tenths: an annual payment due to the Crown from every ecclesiastical benefice, in line with the valuation recorded in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535. Until 1717 collection was undertaken by the bishops, who appointed sub-collectors. After 1717 responsibility passed to the receiver of tenths.

The earliest volumes contain annual lists, surviving for a number of dioceses, from 1660 to 1705. The lists, which are arranged by diocese and deanery, give the names of the benefices from which tenths were due in particular years, but not the names of the incumbents. Although it is nowhere made explicit, they refer only to benefices for which payment had not been received that year, and which were thus regarded as in arrears. Later annotations show that in some cases payment was made eventually; such notes give the date of payment and sometimes too the surname of the incumbent.

Despite variations in layout, all the volumes from the period after 1717 record the amount payable for tenths in respect of every living from which these payments were due. The format suggests that the compilers and users of the books were concerned with the payment of tenths in general, rather than merely the reporting and collection of arrears. In many cases there are marks (often merely ticks) beside the names of the livings, to indicate that payment had been received for particular years, presumably at the due date. As with the pre-1717 volumes, the names of incumbents are not given.