Catalogue description RECORDS OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF ST ALBANS
This record is held by Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
Reference: | ASA |
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Title: | RECORDS OF THE ARCHDEACONRY OF ST ALBANS |
Date: | 1415 - 1995 |
Arrangement: |
Classification and Referencing Scheme ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS ASA1 Induction Mandates ASA1A Appointment of Archdeacon ASA2 Sequestration Mandates ASA3 Glebe Terriers ASA4 Convocation of Canterbury ASA5 'Miscellaneous Papers' REGISTRARS' WORKING RECORDS ASA6 Sealing registers, precedent books, etc. COURT RECORDS - GENERAL ASA7 Act Books ASA8 Deposition Books ASA9 Court Papers COURT RECORDS - VISITATIONS ASA10 Visitation Processes ASA11 Visitation Call Books ASA12 Inhibitions ASA13 Visitation Articles ASA14 Visitation Minutes ASA15 Charges to Clergy by Archdeacons ASA16 Churchwardens' Declarations to Perform Office ASA17 Churchwardens' Presentments ASA18 Church Repair - Injunctions and Certificates ASA19 Inventories of Church Goods ASA20 Transcripts of Parish Registers ASA20A Excommunication and Absolution ASA20B Testimonials COURT RECORDS- NON CONTENTIOUS ASA21 Dissenters' Meeting House Certificates ASA22 Marriage Bonds and Allegations ASA23 Marriage Licences ASA23A Faculty Papers ASA23B Surrogates' Bonds COURT RECORDS - PROBATE ASA/AW Filed Wills and Administrations ASA/AR Registers of Wills ASA24 Indexes of Wills ASA25 Inventories ASA26 Probate and Administration Act Books ASA27 Probate Cause and Miscellaneous Papers MISCELLANEOUS ASA28 Archdeacon Grant's Papers Aldenham parish registers, copy Lists of church plate Correspondence ASA29 Records of the Charity for the Relief of Poor Clergymen ASA30 Architects' Reports on Churches |
Held by: | Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, not available at The National Archives |
Copies held at: |
[See DEX977] List of Calendars and Transcripts by W R Wilton Hall 1 Transcripts of Church Register Transcripts [transcripts by Hall of the transcripts of parish registers not underlined in ASA20 below, including those for Buckinghamshire parishes of which the originals are now in the County Record Office, Aylesbury. In seven volumes with a table of contents of all seven volumes in volume I] 2 Calendar of Miscellaneous Papers II/Nos 1-253 1582-1595 [see ASA5/5] 3 Calendar of Miscellaneous Papers II/Nos 254-512 1596-1598 [see ASA5/5] 4 Calendar of Miscellaneous Papers II/Nos 513-630 1599-1638 [see ASA5/5] and III/Nos 1-150 [see ASA5/6] 5 Calendar of Miscellaneous Papers III/Nos 151-357 1643-1700 [see ASA5/6] 6 Calendar of Miscellaneous Papers III/Nos 358-489 1701-1813 [see ASA5/7] 7 Extracts from Churchwardens' Presentments 1619-1817 [see ASA17] and Glebe Terriers 1637-1714 [see ASA3] 8 Visitation Minutes 1777-1850 [see ASA14/1-15] 9 Calendar of Miscellaneous Papers, Third Series [unnumbered and incomplete, 1683-1786] (The documents which Hall collected to form this Third Series have been dispersed since his compilation of the calendar.) and of Visitation and Court Books (Act Books) 1678-1702 [see ASA7/32-34] 10 Certificates of repairs of churches 1757 11 Calendar of Visitation Articles 1757-1802 [see ASA13/1], of Visitation Processes 1672-1819 [see ASA10/1-3], of Induction Mandates 1672-1777 [see ASA1/1], and of papers relating to Proctors in Convocation 1620-1807 [see ASA4/1] 12 Transcript of Inventories of Church Goods 1638 [see ASA19/2: this volume in Hall's handwriting was received from the late R L Hine]. 13 Calendar of Marriage Licence Bonds 1714-1830 [see ASA22/7-9, 11-23: three unnumbered files] |
Language: | English |
Creator: |
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Physical description: | 6155 files |
Immediate source of acquisition: |
Provenance of Archdeaconry of St Albans Records From St Albans Abbey, 1932 ASA1/1-10 ASA3/1 ASA4/1 ASA5/1-7 ASA7/35, 37-68 ASA10/1-4 ASA13/1,2 ASA14/1-15 ASA15/1,2 ASA17/1-17 ASA18/1,2 ASA19/2 ASA20 [see note to this series explaining provenance] ASA22/1-5, 10-27 ASA23/1-13 ASA27/1,2 ASA28/1-3 From St Albans Abbey, 1941 ASA2/1 ASA9/20 ASA10/5 ASA12/1 ASA14/16 ASA16/1 ASA17/18,19 ASA19/1 ASA21/1 ASA22/6-9 ASA27/3,4 From Somerset House, 1954 ASA6/1-5 ASA7/1-34,36,36A ASA8/1-10 ASA9/1-19,2 ASA20 [see note to this series explaining provenance] ASA/AW/1-307 ASA/AR/1-14 ASA24/1,2 ASA25 ASA26/1-7 ASA27/5,6 From Diocesan Registry, 1963 ASA1/11 ASA6/6 ASA10/6 ASA11/1-37 |
Subjects: |
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Unpublished finding aids: |
Additional Finding Aids Wilton Hall's transcripts and calendars have already been mentioned and are listed in Appendix A. A former member of the staff of the Hertfordshire Record Office compiled an extensive index to the causes in the Act Books now listed as ASA7 and to the court papers now listed as ASA9. This index is tied to a system of numerical references now superseded, and users of this index, available in the Record Office, should read the explanatory note to it carefully. Despite its limitations, it is an invaluable finding aid. The manuscript indexes to wills proved in the Archdeacon's Court, compiled in the office of the Archdeacon's Registrar, are defective and have been replaced by a card index of testators, giving references to both registered and original wills, which also includes references to inventories and grants of administration. This index is available for consultation in the Record Office Search Room. |
Administrative / biographical background: |
INTRODUCTION Historical Note The modern archdeaconry of St Albans is co-terminous with the geographical county of Hertfordshire and lies within the Diocese of St Albans. The earlier history of the Archdeaconry is involved. In 1157 during a visit by Robert de Gorham, Abbot of St Albans, to Rome, Pope Adrian IV (Brakespear), himself a native of Hertfordshire, granted extensive privileges to the Abbey of St Albans. The Abbot of St Albans was made a bishop with the right of appointing his own archdeacon and was exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Lincoln, within whose diocese the abbey lay. After considerable dispute this exemption was recognised by Henry II, and henceforth, until the dissolution of the Abbey in 1539, those Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire parishes - 26 in all - which formed the old Archdeaconry of St Albans (see list at end of this introduction) remained subject to the authority of an archdeacon appointed by the Abbot. On the dissolution of the abbey in 1539, under the terms of 31 Henry VIII, c.13, the archdeaconry should have become subject to the Bishop of Lincoln within whose jurisdiction it nominally was. It appears, however, that until 1550, when Edward VI by Letters Patent annexed it to the Diocese of London, it remained independent of episcopal surveillance. From 1550 to 1845 the Archdeaconry remained within the Diocese of London. In 1845, by an Order in Council dated 8 August under the provisions of 6 & 7 Wm IV, c.77, the whole county of Hertford was annexed to the Diocese of Rochester and the Archdeaconry of St Albans became co-terminous with the county, the Buckinghamshire parishes being transferred to the Archdeaconry of Buckingham, annexed to the Diocese of Oxford. By the London Diocese Act, 1863 (26 & 27 Vict, c.36, s.3), the Archdeacon of St Albans acquired jurisdiction over the city and deanery of Rochester and became Archdeacon of Rochester and St Albans. The Act of 1863 cited above had envisaged that when the Archdeaconry of Rochester next became vacant it should be suppressed and the next and every future Dean of Rochester should become Archdeacon of the City and Deanery of Rochester. As the Archdeaconry of Rochester had been vacant for some time prior to 1863 but no vacancy in the Deanery had occurred, no one exercised archidiaconal jurisdiction over the City and Deanery. This provision, extending the jurisdiction of the Archdeacon of St Albans into Kent, met the urgent need. On the foundation of the Diocese of St Albans in 1877 under the Bishopric of St Albans Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict, c.38) and an Order in Council of 30 April 1877, the Archdeaconry of St Albans together with the Archdeaconries of Colchester and Essex were formed into one diocese. The Archdeacon's jurisdiction over the city and deanery of Rochester was suppressed and his jurisdiction since then has covered the whole county of Hertfordshire (except for Flaunden, which in 1876 was consolidated with Latimer, Bucks and transferred to the Diocese of Oxford). Provenance of the Records The records of the old and new Archdeaconries of St Albans, now for the first time listed here, have had a varied life. Until the changes of the 19th century, they appear to have been kept in the Abbey of St Albans and in the offices of successive Registrars and Officials of the Archdeaconry. There may have been some disturbances as a result of the transfer to the Diocese of Rochester, but there was no major disturbance until a large segment of the records was transferred in 1868 to the custody of the Principal Probate Registry under the Wills Act of 1857. On that occasion, the registers of wills, original filed wills, inventories, administration bonds and accounts, probate and administration act books, together with the act books of the archdeacon's court and other papers not entirely or specifically connected with the jurisdiction of the Archdeacon in testamentary matters were removed to Somerset House. The rest of the records remained at St Albans in the Watching Loft of the Abbey and in a small muniment room. In 1906, W H R Wilton Hall, Sub-Librarian of the Abbey, began his extensive work of arranging and listing the by now truncated and greatly disordered archives of the Archdeaconry. This work he continued until 1921. The results of this work may be seen in the records themselves and in the series of transcripts and calendars he made. A list of these will be found at Appendix A to this introduction and they are mentioned at appropriate places throughout this inventory (See DEX977). In 1932 the bulk of the records still at St Albans was transferred to the Hertfordshire Record Office, and in 1941 a further small quantity overlooked at the time of the first transfer came to Hertford. In 1954 the records transferred in 1868 to Somerset House were reunited with the rest of the archives of the Archdeaconry. In 1963 a further quantity of more recent visitation records was received from the Registrar of the Diocese amongst the Diocesan archives transferred in that year to the custody of the Hertfordshire Record Office. Appendix B to this introduction lists, by reference number only, the provenance of the archives dealt with in this inventory, up to 1963. Later deposits have been received from the Archdeacon or his office unless otherwise noted. PARISHES COMPRISING THE ARCHDEACONRY OF ST ALBANS PRIOR TO 1845 Hertfordshire [Chipping] Barnet East Barnet Bushey Codicote Elstree Hexton Abbots Langley Newnham Northaw Norton St Albans St Michael St Peter St Stephen Redbourn Rickmansworth Ridge Sandridge Sarratt Shephall St Paul's Walden Watford Buckinghamshire Aston Abbots Grandborough Little Horwood Winslow |
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