Court of Augmentations Accounts for Bedfordshire - II

Court of Augmentations Accounts for Bedfordshire - II

On the dissolution of the smaller monasteries in 1536, the Court of Augmentations was set up to administer their property until such time as other arrangements, such as sales, could be arranged. Commissioners made an inventory of their property: local men rented them and paid the income into the Court of Augmentations. This volume and volume 63 contain the accounts for the property of Bedfordshire religious houses and the property in Bedfordshire of religious houses in other counties. Volume 64 also includes accounts of the Honour of Ampthill.

This careful edition of the accounts of Crown revenues gives a picture of the wealth of these foundations at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. They are very thorough and include, for example, the names and rents of copyhold tenants; descriptions of the acreage, fields, crops or livestock on farms; and locations of town properties.