| Description | These account books replaced the earlier series of Receivers Accounts. They cover the years 1662 to 1905, with a few missing volumes. Each account begins and ends on St. Katherine's day (25 November), unlike the earlier series which ran from Michaelmas. The accounts are in English, except for the page headings and general account which are in Latin until the account of 1829-1830 (RB 164) when English is used throughout. Many of the books have an index page to their contents.
The earlier books appear to be day-to-day notebooks of the receiver, with notes of receipts jotted in the front and back of the books. The books gradually become neater, until at the end of the nineteenth century they are fair copies of a draft account.
The Receiver was responsible for gathering together the various revenues from the estates of the Dean and Chapter, so the central part of all the accounts is the list of properties and the rents paid by their tenants. Monies paid to the Treasurer also appear in every account. Early books list corn rents, the price of grain and the division of the proceeds of corn rents between the Dean and Canons. These books also have details of the Bedels' accounts.
Lists of arrears are to be found in all the accounts, be they arrears of entertainment, farm rents or corn rents. Any payments made by the Receiver are also listed. From the account of 1718-1719 (RB 56), details of the Archbishop's Pension are given, and from 1756-1757 (RB 93), the allowance granted to the Dean by the Chapter is listed. Wood receipts and expenses appear in the earlier accounts, with the allocation of wood to the Dean and Canons first being listed in 1725-1726 (RB 62).
Legal expenses are entered from the early eighteenth century. From 1741-1752 (RB 78-88) the quit rent roll of Walworth and Vauxhall is included in the account. Redeemed land tax is listed from 1799 (RB 136). Fines and seal fees first appear in the account of 1839-1840 (RB 174), and income tax details arrive in 1841-1842 (RB 176).
The format of the accounts remains much the same from 1662 to 1860, although it became quite common during the nineteenth century for the account to be compiled by a canon other than the one elected as receiver. In 1862, due to uncertainty as to the actions of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners a receiver was not elected. In the St. Katherine's Chapter of 1862 it was decided that the receiver's accounts should include rack rents, which had previously been paid to the Special Receiver. As a result of this and the changes brought about by the Ecclesiastic Commission, the accounts from 1861 onwards have a new format. Many of the original categories were dropped, with the bulk of the account devoted to Canterbury properties. From that date each book holds several accounts.
In 1887 the accounts are entered half-yearly, although the decision to have half-yearly accounts had been taken in 1863. There are draft copies of the accounts for the years 1888-1895. The last account in this series ends in June 1905 (RB 214), but there are details of tithe income and house rents for the years between 1914 and 1923 listed in that book. |